I’ve had a google alert set on the words, ‘animal shelter overcapacity’ for several years now. It’s one of the ways we find shelters that are struggling and need help. Normally, I would get google alerts a few times a week, with maybe one or two entries. Since last fall, I’ve been getting a google…
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…
In this Issue: Online Auction, SWD Work weekend, Grant deadlines, Fundraising Ideas, and more! It’s Time for our AUCTION! Our first annual Fall Silent Auction is almost here! The auction will be open on September 6 at 12 pm and will close on September 16 at 8pm. This will be our largest fundraiser for the…
The smell is familiar to me now, but that hot August day in 2018 it overwhelmed my senses. The mix of disinfectant, urine, feces, mildew, and desperation was powerful, made even more so by the heat. Shelters, even the good ones, I’ve come to understand, have the same smell. I recognized it that first time…
Owner surrenders are swamping this tiny county as they labor on offering foster care and advocating for spay/neuter.
We are headed south today. There were snowflakes falling as I walked Fanny for the last time, assuring her that she would see me in ten days, but knowing my absence will be hard on her. I am hoping it will be warmer where we are going. Our schedule is full and what was originally…
So much of our rescue efforts are focused on the rural south, as well they should be. That’s where the majority of dogs are suffering and dying, where shelters are overwhelmed, and money runs short, but recently I participated in a rescue that wasn’t in the south. It was actually four hours north of my…
On Monday, I hitched up the wagons and drove to town. (That’s what Nick likes to say every time I say I need to go ‘to town’ which is 10 miles away.) I was headed to the Warren County Humane Society, aka, the Warren County Animal Shelter. I was signing up two of ‘my’ four…
After plying Ian with eggs and bagels, we drove out to Trisha’s place, home of her rescue, RARE (Rural Animal Rescue Effort). Disguised as a pretty, petite, energetic normal person, Trisha is a powerhouse who rescues animals all over western Tennessee, fighting for them on every level. She will not tolerate your nonsense and has…
