To the animal lovers of Waycross and Ware County
As many of you know, the Okefenokee Humane Society is under new management. I know that several of you have heard negative stories regarding the previous management... please, allow the current management/staff to look to the future; do not re-hash the past. Things have changed. The current staff love animals and they do everything in their power to euthanize as few animals as possible.
Unfortunately, one thing that has not changed is their facility. OHS is housed in the former office of the old landfill, a facility built in the 1950s which has not been renovated in decades. It is TINY. Any shelter, humane society, or animal rescue in the state of Georgia *must* receive a license from the Georgia Department of Agriculture which specifies how many animals are allowed on the premises. The Department of Agriculture conducts random inspections, and if the facility has more animals than the number for which it is licensed, it will be fined or even shut down.
The new staff at the Okefenokee Humane Society is trying its hardest to limit the number of animals it euthanizes. Additionally, they have been operating at maximum capacity for months. When a shelter is at maximum capacity, they LEGALLY CANNOT ACCEPT ANY OTHER ANIMALS until more space is made. Space is made in two ways: by adoption and by euthanasia. As adoption rates are really low these days, OHS is currently taking in animals by appointment only. This way they know how many animals will be coming in on a given day and can open spaces for them.
To individuals who insist that no humane society is allowed to turn away an animal, I ask: Where exactly are these animals supposed to go? OHS does not have unlimited space. As a HUMANE society, there are only so many animals they can humanely (not to mention legally) fit into one tiny building. To the people of Waycross, Ware County and the surrounding area: if you truly care about the welfare and well-being of the stray and homeless animals in our area, please lobby your local city and county representatives to allocate more funds for the humane society. They desperately need a new and larger facility in order to serve the people and animals of this community. If you find a stray dog or cat, please try to locate its owner. If that fails, ask your friends, family and coworkers if they would consider adopting it. If that doesn’t work, try running an ad in the Waycross Journal Herald or the Waycross Shopper, placing a classified ad on the Green Screen – or even consider opening your hearts and homes to a new pet yourself. Use OHS as your last resort. Remember, for you to bring an animal there, they will have to make space for it... and unless adoption rates rise, the only way they can make space is by euthanasia.
Lastly, please remember this quote from Matthew 25:40 “And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” The homeless animals of our community are truly the least of these...
4 comments:
Oh, that's awful. We're lucky here in Franklin County (OH), as some of the surrounding counties actually make regular trips to the Franklin County Animal Shelter to take in those 'overflow' animals.
Is there a way to make a donation directly to an Okefenokee Humane Society new building/more space fund?
wow - i never thought i'd hear you quote the bible, jane! i can understand why animal spaces are limited: our local "no-kill" shelter took in waaaaaay too many cats, URI is running rampant, and so far at least two tiny kittens have DIED from the infection. so much for "trying to squeeze in one more" animal at an already overcrowded shelter! the only way to truly, humanely decrease the number of unwanted pets is to SPAY AND NEUTER - before the unwanted pets are born. perhaps lobby for some funding for discounted spay/neuter programs? sadly, the problem will never fix itself. it's up to the area's humans, and i'm very cynical about humans.
Jen - we can accept donations through our website: okefenokeehumanesociety.org, and every little bit really does help down here. Like today, when we're out of cat litter :-(
Linda - I wish we had a low cost spay and neuter facility in my community. As it is, the nearest one is an hour's drive away. For those of us who are crazy cat ladies, it's a good deal, but most people aren't willing to make the drive for their one cat. Meanwhile, my personal shelter is full already and we're not even an official rescue yet! Sigh.
I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Betty
http://adoptpet.info
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