Columbia Animal Control and Rescue and the Columbia Police Department have come under fire after a woman’s post on Facebook accused the shelter of euthanizing animals by shooting them.

Mayor Justin McKenzie said while police officers indeed have had to euthanize some animals by shooting them, they do it in a humane and legal manner.

“They’ve done this following guidelines and policies that they’ve had for years,” he said.

Unlike many shelters, Columbia’s is operated with Marion County through its police department, which does not have enough money in its budget to hire a veterinarian to euthanize with drugs.

On Monday, eight dogs were put down, McKenzie said, because they were either sick, aggressive or otherwise unadoptable.

The shelter also released six healthy animals to go on transport to a shelter in Maryland and one was adopted.

“We do everything we can to try to find them forever homes,” McKenzie said. “The shelter is considered a no-kill shelter because we only kill those that are unadoptable for one reason or another.”

A shelter is considered no-kill if 10% or fewer animals are euthanized.

The shelter currently houses 56 cats and dogs in 32 kennels. Two city employees work at the shelter to care for the animals.

Volunteers also help at the shelter and local companies have helped with food and materials to maintain the shelter.

McKenzie said the city and county also have put a lot of money into the shelter recently to make improvements.

Brenda Kilpatrick, who was a volunteer at the shelter according to McKenzie, posted a comment on Facebook accusing the police of mistreating the animals.

“The animals, including a puppy, were shot instead of being humanely euthanized because the city could not afford to pay for it,” she said. “When I asked if the animals were humanely euthanized, I was told ‘according to the state, they were.’”

Attempts to reach Kilpatrick for comment were unsuccessful.

Mississippi law allows for animals to be euthanized by a law enforcement officer if deemed necessary:

”Any sheriff, constable, policeman, or agent of a society for the prevention of cruelty to animals may kill, or cause to be killed, any animal other than a dog or cat found neglected or abandoned …”

Shooting an animal is a humane method of euthanasia according to a report by the American Veterinary Medicine Association, McKenzie said.

But it is a last resort, McKenzie said. The city would rather see the animals get adopted.

When calls started coming in to the city, McKenzie asked Police Chief Mike Kelly to issue a news release to explain what happened.

“This week was one of those rare and unfortunate times in which euthanasia had to take place,” the police department news release said. “Again, this is not our goal nor do we take pleasure in this duty, however it is necessary on occasion for the health and well being of adoptable animals as well as the staff of our facility.”

The release did not disclose how the animals were euthanized, except to say the animals were destroyed in a “humane and legal” manner.

Alderman Mike Smith told the Hattiesburg American he and Kelly, who is fairly new to the department, last week visited with an animal shelter in Louisiana that takes in about 7,500 animals a year to learn how to manage a shelter since neither of the men had experience running a shelter.

He said the shelter is doing what it can to care for the animals in an appropriate manner.

McKenzie said he would like to see more adoptions and volunteers at the shelter. He said the shelter has had a couple of recent adoption events with little success.

He said the city can’t justify using taxpayer dollars to hire a veterinarian to euthanize the animals.

McKenzie applauded Smith and Kelly for trying to learn from other shelters how to manage the shelter better.

”We’re trying to find best practices (for running a shelter),” he said. “We’re still learning. We want to assure the public that we have the best intentions for our animals.”

More:Thrift store used to raise money for animal shelter burglarized in Hattiesburg

More:Mad Max? Dog's seizure sparks lawsuits, confinement at Southern Pines Animal Shelter

Contact Lici Beveridge at 601-584-3104 or lbeveridge@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @licibev.