 It was a typical Wednesday at the office in June of 2017 when our receptionist forwarded a not-so-typical phone call to me. “This is Aubrie, “I answered, “how may I help you?” The response was unexpected. “My name is Shirley Schofield, I run the Food Bank of North Alabama, and I’m hoping you can help me with a cat.” Because I was known as “the animal person” in my firm, it was not uncommon for co-workers to ask for help re-homing a pet, seek referral to a veterinarian or to ask some question about unusual dog behavior. I was sometimes contacted by people outside the firm who worked in the building or by one of our security team, but it was unusual to be contacted by people from other businesses or organizations not on our property. I’m not sure how Shirley got my name; I guess word gets around. Cat sightings in our area were not uncommon. Our office is near to a large apartment complex, and we felt confident most of the cats who came to our property were lost, had been left behind or just needed more to eat. We had a small colony of cats who lived on/near our parcel that our cat care team had been supporting for years - the cats were fed and watered daily and had insulated houses. When a newcomer was spotted, he or she was trapped toward getting the cat back home, into a new home or back out onto the habitat after being sterilized, vaccinated and left-ear tipped. The Food Bank of North Alabama, Inc. warehouse was on the parcel west of ours and the cat had not made it inside our fence, at least that we noticed. Shirley explained she needed help with a small cat who had been hanging around in their parking lot for a few days, hiding under cars, and who seemed to be in trouble. She wanted to take him inside but could not (because of food storage) so she was looking for some help. “Sure,” I told her, “If you can have someone bring him over, I’ll put him in my office until the rescue group can get him.” And so began the story of a young cat in need of help who was later named “Banks O’Malley” in honor of the Food Bank of North Alabama. Banks was a pitiful sight to behold that first day. He was small, did not vocalize and seemed dehydrated and weak. He seemed social to people, but it was impossible to tell considering his condition. I put him under a table in my office and offered him bowls of water and kitten chow. He wanted nothing to do with them as he curled up in a ball and went to sleep. Thankfully he wasn’t with us for long. The rescue group which has helped the folks at my office with community cats for going on 20 years now – Forgotten Felines, Inc. – came within an hours and whisked Banks away to get him the veterinary care he needed. We were later told Banks was about 2 years old and had road rash and an abscess on one of his back legs. It was likely he had trouble moving, probably after having been hit by a car, and it was a miracle he was still alive. It took Banks months to recover.
Fast forward and Banks was a sight to behold with his mouse-tache, green eyes and his “shirt and suit" coloring. We joked at work that all he needed was an eye monocle, a top hat and maybe a classic banker’s lamp with a green glass shade to complete the image. He was adopted by a woman from northern Florida along with another cat named Q-Tip and the woman’s sister adopted a third cat. For all the jokes about his name, Banks had won the cat lottery and went on to lead a great life with his new family. Until a few weeks ago when his life took a sudden turn. Banks' adopter was traveling north with her fiance and their cats on a move to Pennsylvania. They were stopped at a rest stop at the South/North Carolina border when Banks escaped. They looked for him for hours and when they could not find them, they begrudgingly moved on, hoping someone else would find and help him. Luckily for Banks, another family was also traveling north, stopped at the rest stop that same evening and found Banks. They knew from his condition that he had to belong to someone and rather than leave him, they decided to take him with them for the rest of their trip home to Michigan. They took Banks to a veterinarian after they got home to see if he was chipped and he was – the microchip was registered to Forgotten Felines, Inc. The family called the rescue group to report they had Banks, Michelle Maroon of the rescue group (a genuine rocket scientist) reached out to the very relieved adopter and a plan was forged for them to travel from Pennsylvania to Michigan to get him. “We’ll do whatever it takes to get him back,” Michelle was told. I am happy to share that Banks is safely back home with his loving family in Pennsylvania. He will see snow for the first time in his life.  When Michelle called me to tell me about Banks’ adventure almost 10 years after he was found, three things came to mind. The first thing is that people are inherently good. Shirley and her team could have just ignored Banks or presumed he would leave the parking lot eventually. They saw he was in trouble and reached out for assistance. They showed compassion. Our amazing partners with Forgotten Felines, Inc. jumped into action to help Banks right away, They showed compassion, as they have for so many years in support of our local cats. The family traveling to Michigan could have left Banks where they found him, but they did not. They correctly presumed he had been lost by another family traveling north and they took it upon themselves to make sure he would be safe, even if his family was never found. They were willing to adopt him if it came to that. They showed him compassion. The second thing was that microchipping works. I have heard many stories before of companion animals lost while traveling and later found thousands of miles away, sometimes years later. This was the first time a cat I knew traveled almost 2,000 miles and made it back to his family. I know a lot of people don’t have their cats chipped because they live inside. All cats and dogs should be microchipped to help them get back home as