Tim Brown cranked up his white Chevrolet truck and headed to the Animal Shelter of St. Clair County in Pell City."It sort of smells like a dog in here, but it goes with the job," he said.
Brown is animal control officer for St. Clair County. For nearly four years, Brown has traveled the rural roads of St. Clair County picking up stray animals and delivering them to the local shelter.
Brown was trained in Etowah and Jefferson counties to be a animal control officer. He also attended classes and seminars at Auburn University in Montgomery. Brown learned the proper ways of capturing animals and rabies control.
While cities like Pell City, Sylacauga and Talladega have leash laws, unincorporated areas of Talladega and St. Clair counties have no such provisions.
Brown said he can only pick up stray animals, not animals that are owned by St. Clair County residents. He has mistakenly picked up some animals whose owners called upset, wanting their dog or cat back.
Brown works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, but sometimes he is called out on emergencies.
He said the warmer the weather gets, the busier he gets picking up stray animals. Brown regularly visits certain areas of the county that have become dumping grounds for unwanted pets.
"Seventy to 75 percent of the stray animals I pick up are on dead-end roads," he said.
People drive by and dump a dog or litter of puppies in isolated areas of the county instead of taking them to the animal shelter.
All the area shelters have outside pens so people can leave their unwanted pets anytime during the day or night, local shelter officials said.
Brown said he is an animal lover and owns dogs, cats and horses. He is also an advocate for the local animal shelter and encourages people to get their pets there.
"I don't think people realize they can get full-blooded dogs there," Brown said. "They have dogs you would never dream that would be at a shelter. About anything you want, you can find at the shelter."
Brown said his job has its drawbacks.
"I've been bit pretty bad, eight or nine times, over the last three years," he said. "And scratched a few times."
He has been inoculated for rabies and receives booster shots. However, Brown said he has never picked up an animal in St. Clair County that had rabies.
He said his biggest concern with the job is when he deals with a pack of dogs.
"If you got three or four dogs coming at you from different directions, you're in trouble," he said.
Brown receives a variety of service calls, including calls from residents concerned about wild animals such as alligators, mountain lions, bears, black panthers, opossums and even snakes.
"I would have never dreamed when I took this job all the different types of calls you would get in St. Clair County," he said.
Brown recalled capturing a rattlesnake that was coiled underneath a woman's television set in her living room. Another call came from a woman who saw a snake get into her car.
She was ready to trade in the car, until the snake came slithering out, Brown said.
He also goes on animal abuse calls and when residents who move leave their pets behind.
Although Brown is armed with a tranquilizer rifle, he only uses it as a last resort. Animals, he said, can have a reaction to the tranquilizer and die. He frequently uses traps to capture live animals.
"It's a pretty busy job," Brown said. "There's not a day that goes by that I don't get called out."
