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Animal lovers are seeking support for a petition to spare the lives of animals that end up in the hands of Decatur Animal Services in Decatur, Alabama. Decatur’s mayor opposes the approach and goals of the animal facility’s director, and the current mode of operations at the shelter, and is calling for the budget to be slashed and for animals to be killed or not accepted rather than housed.
When we were asked to share the petition, we were not sure at first glance whether the petition and a Facebook page set up to advance it’s goals were overstating the case, but a local TV news story on the matter that quotes from emails from the mayor to the animal services director makes clear that there is no exaggeration by opponents of the mayor’s perspective and demands. Mayor Don Kyle says he does not want the animal facility to be a shelter, and he wants only a small and limited numbers of animals to be housed there. Animal Services was given 30 days to drastically reduce the number of animals on hand. In the mayor’s own words, providing shelter for homeless pets is characterized as collecting or hoarding.
Below you will find two links to the petition, a link to the Facebook page supporting the petition, links to local news reports, and a text excerpt and news video about the situation.
Supporters of the petition to save the lives of animals and allow Decatur to maintain a viable shelter are using the Facebook page Stop Decatur Alabama Mayor Don Kyle’s Targeted Killing of Shelter Animals to support their mission. The Facebook page says: “Carol Wicks, the former director of the Animal Refuge League in Westbrook, Maine is now the director of a shelter in Alabama. Carol was a pioneer when she was in Maine. She started the first in-house spay/neuter clinic and [was the] the first to do early spay/ neuter in the State. Carol did a great deal to help the animals who were lucky enough to pass through the ARL under her management.
It is at this time we need to return the favor and help Carol’s shelter in Alabama .”
Click this link for the change.org petition – Petitioning The Governor of AL, Decatur Alabama Mayor Don Kyle and City Council Man Charles Kirby: Allow Decatur Animal Services Director Carol Wicks to Determine the Proper Number of Animals at the Decatur Animal Shelter & Stop the Bullying of Her by Mayor Don Kyle to Prematurely Kill the Animals
The petition description states: “Decatur Animal Services – is about to have some major, horrific changes. The city of Decatur’s Mayor Don Kyle has determined that the budget must be drastically cut and positions eliminated and the entire adoption program wiped out as a result. Under Director Carol Wick’s management the euthanasia rate has dropped dramatically and yet this isn’t good enough for the mayor and his henchman Charles Kirby. Decatur Animal Services has a new building – 27,000 Square Feet- and they can safely house many many animals.”
WAFF TV news covered the story in City releases emails between mayor and Decatur shelter, which makes clear the mayor’s position on the value of the lives of domestic animals. Below is text copied from that story, with the related news video found below.
DECATUR, AL (WAFF) –
Emails obtained by The Decatur Daily between the mayor of Decatur and the area animal shelter paint a clearer picture of what happened when the shelter was ordered to reduce the number of animals from 300 to 45.
The mayor has determined the city should have only 20 cats and 25 dogs in the shelter. This means a mass euthanasia of approximately 100 cats and dogs and continuing forward.
Decatur Mayor Don Kyle makes it clear in the emails – he wants to reduce the number of animals at the shelter. In one email, he states he wants it done within 30 days, and in another, asks Animal Services Director Carol Wicks how quickly that can be done.
The Decatur Daily obtained two dozen pages of emails between Wicks and Kyle. In an email from Sept. 27 talking about a citizen’s concern and the budget, Mayor Kyle writes:
I have and will continue to consult with advisory board members. I have begun to consult a variety of reading materials. I am tired of hearing “no-kill shelter” attitudes and the innuendo of threat if the city does not comply. I repeat, we are not operating a shelter, no matter what you wish it to be.
In another email on Oct. 2, Mayor Kyle writes to Wicks again. He gives 16 reasons why he’s ordering changes at Decatur Animal Services. He then writes:
You can resolve most of the above by doing one thing. Stop hoarding, soliciting, collecting, or what you want to call it, the number of animals you are trying to keep. You’ll solve the cleanliness and odor problems, and your staff will have time to be more friendly and do the kind of paperwork that you should have been doing.
The email goes on to say:
The continual inventory of animals should not be higher than 30 cats and 25 dogs. Don’t tell me you cannot get to that number. Tell me how you can get there within 30 days and then maintain it.
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An October 23 article at Decatur Daily.com notes that new coverage of the mayor’s demand that the shelter drastically reduce the number of animals in its care helped spur adoptions, so quite a few of the animals already on hand were saved. “The large number of adoptions after the media attention gave us some wiggle room,” Director Carol Wicks said in the story. “We can keep the animals we have in a healthy environment. In the next few weeks, I’ll be making some proposals for the future [to deal with a drastically reduced budget and the drastic changes demanded by the mayor] .” The feature also gives much more detail on the situation and developments in the story.
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Click this link for the change.org petition – Petitioning The Governor of AL, Decatur Alabama Mayor Don Kyle and City Council Man Charles Kirby: Allow Decatur Animal Services Director Carol Wicks to Determine the Proper Number of Animals at the Decatur Animal Shelter & Stop the Bullying of Her by Mayor Don Kyle to Prematurely Kill the Animals
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Please view the following video for excerpts from Mayor Kyle’s emails.
WAFF-TV: News, Weather and Sports for Huntsville, AL
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the mayor is committing political suicide! what a heartless bastard!
HOW CRUEL TO KICK ANIMALS OUT IN THE COLD; THEY WILL BE HUNGRY AND HOMLESS AND EVENTUALLY DIE FROM EXPOSURE!