quickly as possible, no matter where they end up. (There is also the added benefit of being able to prove a lost animal belongs to you and not someone else). The third thing was that TNR – trap, neuter, return - works. We began doing TNR in 2009 after some landscapers disturbed a kitten nest and a frantic co-worker told me to "come quick!" before the kittens were injured. We originally helped cats in two locations for many years - on our property and a property to our east - after we learned the cats were moving between the two parcels through the storm drain system. We learned right away that TNR helps not just feral cats but socialized cats who have been pets. Banks (and many of the other cats and kittens we helped) was not trapped and he was not the only one. Some cats helped by Forgotten Felines were so tired or sick they let us pick them up. But for our reputation in the area and relationship with the rescue group, we likely would not have been contacted by Shirley and we would not have been in a position to help Banks. In all the years of doing TNR at our office and the dozens of cats we helped, more than 90% of them were pet cats. Some were lost. Some were sick. One had a shattered leg that could have been amputated but was saved through orthopedic surgery. There were a handful of cats who were genuinely feral and who were put back in their habitat where they were born and had lived for a long time. There were some cats who were so sick or injured when we found them that the most humane thing to do was for them to be euthanized. But for cats like Chloe, Abernathy, Channing, Ford, Lanier, Sweetpea, Tumbleweed, Latte, Romey, Audobon, Squeaky, Minny, Locke, Sky, Larry and Murphy, being attracted to our feeding station saved their lives and helped them find new homes when their former homes could not be found. Banks has traveled more in the last month than many of us have traveled in years. It warms my heart to know he is safely back his family. I’m thinking of sending him a bow tie. And maybe a small briefcase for travel. 
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The Alabama 30-day legislative session ended on April 9, 2026. It was exhausting even though I never set foot inside the Montgomery State Capitol. As I process what happened in the last couple of weeks, I wanted to write about those events to help myself decompress and to also share for the benefit of others so they can consider state laws being promoted, modified or passed where they live. I am working on a local ordinance in the city where I live and will write about that process in a later blog. The short story is that this session was filled with passion on the part of animal welfare advocates, much bad behavior toward people by those same advocates, lessons about the legislative process and lessons about unintended consequences when seeking new laws. Since my goal is to help others, I'll cover lessons learned first and will then share about what happened here. But a little background first.  Law LevelsThere are three levels of animal laws, all of which are separate (much like other legal issues related to people).
How Laws Get EnactedI feel pretty confident that a lot of people aren't familiar how most laws are enacted at state level, including laws that may be important to them on a variety of subjects: animals, children, voting, education, criminal laws, driving and transportation, business and commerce, public health and safety, etc. We all vote and we all see ballot measures when we vote, but the vast majority of laws are not put to a vote and are handled by those we elect to represent us. Many laws are enacted without people knowing about them at all and they may only learn about them if the see or read a story on the news or they end up on the wrong side of a new law they knew nothing about. The process by which a bill becomes law varies by state but is pretty similar for the most part: a bill is filed by a state elected official - a senator or a representative - and it is assigned to a committee for consideration. It can either die in committee (meaning no action is taken) or get a favorable vote (with or without changes being made) and then it is considered by the chamber in which it was introduced (house or senate). If it makes it through that chamber, the process repeats itself in the other chamber using a mirror image bill which must be the same. The bill then dies or advances. If the bill gets through the second chamber, it goes to the governor to sign or veto. The process is more detailed than that and involves more steps, but that’s the general sequence. Some bills seek creation of new laws. Many bills seek to amend - or change - existing laws. Learning about the laws in your state can take time. Time many people lack. I have issues with the state rankings issued by the ALDF each year, but I applaud the research done by ALDF to make the laws readily available to anyone interested in reading them. When laws are handled by the state legislature and not put to a vote, it can be easy to go along with something you see on social media or are told by another person, even if that information is wrong. Our bonds with our animals are emotional. It stands to reason that the subject of laws about how animals are treated is equally emotional and it doesn't take much for people to lose sight of the goals of some laws. Most people with whom I interact believe that any law about animals must be a good law. As I wrote about last May, some bills are good and some bills are bad. Some bills have both good and bad and when that happens we have to weigh the risks of changing laws we have which is not always for the better. Lessons LearnedIf you are interested in new laws (or changes to existing laws) in your state related to companion animals, I encourage you to consider the following. No one expects you to be an attorney. I do hope you will learn and speak for yourself if you want to be taken seriously and you want to help companion animals in your state.
