The Lauderdale County Animal Shelter daily balances life and death, attempting to save animals while staying true to its obligation to control the county’s pet population.

The shelter saw thousands of cats and dogs come through its doors last year, but due to the sheer volume, more than half of those animals had to be euthanized, despite the efforts of its director Rocky Rockette and his staff to save them. 

In 2019, the shelter took in 2,766 animals and had to euthanize 1,583 of them – 950 dogs and 633 cats.

“Last week, I was pretty much late getting home everyday, and my wife was like, ‘Why are you late coming home?’ It’s because I’m saving lives,” Rockette said. 

“The shelter’s not the problem. The animals are coming from the community,” Rockette said. “Every animal that comes into the shelter has an owner. The owner’s just not taking responsibility for it and that’s how they end up here.”

“We’re an open admission shelter. We can’t turn people away,” Rockette said. “If you’re a Lauderdale County resident and can provide photo identification showing that you live here, I don’t care if you have one or 100 animals, we have to take it.”

Animals that enter the shelter are held for three to five days. They either go into the adoption building or the “stray hold,” Rockette said.

Once an animal is in the shelter’s care, several different variables determine whether an animal gets put down or put up for adoption, including, space, temperament, age, healthiness, etc, and feral cats cannot be adopted, Rockette said.

Feb. 24, the shelter had to take in 15 puppies, which were abandoned at the shelter’s door and left in near freezing temperatures for hours. 

The case is just another example of what Rockette and his team have to deal with, but space is anything but limitless.

The shelter has 31 cages and 15 runs in the adoption building, and 26 runs and 19 cages in the stray hold building, resulting in 91 places to hold animals.

Currently, the LACS is sharing a space with the City of Meridian’s animal control, limiting space even more. 

To help with capacity, the LACS is moving to the town or Marion, specifically behind the Marion Town Hall. 

In the new space, the LACS will have 50 cages and 27 runs, with additional spacing to set up wire cages if need be, and the space will be all theirs. 

“We’ll be dealing with half the animals we’re dealing with now, which could potentially help keep animals healthy,” said Rockette. “When you have two government agencies up under one roof, and up under different direction, sometimes you may have a little conflict.”

The limited space combined with the influx of animals, makes animal control in the county a double-edged sword, one that Rockette wields every day.

“I wish we had that luxury to say, ‘Look, we can’t move these [animals], we can’t get them adopted, so we’re not going to take more. But to me, what does that solve? Do you know what they’re going to do? They’re going to take them and dump them on the streets and then they become our problem anyway.”

“If we kept those almost 1,600 animals, where would they go? Because guess what, we have even more coming in this year,” Rockette said. “We don’t like to control the pet population through euthanization, but unfortunately we tend to lose a lot because we have so many.” 

Another problem is that people are not getting their pets spayed or neutered. 

“We received litters after litters because people are not getting their animals fixed,” Rockette said. “If we get to the point where we have an influx of puppies then we may have to lose some. That’s one of the reasons why we reach out to rescue organizations because they can take some of them on and lighten our load so we won’t have to euthanize so many.”  

Rescue adoptions 

In 2019, there were 632 rescue adoptions from the shelter, with 500 being from the state and 132 from out of state.

One of those organizations is the Mississippi Animal Project, which transports animals from Mississippi to other regions where the pet population isn’t so dense.

Monique McCullough, MAP vice president, said that working with Rockette and the county shelter has been a positive experience.

“They’re very easy to work with,” McCullough said. “We have to arrange transport and he’ll (Rockette) get on Facebook and find a volunteer to help. He’s really dedicated to that animal shelter, he truly is.” 

McCullough also believes that animal control is a problem in Mississippi, particularly in rural areas; a stark contrast to other states with stricter laws regarding pet sterilization. 

“It’s not nearly as bad as it is here (in Mississippi),” McCullough said. “Sometimes, especially in more rural areas, we just don’t have very many resources to help people get their pets spayed and neutered.”

Another option for moving animals is outright adoption.

Counting rescue organizations and individual adoptions, there were 1,027 pet adoptions in 2019.

Community members who have adopted from the LCAS have expressed their support for the shelter and its efforts.

Heather Veal Kopitch of Meridian said the dog she adopted helped her son, who has  autism.

“This last summer we had to put our (older dog) Jericho down,” Kopitch said. While this is painful in any house, it was particularly hard on our 11-year-old son, Joey, with autism. After the dog was put down my son stopped sleeping, he was upset, missed school.” 

“I went to look at another dog that had already been adopted, but this little puppy caught my eye,”  Kopitch said. “I needed a dog that would get along with an existing dog, cats in the house, a toddler and a child with autism; leap of faith for sure to take on a ‘pound puppy.’ We brought him home and my son with autism (who does not talk often) said ‘puppy new puppy’ over and over.”

“His sister’s comment was ‘I have not heard Joey that happy in a long time,’ Koptich said. “Wayne is our ‘little miracle’ that came into our lives when we needed him. I cannot be more grateful for all the shelter does to give these amazing little guys a second chances.”

By the Numbers

Lauderdale County Animal Shelter totals for 2019.

Animals adopted

Total: 1,027

Dogs: 818

Cats: 209

Owner reclaims

Total: 136

Dogs:129

Cats:7

Euthanasia at owner’s request

Total: 64

Dogs: 59

Cats: 5

Died

Total: 20

Dogs: 15

Cats: 5

Euthanized by shelter

Total: 1,583

Dogs: 950

Cats: 633 

The shelter sees about a 30 percent adoption rate, according to county animal control.

They also reach out on social media and news outlets to find adopters, foster homes and temporary housing for animals.

Magen Lynn, Meridian resident and animal rescuer, has had experience fostering animals, and has advice for those looking to help out some animals in need.

“It isn’t always easy. I generally keep the fosters away from my kids and animals majority of the time. They sometimes come unvaccinated and could have contagious skin issues,” Lynn said. “I also don’t know what their previous life was like. They could have triggers that scare them and make them aggressive.”

“The hardest part is saying goodbye to them after we’ve had them for awhile. They feel like they are home and can trust us. They look heartbroken and sometimes I wonder if they feel like they are being left again. People always say they can’t do it because they would get attached,” Lynn added.

“I get attached but know if I keep them, I won’t have room to save others. And I know we can’t save them all, but we can try.”

The Lauderdale County Shelter holds adoption hours from 10 a.m. to noon and 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday- Friday with adoption fees from $20 to $40.

“If we just went ahead and euthanized them, I would be home shortly after 5 o’clock. It takes so much more. There’s not enough time in the day, but it’s worth it,” Rockette said. “A lot of people turn a blind eye, but this is something real that we live each and every day.”