Ron Tyler – Florence Chief of Police
FLORENCE – On January 15 the Quad-Cities Daily interviewed Debbie Rappuhn (head of the “Heart of Alabama Save Rescue Adopt”) to get her view of the events which lead up to her suspension from the Florence-Lauderdale County Animal Shelter.
Florence Police Chief, Ron Tyler, whose Department oversees the Shelter took exception to Rappuhn’s characterization of the events. On January 28, Tyler penned his comments in the Florence Police Department’s Facebook page.
Here is what he had to say:
“Animal Control Update from Chief Ron Tyler:
As you all may know, there has been much discussion recently over activities that are on-going at the Florence Lauderdale Animal Shelter. Under the current structure, the animal shelter falls under the authority of the police department. Therefore, it is the police department’s responsibility to ensure that the shelter is fulfilling the animal control needs of our community. Many of you remember that 4 or 5 years ago, the animal shelter was euthanizing an alarming number of animals. With the help of volunteers from organizations such as HASRA and PAWS, this number was greatly reduced. This was a truly remarkable accomplishment. Keeping the number of animal euthanizations low continues to be our goal. Recently, the city passed a pet licensing fee that we hope will impact the number of unwanted and/or stray animals being turned in to the shelter. The city and county also have both approved funds that will go towards the construction of a new animal shelter. In fact, Lauderdale County’s appropriation towards animal services has increased substantially this budget year. While preliminary work on the new shelter has already begun, we hope to see more progress soon. So, the Florence Lauderdale Animal Shelter, with the assistance of volunteers, fosters, and rescues, is on the right “trajectory.”
To stay on this trajectory moving forward, here is what I propose: Sometime during the week of February 10th, I hope to meet with two representatives from PAWS, two representatives from HASRA, possibly a local veterinarian, and Shelter Administrator Vinny Grosso to discuss some shelter and volunteer protocols. I will distribute a preliminary draft of the protocols and ask for PAWS, HASRA’s, and perhaps the veterinarian’s input. We will take the opportunity to discuss these protocols at this meeting, then set up a following meeting to finalize them. By bringing representatives from the shelter and the volunteer organizations together, perhaps we can establish some necessary structure that the city and volunteers all agree on. At the end of the day, we will try and iron out the best system possible for providing the best quality animal control services and formalize a structure for the adoption, foster, and rescue of animals. The ultimate goal being to continue to reduce the number of animals being euthanized at the shelter. We are committed to working together. We are committed to improving our animal control services, and we are committed to keeping euthanizations to an absolute minimum. Again, let me offer a huge thank you to all of the volunteers and fosters. The best days for the Florence Lauderdale Animal Shelter most certainly lie ahead.
Ron Tyler
Chief of Police”
The Quad-Cities Daily has made several attempts this week to contact Chief Tyler for his take on the Animal Shelter dustup. We were able to reach the Chief this afternoon (Friday) and he declined to give a video interview. If Chief Tyler changes his mind on the interview invitation, we will make every effort to accommodate him.
Please read our earlier story, “Every dog has it’s day… And so does the Florence Animal Shelter suspended volunteer.”
