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OUR APP RIGHT NOW. NEW EFFORTS IN MONTGOMERY TO CRACK DOWN ON ANIMAL ABUSE ACROSS THE STATE. A NEW BILL WORKING ITS WAY THROUGH THE LEGISLATURE RIGHT NOW WILL ADDRESS PEOPLE WHO ARE ABANDONING THEIR PETS. �������� 13 JARVIS ROBERTSON HAS MORE ON WHAT THE BILL WOULD SPECIFICALLY DO IF PASSED. THERE ARE TWO BILLS IN THE 2025 LEGISLATIVE SESSION THAT TAKES AIM AT ANIMAL ABANDONMENT AND ANTI TETHERING. HOUSE BILL 249 WOULD SPECIFICALLY PROHIBIT THE ABANDONMENT OF A DOG OR CAT AND PROVIDE A CRIMINAL PENALTY FOR A VIOLATION. THIS WOULD BE A CLASS A MISDEMEANOR. GREATER BIRMINGHAM HUMANE SOCIETY CEO ALISON BLACK. CORNELIUS SAYS THIS COULD HELP CUT DOWN ON AN ALL TOO COMMON PROBLEM. WE HAVE A LOT OF APARTMENTS HERE, PEOPLE. WE JUST HAD SOMETHING HAPPEN RECENTLY, A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO WHERE PEOPLE LEFT A DOG IN AN APARTMENT FROM NOVEMBER TILL TWO WEEKS AGO, AND THE LANDLORD AND THE APARTMENT LAWYER WAS HAVING A VERY HARD TIME. STRANGELY ENOUGH, GETTING THIS DOG REMOVED AND TO SAFETY. SHE SAYS A CAT DIED LAST WEEK IN TARRANT BECAUSE IT WAS ACCIDENTALLY LOCKED IN AN ABANDONED HOUSE, AND WE COULD NOT GET A JUDGE OR THE TARRANT CITY POLICE DEPARTMENT TO LET US GET THIS CAT OUT. AND IT STARVED TO DEATH IN THE HOUSE. ANOTHER PROBLEM, SHE SAYS, THAT HAPPENS IN THE AREA. CRIMINALS WILL USE EMPTY PROPERTIES TO BOARD DOGS OR TO LEAVE DOGS AT THAT PROPERTY, AND THEY WILL COME BACK AND FORTH TO FEED THEM. AND THEY MAY GO TO JAIL, AND THEY AREN’T AVAILABLE TO FEED THAT ANIMAL. THE SECOND BILL IS HB 149. IT STATES A PERSON MAY NOT LEAVE OR KEEP A DOG CHAINED OR TETHERED TO A STATIONARY OBJECT, INCLUDING A STRUCTURE, DOG HOUSE, POLE OR TREE, OR OTHERWISE CONFINED. BLACK CORNELIUS BELIEVES IT’S LONG OVERDUE FOR THIS. LEGISLATION IN ALABAMA FELL TO 49TH WORST STATE, WORST STATE IN THE COUNTRY FOR ALABAMA, FOR ANIMAL LAWS. WE WERE AT LIKE IN THE HIGH 30S. AND IN THE LAST 24 MONTHS, WE’VE GONE TO 49 BECAUSE OTHER STATES HAVE PASSED LAWS. TRAVIS ROBERTSON, �������� 13. NOW, IF THESE BILLS WER