WEST POINT – Earlier this month, Jessie Jones, shelter manager with the West Point Clay County Animal Shelter, was contacted about assisting with a large-scale animal hoarding issue involving dogs just north of Clay County’s border.
Beyond that, details were scarce, so Jones did not really know what to expect, but she knew she wanted to help.
After loading the shelter’s two vans floor-to-ceiling with kennels, Jones and two other shelter staff drove out Wednesday to a single-wide trailer filled with 54 dogs and one overwhelmed owner.
“The (owner’s) family was very helpful, (and) we all just started grabbing dogs,” Jones told The Dispatch on Friday. “We were probably out there for about two hours, just between talking with them (and loading the dogs). It was very emotional. Everyone was upset. He knew every single dog’s name. … He tried (to take care of them), he really did, but it was just him.”
Those large-scale rescue efforts are not anything new for area animal welfare groups in the Golden Triangle, Jones said. The West Point Clay County Animal Shelter alone sees about four cases of animal hoarding every year alongside regular instances of unregulated breeding in the county, which pushes the shelter’s capacity to the brink and underscores its need for additional foster volunteers.
Jones said these issues are mostly in rural areas inside the Golden Triangle or just outside its borders in neighboring counties that lack the same animal care resources.
“A lot of people in those areas, they contact us, and it’s either we say ‘yes’ or ‘no,’ or they dump it in the county,” Jones said. “… So, regardless of whether we agree to take them … we end up with the dogs anyway. Just because these people need help. And in a lot of these areas that don’t have shelters or resources, they don’t offer a solution to these people, so it’s up to the surrounding counties to pitch in.”
A lot of those abandonment issues in the county have led to cats and dogs overproducing and putting a strain on Golden Triangle animal care resources.
Puppy-kitten season
Including those 54 dogs so far this year, the West Point shelter has seen about 250 animals come through its doors each month, which have kept them near or at capacity.
Over the next two weeks, the 54 dogs the shelter saved Wednesday will be sent to rescue facilities in Illinois and New Hampshire, where they will be fostered or adopted, Jones said, which will be just in time for the projected summer rush in the county.
“This time of year is what we like to call puppy-kitten season,” Jones said. “When the weather gets warmer, the female dogs go into heat, and that’s when they get pregnant. Two months later, they start having puppies, and kittens are the same way. With that we have already started to see a surge of newborns … and so, we always need fosters (and) especially in the summer.”
Kim Hays, executive director for the Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society, said the shelter sees anywhere from 200 to 300 animals monthly.
“What we’re going through with the overpopulation (of dogs and cats) in Lowndes County, it’s a constant problem, and I don’t know what the solution is,” Hays said. “We’re doing what we can as a shelter to provide resources to the community. But a cat gives birth, and they can get pregnant again within the same week. That’s how quick it happens. … So it’s a tricky situation.”
During the college school year, Jones said she has a list of Mississippi State University volunteers who help foster animals when a call like Wednesday’s comes in. But now that those students are gone for the summer, that list has dwindled to a handful of city and county residents.
“This week alone, on top of the hoarding case, we have gotten … nine or 10 bottle-baby puppies, and about seven bottle-baby kittens, and those are ones that come in without a mom, (and) they aren’t able to stay overnight here on their own,” Jones said. “They need to be fed milk in a bottle every two or three hours, and so those are probably our most dire need. … A lot of my staff is having to take them home, and they already work their hearts out every single day here.”
Hays said the society’s list of foster volunteers is between five and 10 people at any given time, which is not enough to make a dent in the monthly influx the society sees. A consistent list of about 20 foster volunteers in Lowndes County could go a long way to helping with that summer influx of kittens and puppies for the society.
Residents interested in fostering with the Oktibbeha County Humane Society, Columbus-Lowndes Humane Society and the West Point Clay County Animal Shelter can fill out applications on their websites.
“Things like this to educate the community on (the fact) we’re here for you, but you have to be able to help us,” Hays said about their intake of animal surrenders. “You scratch our backs, we scratch yours type of situation. But I don’t have a solution, and I hate that I can’t magically fix this problem, but it’s going to take all of (the community) to come together on it.”
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You can help your community
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 34 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
