Area animal shelters challenged

Eight-month-old Sheka followed one of her caretakers, Jim Geisler, as she enjoyed running around at her temporary home in Headland.

Sheka, a tan Shepherd mix, calls the City of Headland Animal Rescue Mission (C.H.A.R.M.) shelter her home.

Geisler, the president of C.H.A.R.M., said the organization, in its second year, has a seven-kennel dog shelter. Two other dogs, 1-year-old Roscoe and 2-year-old Major, a brindle bulldog mix, also call the C.H.A.R.M. shelter home.

The C.H.A.R.M. animal shelter in Headland is just one of at least nine shelters across five Wiregrass counties. The shelters, whether they’re nonprofit groups or government run, all face a variety of challenges, including funding shortages.

Geisler called finding the animals suitable homes one of the largest challenges for C.H.A.R.M., along with combating a lackadaisical attitude toward spay and neutering of animals.

“You just wouldn’t believe how many people don’t believe in spay and neuter. There’s just a big mindset among people not to have their animals spayed and neutered,” Geisler said. “Somehow we have to end this cycle of unwanted animals, there are just too many animals.”

Nonprofit shelters

Geisler, who runs his own construction company, volunteers his time at the shelter with several other people.

“People have no clue the problems these small shelters have,” Geisler said. “It’s finding the funding, the volunteers and the dogs a home. People will open their wallets, but it’s a lot harder for people to donate their time.”

Geisler said they have no facilities for cats. He said they’re a nonprofit organization that is waiting for its final certificate of approval. Geisler said a Headland police animal control officer checks on the dogs regularly, but C.H.A.R.M. pays for their care.

“I guess I’m just a dog person. They need someone to help them,” Geisler said. “You have to be willing to spend some time with them, and the better off the dog will be for everyone.”

Geisler said they’re not a no-kill shelter, but he said of the 80 dogs they took in during 2011, only four were euthanized. Geisler said the organization will hold its 5th annual PawsFest to raise money for the shelter on March 31 in downtown Headland.

“We don’t euthanize unless we have to, we’ve only had to because of behavior problems or sickness,” Geisler said. “Our longest dog in the shelter I believe was about six months before we found it a good home. All these small towns don’t really have the facilities to run animal shelters. That’s something we remedied.”

Sheriff William Maddox said Henry County has an animal shelter on County Road 53 just south of Abbeville, but it remains empty because he said they don’t have the staff to use it.

But Ethel Woods, the founder and president of Safe Haven Animal Rescue and Kennel, Inc. (S.H.A.R.K.) said they have about six dogs at a shelter near Abbeville. Woods said she and a couple other area residents started S.H.A.R.K. about two years ago.

“My husband and I retired here to Abbeville from Tampa. Coming from Tampa we’re used to dogs having licenses. We’re not used to dogs being out in the street,” Woods said. “We got together and formed a totally volunteer rescue for strays.”

Woods called the number one challenge to running the S.H.A.R.K. shelter getting volunteers who will “actually” do the work. She called the number two challenge they face finding the money to properly care for the animals they take in at the shelter, which is located on County Road 53.

“We’re strictly for dogs. We occasionally rescue cats, and take them to a foster home,” Woods said. “We had a call one time from a man who had nine skunks that needed to be rescued. He said the coyotes were eating them. But I told him I couldn’t take them.”

Jamie Schnaufer recently started Geneva Animal Rescue at a five kennel facility in Geneva. Schnaufer said she’d worked and worked toward opening a facility, and then in November Geneva let her use their facility rent free.

“They told me I could use the facilities, and they’d pay for the utilities. They told me I could use the buildings, and I went to work to save dogs,” Schnaufer said. “Our plans are to stay in the facility until we can get our official nonprofit status, and then I’m going to start applying for grants.”

Schnaufer, who runs Pups and Paws Pet Grooming in Geneva, said she’s not a veterinarian, but has worked on and off as a vet tech for more than 15 years.

“I’m an animal lover, I’ve been around animals my whole life and I can’t stand to see animals suffer,” she said. “I researched it in the Bible and found Proverbs 12:10, for the righteous care for his animals, and I felt led to start the animal shelter.”

She hopes to soon be approved as a nonprofit, and expand the current facility, which had about 30 dogs and a cat last week.

“We’ve already rescued 120 dogs, and gotten them off the street. They’ve either found a new home or are still at the kennel. It’s a no-kill shelter. I only take in animals I know I won’t have to kill,” she said. “I want to fix that one up while we’re using it until we can build a nice facility out of town. I’m hoping to get a couple of acres donated outside of town.”

