The Highway 280 dog-capture effort is continuing, but the city’s role has shifted: the Greater Birmingham Humane Society (GBHS) is still trapping dogs, while Sylacauga police have returned to regular patrols and are no longer issuing citations under the feeding restriction. The change follows weeks of debate over enforcement and police coverage elsewhere in the city.
Police Role Narrows as Trapping Continues
Police Chief Rondell Muse directed officers to resume normal patrol duties while GBHS continues capturing dogs, according to WBMA. Muse had raised concerns about coverage elsewhere in the city while officers monitored the feeding restriction, the station reported. Officers had issued four citations related to the restriction. Muse has since directed them to give verbal warnings rather than citations.
The shift came amid council questions about the allocation of police resources. Council member Tiffany Nix questioned whether too many officers were assigned near the Home Depot area instead of handling regular patrol duties, according to the station. Muse defended enforcement as supporting the city’s agreement with GBHS, the same account reported.
Councilmember Says Effort Has Divided the City
The disagreement has rattled more than just the police schedule. Council member Laura Barlow-Heath said the project has created division, adding that it has turned public frustration toward police officers, toward the councilors and toward the city as a whole, per the same account. Her comments came as council members raised concerns about the number of officers assigned to enforce the feeding restriction rather than patrol the broader city.
At an October 20 council work session, members discussed ending the city’s agreement with GBHS. A vote to terminate it was not approved, leaving the organization authorized to continue its trapping operation. The council approved the agreement in September, and it reportedly costs the city nothing, according to ABC 33/40.
GBHS Presses Ahead With Trapping Plan
GBHS is using cameras, designated feeding locations and traps to draw dogs away from Highway 280 and into safer areas for capture, according to WVTM 13. Allison Black Cornelius of GBHS said the organization is moving animals away from parking lots and businesses so they can be trapped more safely. GBHS began installing cameras earlier in October to monitor the dogs and establish feeding routines.
GBHS representatives said the dogs were becoming accustomed to designated feeding areas away from the highway and nearby businesses, according to WBMA. The animals need time to get used to the equipment and routine for capture to be as safe and humane as possible, Sylacauga News reported. One injured dog had been captured and was receiving care, ABC 3340 reported.
Conflicting Counts on How Many Dogs Remain
Reported estimates of the dogs’ numbers have differed. GBHS teams identified about 20 dogs and several puppies in the area, according to the Sylacauga News report. Earlier estimates put the number at as many as 40 or more, WBMA reported; WVTM 13 also reported officials counting as many as 40 dogs and said the effort could take several weeks. The capture work was delayed while GBHS obtained written permission from multiple property owners to place cameras, feeding stations and traps, ABC 3340 reported.
Sylacauga adopted and is enforcing a no-feed ordinance as part of its agreement with GBHS, prohibiting feeding outside the designated locations tied to the trapping effort. Under that policy, a first citation brings a warning, a second carries a $200 fine, and a third can run between $300 and $500, according to ABC 3340's earlier reporting.
A Plan Years in the Making
The current approach followed a bumpier road to get here. A planned council vote on partnering with GBHS was pulled from the agenda in July without happening, according to WBRC. In September, the council delayed a decision on a separate ordinance that would have banned feeding feral dogs outright, postponing that vote for another month, per ABC 3340's reporting.
An earlier capture proposal considered by the city had included foothold traps, sedating dogs through baited food, and onsite lethal removal, but the company behind that plan withdrew it before any council vote took place, according to ABC 33/40. The proposal had sparked backlash in the community at the time. The approach now underway instead calls for humane capture, veterinary intake assessments and eventual transfer to Sylacauga Animal Services, according to WVTM 13's reporting.
What the Available Sources Establish
The verified material here does not spell out Alabama law on dogs running at large or feeding unowned dogs. The City of Sylacauga lists an Animal Shelter among its departments, a city service distinct from the temporary GBHS trapping work described in this article. GBHS says its Animal Care & Control division has provided animal-control services to Jefferson County and its municipalities since January 2015, according to the Greater Birmingham Humane Society. That description does not establish the division’s role in this separate Sylacauga trapping agreement, identify which agency provides animal-control or shelter services for Sylacauga and Talladega County, or show whether public records on capacity or animal intake are available.
For now, the city council says it will continue monitoring the situation as GBHS proceeds with its work, as ABC 33/40 reported, even as police return full-time to their regular patrol duties across Sylacauga.
