Friday morning community members heard from a friend of the Pearl River County SPCA, Sheila James Fletcher, during the Greater Picayune Area Chamber of Commerce’s Morning Call Breakfast.
Fletcher spoke about the importance of the shelter, the staff of volunteers who devote so much of their time and talents, and the shelter’s need for more help.
During her presentation she spoke about her time as a foster for pets without homes, and how one experience left a mark.
Fletcher used the story about a puppy named “Baby”, who suffered from water on the brain and later had to be euthanized as an example of how foster homes can provide a more enriched life for animals, if even in the short term, as opposed to spending time in the shelter.
Her point is especially true for animals preparing to have a litter. If a foster home can provide a place for a dog to birth a litter, it gets the mother away from the noises of the shelter. Additionally, being in the shelter exposes the puppies to all of the diseases they don’t have immunity to, so spending their early days in a foster home provides another layer of protection from those diseases.
Fletcher also gave a brief history of the shelter, which was formed about 18 years ago. Before that time, homeless animals were the responsibility of the police department. But a few volunteers took it over and the PRCSPCA was formed.
Through the years, the work of those volunteers has helped bring the number of euthanasia cases down, while increasing the number of live releases. According to data presented at the meeting, in 2007 there were 4,107 euthanasia cases and 1,583 live releases. In 2015 the number of euthanasia cases was 1,126 and there were 1,852 live releases.
Intake numbers have also declined during that period. In 2007 there were 5,709 pets turned over to the shelter, a decrease from the 2,989 pets brought to the shelter in 2015.
The shelter receives $30,000 in annual assistance from the county, which helps offset some of the $300,000 in annual expenses . The rest of the expenses are covered by adoptions, shots, grants, aluminum can recycling and donations.
Fletcher said the shelter still needs help, especially in volunteer man-hours, fundraising and any other way the community can assist.