In Ozark, Ruth Scheipe serves as the manager for the Ozark-Dale County Humane Society shelter, where she says there are 24 cats and 15 dogs.

“We take them in one at a time, and we adopt them out. We work strictly off donations,” Scheipe said. “Sometimes the donations are in the form of dog food. Our financial burdens are vet bills because all our animals get spayed and neutered and all their vaccinations.”

Scheipe said they’re always looking for volunteers to come walk the dogs, and help keep them socialized.

“There are so many unwanted animals in this area because spay and neuter laws are so lax, being a small facility we can’t take them all,” she said. “It’s a challenge to try to save as many as we can without over burdening ourselves.”

There is also Save Our Strays (S.O.S.) animal shelter in Enterprise.

In Dothan there is the Wiregrass Humane Society shelter, and according to Sherri Beckworth, the shelter usually houses about 130 animals, the majority of which are dogs.

“We rely solely on contributions from the public at large. That’s how we are able to keep our doors open,” said Beckworth, the shelter director. “There are many different ways people can contribute to help, not just monetarily.”

Beckworth said they’re always looking for volunteers to foster dogs or cats.

“One of the biggest challenges we face are animals we have to quarantine, you’re always going to deal with sickness,” Beckworth said. “We provide vaccinations too. Everybody is spayed or neutered and that’s a cost that’s incurred, which we try to recoup through adoption. When we first started it was run by nothing but volunteers, but now we have three full-time employees and two-part time employees.”

Government run

Dothan Police Sgt. Adrianne Woodruff serves as the administrator of the Dothan Animal Shelter, which she says about 75 animals call home, including about 50 dogs and 25 cats.

Woodruff said the City of Dothan pays for everything at the shelter except for medical care, which she is paid for by a local nonprofit group called Save-A-Pet. She said the city will have a fundraiser called Bark in the Park at Eastgate Park on May 19 to help raise money for medical costs.

Woodruff said the city has three animal control officers, plus chief Officer Renee Skipper and two full-time animal care associates who work at the shelter. Dothan City Jail trustees also help keep the shelter clean.

“Of all the stray animals we pick up, at the end of seven days they become available for adoption or transport to another shelter,” Woodruff said. “We are not a no-kill shelter. We can not keep them forever, but there are a lot of different outlets through Save-A-Pet. It’s a total of 20 days before we euthanize. It really only gives us about two weeks to work with to get the animals adopted.”

Woodruff said due to an increase in transports of animals to other shelters out of state, fewer animals have been euthanized at the Dothan Animal Shelter.

“The city has actually gone from a 100 percent kill shelter to less than 23 percent euthanization. We’re actually called a low-kill shelter,” Woodruff said. “There is actually no such thing as a no-kill shelter because animals do come in and get sick or injured so they still have to destroy the animal.”

Some of the biggest challenges Woodruff said she faces as administrator of the shelter are cleanliness at the shelter, disease control and spay and neuter awareness. She encouraged area residents to get their animals spayed and neutered, which will help control the stray animal population and in turn lower the euthanization rate.

“We’re not growing, and it’s because of the public’s awareness about low cost spay and neuter at the Wiregrass Spay and Neuter Alliance,” Woodruff said. “The big thing here is the City of Dothan Animal Shelter is a completely different entity than the Wiregrass Humane Society, which is right next door.”

In Coffee County, Chief Sheriff’s Deputy R.W. Whitworth said they do not have animal control officers, but do have a part-time deputy who handles cow and horse complaints.

Elba Police Chief Freddie Hanchey said Elba has an animal shelter that can hold 15 to 20 dogs. He said Elba has no cat ordinance so they only house dogs at their shelter.

Enterprise Police Detective Sgt. Steve Russell said the city doesn’t have an animal shelter. But he said Chief Animal Control Officer Mike Kelley, along with another officer, respond to animal-related calls.

Ozark Police Capt. Bobby Blankenship said the City of Ozark Animal Shelter currently houses 28 dogs and three cats as of last week.

“That’s kind of low right now. I have seen as many as 75 dogs in there at one time. Normally after seven to 10 day we’re looking at what we can do with the animals. Unfortunately we do have to euthanize,” Blankenship said. “We don’t do volunteers. We’ve got a full time animal control officer, and a full-time animal shelter administrator.”

Area animal shelters:

S.H.A.R.K., Inc.

Safe Haven Animal Rescue and Kennel

585-1009

www.sharkanimalshelter.com

C.H.A.R.M., Inc.

City of Headland Animal Rescue Mission

www.charmheadland.org

(334) 693-9097

Geneva Animal Rescue Shelter

(334) 684-1288

Ozark-Dale County Humane Society