Wedowee police chief denies rumors of trapping and shooting dogs

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Wedowee Police Chief Robbie Taylor defended his and his department’s actions Tuesday in response to allegations that he and/or his officers were shooting stray dogs.

He admitted that dogs had been shot in the town in the past, but only in cases where it was believed that the dogs were placing people in immediate danger.

The exchange between Taylor and Randolph County resident Stephanie Herren took place at Tuesday’s meeting of the Wedowee Town Council.

Herren addressed the council with an anonymous letter that she received that insinuated that the Wedowee Police Department was shooting stray dogs as a means of animal control in the town, a claim that Taylor succinctly denied.

The letter, as read by Herren in the meeting, stated in part, “The chief of police secretly sets traps out to catch [the dogs], and then he shoots them.”

Mayor Tim Coe informed Herren that the town has an agreement with the Randolph County Animal Shelter to house its strays, and the town pays the shelter $4,000 per year as part of that agreement.

“We have cages that we have caught dogs in in the past,” Taylor said. “We’ve never had a problem with the animal shelter taking any animals.”

Taylor flatly denied trapping and shooting dogs.

“I’m not trapping dogs and shooting dogs,” he said. “Why would I trap dogs and shoot dogs if we’ve got a contract with the animal shelter to take them?”

Taylor then elaborated on specific instances in which dogs had been shot or euthanized, most notably after a 2023 dog attack in Wedowee left two workers from the county DHR office severely injured.

The Town of Wedowee, at Taylor’s recommendation, enacted a leash law a year after that attack.

“I do know there’s been occasions where there has been dogs shot before. That’s to protect life,” he said. “Where we were having a dog attack up here by the Baptist church, one of those dogs was shot. The other dogs ran in the house and were trapped. We have an agreement with the veterinarian down here, and the veterinarian came and euthanized the other animals in the house because they had already attacked these people.”

Taylor said the police department would have incident reports for anything involving animals. He also noted that the animal shelter would likely have records of the strays brought to them by Wedowee police officers.