January 30, 2021
By: Dwayne Page
For all the homeless, abandoned, unwanted and forgotten pets, shelters and rescues are the only chance they get at having a happy life.
At the DeKalb Animal Coalition Shelter every effort is made to finding dogs and cats a new forever home but sometimes they need help. That’s when animal rescues often come to the rescue.
In an interview with WJLE Friday, DeKalb Animal Shelter Director Megan Moore and shelter employee Emmaly Bennett explained how that works.
What does rescue mean?
“It is a question we receive often here at the shelter and we wanted to shed some light on what exactly it means. We partner with a variety of local, out of state, and breed specific animal rescues in order to provide more and sometimes better opportunities for the companion animals in our care to find their forever homes,” said Director Moore.
“Some rescues have adopters already committed to taking our dogs and cats prior to them ever leaving our shelter. Some go straight to a foster that provides a loving, nurturing home environment while their pet waits for their adopter. Others are transported out of state to a foster or adoption facility. All the rescues we work with are no kill and choose which animals they are able to help and that is particularly vital when we have animals that need special care, socialization, or are not adjusting to shelter life very well,” she continued.
“ We are thankful to have the contacts and opportunities to work with rescues. It allows us at the DeKalb Animal Shelter to maintain our low kill policy while still serving our community to the best of our ability. We only have so many kennels so the more adoptions and rescues we facilitate the more availability we have to take in pets in need within our community,” said Bennett.
Why do rescues take animals from our shelter?
“Due to much stricter spay and neuter laws and enforced animal registrations the areas that our rescues transport to are generally the northern states and don’t have the overpopulation problems that we have here. Adoption facilities are in need of a variety of cats and dogs to fill their shelters. Adopters patiently wait for new pets to become available. The partnership has provided success in reducing euthanasia in local shelters throughout the Upper Cumberland,” added Bennett.
“We hope this information helps you understand a little more about what we do and how much we care. As always you can find current adoptable pets on our website at https://www.dekalbanimalshelter.com/ and apply directly from their photo. We are open by appointment only due to COVID but you can call us at 615-597-3647 or send us a message on Facebook,” said Moore.