Greater Birmingham Humane Society receives more animal abuse calls

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – The Greater Birmingham Humane Society shares information about someone in Bessemer tries to poison puppies.

They say someone tried to give seven-week-old puppies antifreeze. Some puppies ingested the poison and one died.

Thanks to a Good Samaritan, this pup and others are now in the care of the Humane Society, but the shelter is still looking for three more. The WBRC contacted Bessemer police about the situation and any possible charges, but did not hear back Friday night.

This is just one of multiple reports of animal abuse the shelter has received in recent weeks. We reported another puppy abuse just a few weeks ago, but GBHS says it has received tons of calls about animal abuse over the past month and it is becoming a big deal.

“It’s escalating and escalating and we need to do something to check it out and roll it back,” CEO Allison Black Cornelius said. “We can’t have that.”

During the December cold snap, Black Cornelius said he started receiving hundreds of calls about dogs being abandoned by freezing temperatures.

“Birmingham passed an ordinance in the summer of 2020 which made it against the law to tether a dog in certain ways,” she added. “But unfortunately the citizens don’t see this being enforced and so what happens when they call the City of Birmingham they turn around and call us back and we end up having to go out because the citizens are so upset.”

Outside of the cold weather, she says animal abuse behaviors escalate.

“People who abuse animals do it out loud,” she said. “They have no shame, they don’t care about being held accountable and that’s our concern, especially when they start using guns and shooting at them and leaving poison.”

Black Cornelius wants the city to suppress the attackers before the situation escalates.

“Everyone knows that the connection between those who abuse animals or are cruel to animals and domestic violence, child abuse and abuse of the elderly and women is a connection,” she added. “That is true.”

It’s a big reason she wants people to take animal abuse more seriously.

“So we realize the police can’t respond to every dog ​​or cat call,” Black Cornelius said. “But what we can do is look at solutions from other cities to allow animal control officers to provide support to police.”

She says they hope to arrange a meeting with law enforcement to come up with better solutions to prevent this trend of animal abuse from continuing.

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