Animal shelter sees spike in surrendered animals

TUPELO, Miss. (WCBI) – Tupelo Lee Humane Society workers always have a big to-do list.

And recently, there’s been a dramatic rise in the number of dogs brought to the shelter.

In fact, one morning this week, the shelter received nearly 30 animals in a few hours. It means more work for employees, who already have their hands full.

The shelter’s director of operations encourages people to get their pets fixed.

“Spaying and neutering is very important, for the community to make sure they take care of their animals, that way it reduces the amount of unwanted puppies and kittens we start seeing, usually about March, but unfortunately we’re actually seeing it now,” said Director of Operations for the Tupelo Lee Humane Society Rachel Allred.

Whatever the reason for the increase in animal surrenders, it strains the staff and that’s why the Tupelo Lee Humane Society is putting out a call for volunteers to help out.

“We do have a new volunteer program, we want everybody to receive the proper training, and definitely find out where they can best assist us, we have several people interested in handling animals but we do have some people that might be allergic, might not be able to handle animals, but can make toys, or collect donations for us.” said Allred.

She said having a strong pool of volunteers will help the Tupelo Lee Humane Society make the best use of its new space and benefit the temporary residents who need a permanent home.

That volunteer orientation meeting will be in the evening on January 21 in the conference room of the new facility.

For more information, go to facebook.com/pg/TupeloLeeHumaneSociety