“It’s spiraling out of control, again.”
Tunica Humane Society Puppies
A Mississippi animal shelter is “drowning” in puppies.
Like countless other shelters across the South, Tunica Humane Society normally operates at full capacity. So when it started “raining puppies” in rural northern Mississippi this week, director Sandy Williams couldn’t help but cry.
“I probably got 25 calls today about puppies,” she wrote on Facebook Wednesday. “It seems they are everywhere in our area. We can only do what we can do with the resources we have. It’s heartbreaking to think that some of the puppies will never find help. Some of them will not survive because all rescues are overwhelmed and can’t respond to the endless calls.”
When Williams rescued a litter of 10 puppies from a property in Tunica Wednesday, she was forced to leave nearly a dozen more behind, including another older litter of puppies and multiple adult dogs that need to be spayed and neutered.
“We are struggling to find a place for them,” she explained. “Most of these dogs have grown up feral which makes this a very difficult mission.”
“This particular situation cannot be ignored. It’s spiraling out of control, again,” Williams urged. “We don’t want to see these little puppies grow up to be unsocialized and unadoptable, so this is the battle we had to choose today over all of the other calls.”
Then on Thursday, Williams received a call about a litter of three puppies and a mama pup in really bad condition that were dumped ahead of impending severe storms.
“I cried all the way back to the shelter because I didn’t have a clue where we could put this mother and puppies once I got there,” she wrote on Facebook. “Yesterday had already pushed us to the max. We always seem to find a way to help just one more. But we sure need some foster families to step up because we are drowning in puppies.”
And they still need to go back for the other dogs they left behind at the property in Tunica.
Williams told Southern Living that they are “constantly” rescuing moms and puppies. The lack of responsibility surrounding spaying and neutering in Tunica, and so many other communities in the South, is a crisis.
“It’s a never ending battle in the South, and especially in our area,” she explained. “We’re surrounded by rural communities that have no animal control. We’re always getting calls about stray dogs and 9 times out of 10 that stray dog is pregnant.”
On any given day, Tunica Humane Society has 150 dogs in its shelter. Its maximum capacity.
“We could not make it without fosters,” Williams said. “It’s how we handle our overflow. These puppies need to be nurtured and held and socialized. They need so much more than what they can get in our shelter facility.”
On Friday morning Williams already received two calls about litters in need of rescuing. The shelter also currently has a pregnant dog in their care that’s due to give birth any moment. But at least she’ll be in a “safe and loving environment,” Williams notes.
If you live in the area and are able to foster one or two of these puppies for a few weeks, contact Tunica Humane Society immediately at (901) 219-0508 or (662) 541-1000.
“Time is critical to their socialization,” Williams explained. “And we need to make room at our shelter to pick up the other litter still at the property.”
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