My Issues with Beau's Law (SB 361) Alabama enacted a law called Beau's Law which was named after a dog named Beau who was found outside in the snow in Jefferson County, Alabama, with only cardboard for shelter. The law sets standards of care for dogs who are outside, conditions for tethering dogs, provides exemptions to the law and provides punishments. The process that led to this new law was complicated and I won't try to explain the whole thing here because it's not important for the sake of trying to help others. The following summary may be of some value to you. Through the end of 2025, Alabama had criminal laws regarding livestock, regarding cockfighting, regarding animals generally and regarding dogs and cats specifically. Crimes against dogs and cats were punishable by a Class A Misdemeanor (punishable by up to one year in county jail [or hard labor] and a maximum fine of $6,000) at least and Class C Felony (punishable by 1 year and 1 day to 10 years in prison and fines up to $15,000) at worst. The Pet Protection Act (PPA) which is specific to dogs and cats was enacted in 2000. It took 12 years to get the PPA passed. The law regarding cruelty to “animals” which is not specific to dogs and cats was first enacted in 1977 and was later amended in 2013 to bring the penalty level in line with the PPA. Representatives Phil Ensler and Neil Rafferty brought House Bill 446 that set certain standards of care for dogs outside, required certain methods be used when confining or tethering a dog and would require criminal penalties for violations. The bill did not seek to amend the PPA. Senator Garlan Gudger brought Senate Bill 361 almost 20 days later. It covered the same subjects but still not seek to amend the PPA. The Senate bill made it through committee and the Senate in 3 days, crossed over to the house and became the leading bill. The bill was amended in the House committee before being brought to the House floor on the 29th day of the session. Eleven amendment to the bill were proposed, 6 were adopted, the bill crossed back over to the Senate and was signed by Governor Ivey as Beau's Law. People were told this was the first time an animal law had made it through the legislative gauntlet in 26 years (which is not accurate) and began making plans for it to be enforced when it goes into effect on October 1, 2026. People celebrated. People cheered. I was not one of those people. Each time a bill was filed or substituted, I read it thoroughly, compared it to existing state laws and communicated my concerns about each bill (both HB 446 and SB 361) to bill sponsors and my own legislators based on my knowledge of statutory law from more than 30 years in the legal field. I felt the bills could weaken existing laws, may have provisions that were unenforceable, may be confusing and may be ignored in some places. To be clear, I fully support adequate care of dogs. That should go without saying. I wrote and promoted an ordinance in the city where I live about a decade ago that covers many of the same topics as these bills which has been in effect a long time and is working well. There is, however, a world of difference between a state law and a local law that has been considered by the city council and adopted as setting forth the standards inside the city that will be enforced by the police department. I expressed concerns about the following topics in the bills:
Simply put - my concerns with the legislation outweighed even the love I have for dogs. I’m worried most issues with animal cruelty is lack of enforcement of current laws. That’s not a criticism of law enforcement, it’s just the reality. Most law enforcement agencies prioritize human crime that they deem is the most important to address with their limited resources. Most counties and cities cannot afford to increase their animal control staff. I was worried this bill could be an unfunded mandate on cities and counties. I also feel like some of the awful stories I heard about dogs not having proper shelter and tethering should fall under our existing cruelty laws. I’m not sure adding more regulations would fix the issue. In fact I was worried about people just abandoning their dogs to avoid dealing with the new laws. And animal abandonment is an issue you and I communicated about before and tried to solve because we both know it’s an issue. Like with the animal abandonment bill, I noticed animal rights advocates not fully agreeing if SB 361 was good or bad. I also just had practical application concerns about private property, probable cause, etc that lead me to eventually vote no. "  Despite rumors to the contrary, I never tried to "kill" a bill. The fact that people accused me of that, as if I have that type of influence, is comical. I communicated with elected officials about bills (which is an exercise of my Free Speech under the First Amendment) just as I have in past years. Sometimes I received responses, sometimes I did not. The officials to whom I wrote no doubt shared my messages with primary supporters of the bill. I would expect no less. What I did not expect was to be subject to cyber libel on social media. Allison Black Cornelius (the CEO of the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, an organization that does not have a good track record keeping dogs alive) accused me of being a negative, ignorant, jealous, bitter extremist, causing our state