Two pit bulls maul 29 cats to death at Alabama animal shelter, crumbling cages in cash-strapped facility blamed for carnage

DOTHAN, ALABAMA: Two pit bulls broke free of their cages at a local animal shelter and ended up mauling 29 cats to death.

Employees at the Dothan Animal Shelter were met with the gruesome sight when they reported to work on Thursday. The facility was filled with the bloody corpses of felines. After investigating the cause of death of the cats, shelter director Bill Banks found that two dogs, who had been dropped off at the shelter the day before, were responsible. 

“Those dogs forced their way out of a pen. Then, they pushed hard enough on galvanized bars to knock (the bars) out of their clamps,” Banks said, explaining how the canines had escaped the chain-link type fencing that would have otherwise prevented them from coming in contact with the other animals at the shelter. 

Although it has not been decided what to do with the pair of dogs responsible for the attack, shelter officials said that they will be put in a position where they will not be able to hurt any animals in the future. 

City Commissioner Beth Kenward blamed the attack on the outdated structures that the shelter was forced to depend on due to the lack of funding. He added that the unfortunate incident could have been prevented if the city stepped up and equipped the facility with better infrastructure.

“These dogs were able to eat their way out, for lack of a better term, and attack these cats. That is horrible,” he said. 

Dothan Mayor Mark Saliba also characterized the incident as "sad." "There is no doubt that (a new shelter) is overdue,” he said. 

Although Banks, Kenward, and Saliba have taken the initiative to make the construction of a new animal shelter a capital improvement priority, they still lack the funds required to turn their plans into reality. Apart from enough funds, they would also need three to five acres of land to build the multi-million dollar facility on. 

“We need business owners, private entities, humane societies, animal rights groups, and others to partner with us on this," Kenward said, talking about their public-private partnership project. 

Saliba said about the initiative: “It's sad, and there is no doubt that (a new shelter) is overdue,” he said. The current shelter is operated by the Dothan Police Department but the mayor hoped that the future project will be overseen by a newly created board and the Houston County and others will share in the cost.