The Investigations Department investigates complaints concerning the mistreatment, abandonment, or neglect of companion animals, wild animals, and exotic pets in accordance with both state laws and city and county ordinances. This department also responds to calls concerning sick and injured animals whose owners cannot be readily located.
The department is staffed by one Humane Officer and
several Deputy Humane Officers who are on call twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays. The staff responds to over two hundred calls of cruelty, neglect, or abandonment each week in the City and the County of Montgomery.
Many of the calls investigated concern canine neglect which includes failure to provide food, water, and shelter.
When responding to a cruelty or neglect call, an officer will first attempt to educate the persons involved on how to properly care for their pet. If this does not work or if the case is severe, the officers are empowered to impound the animal, cite the animal owner, and summons them into court. The Montgomery Humane Society has one of the highest cruelty conviction rates in the United States.
Montgomery's leash law was designed to encourage pet owners to keep their dogs properly contained on a leash or in a fenced yard. There is no leash law for cats. Unconfined dogs, roaming-at-large within the city limits, are picked up by the Animal Control Division of the Montgomery Police Department and brought to the shelter to be housed and hopefully reunited with their owners. Our Investigations Department will respond to stray animal calls in the county, outside of the Montgomery City limits.
Individuals are encouraged to notify the shelter if they witness or suspect cruelty, neglect, or abuse. All reports are confidential.
Staff of the Investigations Division of the Montgomery Humane Society are on duty twenty-four hours each day, seven days a week to investigate reports of cruelty, neglect, abuse, or abandonment of animals and to respond to reports of sick or injured animals.
For after hour emergencies, please call the Police Department at 334.241.2651 or the sherif's office at 334.832.4980and ask them to contact the Deputy Humane Officer who is on call.