to be stuck and helping special interest groups in their opposition to new animal laws. Wendy Michelle Montealegre (a rescuer who does tremendous work saving animals in Blount County) accused me of going on a secret campaign to kill and sabotage the bill by calling shelters (which I did not). Chapel King (who was recently elected to the City of Florence City Council) wrote that if I was not willing to support the bill that I should not take actions to harm the bill. My requests to her to remove defamatory comments about me on a social media page she admins have gone unanswered. A woman who goes by Patricia N TheMutts wrote that I was creating dissension, chaos and bad feelings, defeating the cause of helping animals. Deanna Nicholas (who works with Rock Creek Rescue in Madison County) called me selfish, saying I was upset because I did not get anything done when I was in animal rights advocacy so I was standing in the way of forward momentum. When I reached out to Ms. Nicholas to ask her to remove her social media comment about me, she went further, calling me an attention seeking, washed up, non-effective person who was blocking a bill that could save lives and accusing me of wanting dogs to die on chains. She also claimed that because this is America, she can say anything she wants about me. Uh, wrong. I have long believed that personal attacks are desperate attempts by people who would rather result to defamation than to address the actual issues at hand. I really am allowed to have my own opinions about proposed laws that are not in lockstep with the opinions of others and as they misrepresent - intentional or not - existing laws. Enforcement Issues With Beau's LawThe laws in Alabama regarding companion animals are quite strong no matter how the state is ranked compared to other states. Our dog fighting law is considered the third most strict law in the country. What is lacking is enforcement of existing laws. There are different cultures in Alabama regarding dogs as pets compared to dogs who perform a service function or protect livestock. One state representative who spoke on the House floor about the bill said, "no one should go to jail for a damn dog." I was hopeful the bill sponsor would point out that people already go to jail for animal crimes that have been punishable as a Class A Misdemeanor for not less than a quarter of a century. He did not. In areas of Alabama where existing laws are not enforced, it seems illogical that more or newer laws would be enforced more. Certified officers currently receive no mandatory training on the state's animal laws (even though they are part of the criminal code) and most animal control officers receive no training at all. It is typical for an ACO to only be required to have a driver's license and a high school diploma or GED before being handed a catch pole and told to go to work. There are certainly certified officers and ACOs who have sought out training for themselves but there is no standard training curriculum for either position. As is the case in every state, every law enforcement agency has a finite number of certified personnel on duty at any given time and calls are prioritized. Responses to crimes against people will always be handled before crimes against animals and laws viewed as "lesser" laws will always receive less attention than crimes considered more serious. The same goes for prosecution. There are finite resources to make and bring cases before courts and decisions on those cases are prioritized based on the culture in the jurisdiction. A former city fire captain is facing trial in Madison County for killing a puppy and was charged with a Class C felony under 13A-11-14.1 which applies to animals generally. The ADA told me he used that statute because the dog was dead and he wanted to be able to use the Habitual Felony Offender Act. Would the same crime be charged at all in Washington County? Perhaps not. Add to all of this that of the 67 counties in Alabama, 39 counties have not adopted the state dog confinement law. This means dogs essentially run loose, even in counties where there have been human deaths in dog attacks. Of the 67 counties in Alabama, 29 counties have no animal control services and no pound as required by state law. A 30th county has animal control services but no pound. Where do dogs seized under the new law in those places go and what happens to them? I have long believed a bad bill is worse than no bill. If we can all agree that animal problems are people problems and that we want the best possible care for animals, it is worth our time to develop laws that do not compromise those we already have, that are enforceable and that actually help animals. Beau's Law already reduced the criminal penalty. Will it prove to be enforceable and help animals not just in some counties but across the state without leading to the death of more dogs in animal shelters? Time will tell.  (image courtesy of Kristin Yarbrough of Alabama Animal Advocates)
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AuthorI am an animal welfare advocate. My goal is to help people understand some basic issues related to companion animals in America. Awareness leads to education leads to action leads to change. Categories
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image courtesy of Terrah Johnson
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