Mindy Gilbert, the Alabama director of the Humane Society of the United States, will visit Demopolis on Thursday, Sept. 10, in an effort to bolster awareness of state laws regarding pets.

“She started off in Birmingham,” said Lucille Carpenter, the director of the Demopolis Animal Shelter. “She worked with the Greater Birmingham Humane Society. She came to Demopolis once years ago and had a meeting on how to investigate animal cruelty. I have worked with her for the last 15 or 20 years now.

“She wants to meet with people here, and hopefully, we will have law enforcement and people who care about animals here at the meeting. She’s going to update us about Alabama laws and interpret some of those. She said there would be about an hour for questions and answers.

“There was a case in Birmingham years ago that she actually worked on where the police were trying to get into a house to find out what was going on; it was in a lovely neighborhood. They had seen a dog bowl in the front yard, and that gave the animal control the ability to get a warrant to search for a rabies tag. Law enforcement was able to get in the house and DHR (the Department of Human Resources) was able to get the children. It was actually a drug-prostitution-pit bull ring going on right there in that lovely home. That’s how animal control actually helped law enforcement. That’s the kind of thing she’s going to discuss: how we can all work together to make a better community.”

The meeting will take place on Sept. 10 at 5 p.m. at Rooster Hall in downtown Demopolis, and the public is invited to attend. There is no admission cost for the informational meeting.