CRAWFORDVILLE, Fla. (WTXL) — After last year's hardships at the shelter, neighbors banded together to support the Wakulla County Animal Shelter and help their animals find new homes.
- In November, volunteers donated over 608 hours of their time to the shelter.
- The Wakulla Animal Group gave neighbors an outlet to volunteer and support the shelter.
- Watch the video below to learn more about how neighbors have stepped up for the shelter.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
The animal shelter was in desperate need of community support, and now they are happy to say they have at least 85 active volunteers helping these sweet animals find their "fur"ever home. This support from neighbors like Wakulla Animal Group means the world to the animals housed here.
The volunteers spent hours upon hours helping the animals in the shelter.
"Our volunteer program has grown from just a few individuals to over 85 active individuals that we see come in monthly," said Walter Class, the Animal Control Manager at Wakulla County Animal Shelter. "Our volunteer numbers for November were 608 hours donated."
Many of the volunteers come from the non-profit Wakulla Animal Group. A group that was started from the hardships the shelter faced last year. Teresa Brannan is the president of that group and told us about the conditions of the shelter back then.
"There were always overcrowding issues, there were some budgeting issues, and there were seven dogs put down, euthanized in one week for space," explained Brannan. "So it got a lot of citizens upset, and we met and went to the county commission about what was going on at the shelter. And from there, we decided that we had to do something as well."
In the past year, Wakulla Animal Group held vaccination clinics, microchipping, and even had microchip scanners installed around the county.
Brannan says with the number of volunteers they’ve had at the shelter, they expect to have saved the shelter about two full-time positions' worth of hours. They are also helping the shelter expand.
"We are putting in a meet-and-greet area in front of the animal shelter," explained Brennan. "So if you have a dog at home, and you have a dog that you want to possibly adopt, you can bring your dog to the shelter, and they can meet."
The shelter also tries to help provide pet owners with what they need. This is to help curb the increasing number of owners who are surrendering their pets.
"A lot of that has to do with the cost of pet care, the cost of veterinary care, but we're working to provide services ahead of that to prevent animals from coming to the shelter," said Class.
Having a partnership with groups like Wakulla Animal Group helps them be able to provide these to neighbors.
Class says that WAG’s help has been immense, but if you see this and wish to help as well, these loveable animals would appreciate it.
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