When ice and snow are in the forecast, most people hunker down at home to stay warm with their families.
But when freezing precipitation started falling earlier this month, three Oktibbeha County Humane Society staff members knew the shelter’s animals needed them.
Though all three only joined the OCHS staff last year, Healthcare Coordinator Aynsley Wheeler and Animal Care Attendants Jalea McCauley and Ray Thorman all volunteered to stay at the shelter overnight to protect the animals they love from the cold.
“I didn’t really know what to expect,” McCauley said. “But I knew of course (that) I was always willing to help. If that’s what it takes, whatever needs to be done to band together to be here, I didn’t mind at all.”
McCauley and Wheeler planned to stay at the shelter for the nights of Jan. 14 and 15, with another shift including Thorman relieving them the following morning. But when snow started falling on the evening of Jan. 15 and the temperature dipped into the teens, things changed.
“I think that’s when reality set in,” McCauley said. “Especially that night when it really started coming down and it was sticking.”
While OCHS houses a few of its dogs on an outdoor “slab” under a pavilion with a heating system keeping them warm, McCauley said that as the ice started to fall, the heating system started failing. Soon, she and Wheeler were monitoring the dog’s temperatures with thermometers and it became clear the animals couldn’t stay where they were.
The pair started moving dogs from their normal kennels on the slab to the OCHS Express pod building, where they would be out of the cold.
McCauley said they used salt to try to stop the ground from freezing, as they slowly moved all of the animals indoors.
“I couldn’t imagine if no one was here and no one was checking or caught that our heater was no longer working. Those animals would have been out there all night and… who knows how long,” McCauley said. “…You don’t even really want to think about it.”
Once all the dogs were moved indoors, and McCauley and Wheeler were comfortable with the dogs’ temperatures, the pair turned in for the night.
McCauley slept in the front office, while Wheeler slept in the treatment room, surrounded by medications and two geriatric cats.
The next day, the pair woke to find the roads completely iced over. They wouldn’t be able to leave or receive additional help from other staff members until the ice melted. But they had work to do.
Typically, the shelter is staffed by seven people at a time, Wheeler said, including five cleaners to maintain the animals’ kennels. But until the following afternoon, Wheeler and McCauley would have to tend to the 80 animals housed in the shelter on their own.
“Usually the other vets, they have a patient and a client to talk to,” Wheeler said. “But all the animals here are either homeless or surrendered. So, not only am I taking care of a bunch of animals and I don’t have a client to talk to, but I’m the owner, they’re the owner, the shelter’s the owner. We all take these animals personally.”
McCauley cared for all the dogs and cats in adoption, while Wheeler took care of all of the animals in isolation and the relocated dogs from the slab, including new puppies.
“We had just gotten hit with litters of puppies,” Wheeler said. “We had a litter of 10, a litter of six, a litter of three, a litter of two — and they were just all down the hallway.”
The pair cared for the animals at the shelter, taking a few breaks to take care of themselves, including eating food provided by the shelter and other meals community members carefully brought out to the shelter for them.
This continued through the afternoon of Jan. 17, as the roads melted and other OCHS staff members were finally able to make it out to the shelter again.
McCauley said she was “excited” to see other human beings again after so much time with the shelter’s animals. But the experience didn’t change her passion for the job. In fact, she called the whole thing a “labor of love.”
“I love it,” McCauley said. “I love animals. They literally make complete turnarounds. I love seeing when they get adopted. Once you start and kind of feed off of them and realize that you can literally change an animal’s life for the short time that they are here — that’s what keeps you coming back.”
Once McCauley and Wheeler were cleared to go home, Thorman volunteered to come stay with the animals for the next several days, ensuring that they would be safe while the weather remained below freezing.
He stayed the nights of Jan. 19 through Jan. 21, checking on the animals at regular intervals throughout each night, though other staff members were able to come in and assist him during the day.
“Most of the days, I’ll go home and I’ll ask myself, ‘Why do I do this?’” Thorman said. “But I remember all the times that I’ve seen animals go from cowering in the corner in the back of a kennel to getting adopted by a very loving family.”
While all three staff members said the experience is not something they want to repeat anytime soon, they also agreed that they would do it again, if asked.
“I’ve got an air mattress in the back of my truck,” Wheeler offered.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 38 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
