When you hand a frightened animal to a county shelter, you are trusting that the person on the other side will protect it. In Bay County, Florida, that trust was allegedly broken by the very person paid to carry out animal control.
According to the Bay County Sheriff's Office, a Bay County Animal Control employee, Cameron Howard, was fired on September 30, 2026 and arrested on two counts of animal cruelty and one count of aggravated animal cruelty. Investigators say a witness reported that during a kitten euthanasia on September 3, he inserted a second needle into the kitten's stomach while it was still alive, and then laughed. Other reports allege he struck a dog's spine with a catch pole, leaving the dog temporarily paralyzed and seizing, and slammed a restrained dog to the ground. Mr. Howard is presumed innocent until proven guilty. The investigation is ongoing.
The case only surfaced because an anonymous person spoke up. Bay County Manager Joel Schubert called the conduct "entirely unacceptable and will not be tolerated." Sheriff Tommy Ford called it "extremely disturbing."
Those words mean something only if they are followed by action.
I'm Eric, and I run I Love Every Dog. I'm asking the Bay County Board of County Commissioners and County Manager Joel Schubert to do three things:
1. Commission an independent audit of Bay County Animal Control's euthanasia procedures, animal handling, and complaint reporting, and publish the findings.
2. Require documented training and a witnessed second-person check for every euthanasia procedure, with a protected channel for staff to report concerns.
3. Publicly urge the Bay County State Attorney's Office to pursue every charge the evidence supports, including the aggravated cruelty count, and to seek the maximum penalty if there is a conviction.
The animals in that building cannot report what happens to them. The people who work there did, and Bay County owes them and every pet that comes through its doors a full accounting. Please sign and share.
