The grants, announced yesterday, are the first awarded under the program, which created the first significant pot of money provided by the state to upgrade county animal shelters. Lamb said the shelter has 12 cages, but sometimes must hold 40 or 50 dogs. State law requires each county to sell dog licenses and to have a dog warden and animal shelter. Among other things, the shelters are supposed to post hours of operation and hold stray animals a minimum of five days. Animal-welfare activists have complained many counties do a poor job.
Some counties sell few licenses and have no shelter.
The facilities in others are small and poorly funded, with dog wardens who work part time at best and do little to encourage adoptions and spaying and neutering programs, activists say. In Russell County, for instance, animal activists said they once found puppies frozen to death at the shelter. In February, they found four wounded dogs at the shelter that had been shot, apparently in an unsuccessful attempt to euthanize them. Last year, a group of activists sued Agriculture Commissioner Billy Ray Smith, whose department enforces animal licensing laws, and 400 local officials, alleging they have failed to satisfy the law on having animal shelters and dog wardens, or that their compliance is a sham. Smith and the local officials have denied the charges.