HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — With a recent case involving animal cruelty in Colber County, director of Huntsville Animal Shelter, Dr. Karen Sheppard gives one reason cases like this can happen. "That case was a hoarding case," Sheppard explains. "And a lot of times some of them started out with really good intentions and then maybe financial issues, mental health issues or they just kept taking in too many animals and then that's when you end up in just a really terrible situation where animals are losing their lives."
Animal hoarding is a situation where a person keeps more animals than they can properly care for. " We've we work several of those cases every year, maybe even more," Sheppard continues. "It's a very common problem in the United States, huge problem in the United States and it can be to pets or it can be 200 pets. It doesn't have to be a huge number of animals. There are times that people have three and four pets and they're just not taking care of them."
Like the week's investigation in the Colbert case, in terms of abuse, in Alabama, it has to be proven. "Our state is very much like a lot of other states in the way that we require that you have to show that the person is intending to do harm to the animal," Sheppard shares. "So, we have a really great ordinance here in Huntsville, and we work a lot with people that have neglected their pets to try to encourage them, share the right information.
For some, these cases can be hard to report. "I think a lot of people are really worried to report it," Sheppard shares. "But we need you to we need people to reach out and report all sorts of neglect and abuse and cruelty throughout, you know, whether it be children, adults and definitely dogs, cats, horses, any animal we need, you know, we need to know."
For those who are worried, there’s an anonymous way to do so. "There is a way that people can anonymously report animal neglect or cruelty or just if they're worried and it's the website See Click Fix," Sheppard shares. "So is that you see it you click a picture, you send it in to us and we fix it. So, it was started maybe about ten years ago, and it's work great and it's a way that people can report things anonymously."
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For those who work at the Colbert Animal Shelter, it's been a very difficult couple of weeks. Charles Speegle, County Director for the shelter, was asked to describe the emotions being expressed and one word summed it up...anger. "We're supposed to be a modern society, okay?" Speegle shares. "How do we get to a point where we let this happen? "
After several weeks of investigation, an unthinkable discovery of animal cruelty by a woman who had a history with abuse was found. "She was convicted, I think 2014, 2015 of the same things" Speegle shares. "They removed 120 dogs off her property and so she's back at it again. She received, I think some weekend sentences, some fines and we're going to try to do better than that this time. I'm actually seeking some jail time, serious jail time on these charges."
This case would turn out to be far worse than before. "We've executed two search warrants seized a total on both search warrants of 35 horses, 46 dogs and puppies," Speegle explains. "I have found 28 skeletal remains and the corpses of dead horses on the property and in two dead dogs. '
The shelter is now looking to care for these animals. "We'll reach out to our reputable animal rescues to come in and help us with the animals, get them to safety, get medical care, immediate medical care," Speegle shares. With the magnitude of this case, the shelter itself needs assistance. "We're going through a lot of copy paper and a lot of ink and toner folders because I've had to make duplicates," Speegle shares. "We now have 35 equines. it's going to be in our care and I'm going to have a hefty vet bill taking care of these animals."
Speegle also urges the community to be more responsible in caring for animals. "We need to be responsible and be caretakers of these animals," Speegle shares. "They depend on us. we're failing these animals, people, and we can do better than this. okay? we all need to come together and do better than this us man."
