Two dogs that attacked and killed 29 cats at the Dothan Animal Shelter have been euthanized. Police Chief Steve Parrish said they were put down last Thursday.

After first refusing to do so, the dogs' owner, Kenneth Hamilton, agreed to transfer control of the animals to the city. Parrish believes, had he not, a court would have ordered the them put down.

“Those dogs forced their way out of a pen. Then, they pushed hard enough on galvanized bars to knock (the bars) out of their clamps,” Shelter Director Bill Banks told WTVY following the attacks.

That allowed them to push back enough on the chain-link type fencing to get inside and maul the cats after the shelter closed for the day.

Animal control officers had picked up the dogs hours earlier after they discovered them wondering around a Dothan neighborhood.

The incident ignited calls for the city to construct a new animal shelter. Since then, money has been appropriated for preliminary plans.

However, no construction dollars have been allocated for what Mayor Mark Saliba and others hope will be a public-private partnership.