County shelters come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and models, but most boil down to two basic options. A county shelter run by county employees or a county shelter that contracts a nonprofit to run their shelter. And here a little sidebar: Not all counties have public shelters. Until they do (or join…
It was a beautiful drive up to Mountain City, Tennessee. We followed a dead-end road up a hollow where it ended at the animal shelter. Mandy had told us to drive until the pavement ended and there would be the shelter. And there it was. Mountain City Animal Shelter is a tiny cinderblock building nestled…
Private animal shelters often are built near public shelters to do the job that the tax-payer funded shelter is not. They literally rescue dogs from the public shelter. Why is more not expected from a government run shelter? Why do citizens pay for two shelters – one with their taxes and the other with their donations (and hearts)? And why, pray tell, do we allow this to go on?
Our visit to Bibb County was proof once again, that you don’t have to live in the south to be saving animals in the south. And also, that one individual can make a real difference. We learned about the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office Animal Services from Linda Taylor. Linda lives in Illinois yet works to…
“Why do you do this?” I asked Rose, the founder/director/doer-of-pretty-much-everything at Saving Webster Dogs. Rose shrugged, smiled, sighed, and said, “Somebody has to do it.” But, somebody doesn’t have to do it. In fact, nobody else in Webster County, West Virginia is willing to do what Rose does to save these dogs.
This past spring we visited Petersburg Animal Care & Control just outside of Richmond, Virginia. The shelter building is over sixty years old and shows it, but new director and ACO, Jenny, is doing all she can with what she’s got, and that means saving as many dogs as possible. Before Jenny took over in…
Every time we go to the shelters, I learn something. This time was no different. We’ve been to over 80 shelters now, so you’d think they would all look alike. In a few ways (dogs in need, incredible people) they are, but in so many ways they are unique. One of the projects we are…
A week from now we will be on shelter tour, hitting seven shelters in six states.
Our last stop on our January shelter tour was a tiny animal control facility beside the wastewater treatment plant in Live Oak, Florida. Mary, the sole ACO for Live Oak city shelter, was in the yard with a dog whose story haunted me the entire drive home. Mary picked up T-bone and another female dog…
Polk County, Florida is ranked first in Florida and fourth in the nation for number of dogs ‘euthanized’ each year. The Polk County shelter killed 5000 dogs in 2020. Which is even more remarkable considering 2020 was the year so many shelters were emptied (momentarily). The only way a dog labeled a bully breed can…
