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Sarnia and District Humane Society helping ease dog overpopulation in Mississippi and Alabama

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Thirty shelter dogs from the Deep South are taking up residence in Sarnia-Lambton.

Volunteers and an animal cruelty prevention office from the Sarnia and District Humane Society recently hauled the two-and-under mostly Labrador mixes from the Gulf coast of Mississippi, where they’re a sliver of an overpopulation problem plaguing animal rescue workers.

“We have so much heartbreak down here and we’re fighting as much as we can to help save these animals,” said Laura Sexton, the Jackson County-based, Corunna born-and-raised pediatrician who also runs a not-for-profit to help unwanted dogs. She contacted the Sarnia and District Humane Society for help about a month ago.

The problem is poor adherence to spaying and neutering in southern U.S. states, she said, noting the Gautier, Mississippi-based Jackson County Animal Shelter took in 644 dogs last month.

It has space for about 150.

Most face euthanasia.

Sexton has partnered with the Mississippi shelter and others, she said, to try to address the problem.

“We’re really trying to fight a change in mentality down here to try and get people to believe in fixing their pets,” she said, noting the group is in the process of establishing a free-to-low-cost spay and neuter program for pet owners in rural Mississippi.

But addressing the problem is a two-pronged approach, she said.

“Really prevention is the best medicine, but unfortunately we’re just so in need and above our heads in dogs that are already here.”

That’s where Sarnia’s shelter comes in.

Transferring animals from overpopulated shelters is old hat for the Sarnia humane society, said executive director Donna Pyette, noting typically 10 such transfers are done per year from places including Kentucky, Michigan and northern Ontario.

But the Mississippi problem is different, she said.

“They probably have the biggest intake numbers of anybody we’ve ever worked with,” she said.

The Sarnia shelter has been engaging its Facebook followers with the story they’ve dubbed Saving Mississippi.

The trip cost a few thousand dollars, Pyette said.

“It’s a minimal price to pay for saving 40 lives.”

Ten dogs go to the Welland, Ont. shelter, she said, while the others – all vetted and fixed before transport – will be quarantined two weeks before being put up for adoption.

“Absolutely there’s room” at the Sarnia shelter, she said.

“Adoptions are really strong. Dogs don’t last long in here.”

The southern dogs – including some from nearby Mobile, Alabama – won’t be the last of their ilk to come here, she said. More trips are planned.

“Will there ever be an end to it? Probably not; but we’ll focus on them for now, just because of the high need,” Pyette said

That involves working with other Ontario humane societies like Welland’s, she said.

Those efforts are making a difference, Sexton said.

“We want everybody to know how thankful we are to form this partnership and get a little bit of help.”

tkula@postmedia.com

 

 

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