Dog & Cat Shelter Needed! - TN

We cannot turn a blind eye to the huge problem facing dogs and cats in our community and throughout rural Tennessee. We are the nation's only open-door shelter for horses, but we are not set up to shelter and care for dogs and cats in Tennessee.  We (Horse Plus Humane Society) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit animal welfare organization, tax ID #20-1156396 in operation since 2004.  There is no animal services in our county, or the surrounding counties, with the exception of 1 county specific shelter over an hour away in a neighboring county.  Owners of dogs and cats, and people who find strays, have no options at all.   Countless dogs and cats are dumped on the roads because there is no animal shelters available to take dogs and cats.  In only 1 day last week we took a number of calls regarding animals in need.  The first call was someone desperately trying to find their lost Chihuahua.  All we could tell her was if we got a call about him, we would let her know.  Stray and dumped dogs are so common that when someone finds one, they don't bother reporting it because there is no one to report it too.  The next call we got was from a man that said an aggressive stray dog came into his back yard, the family retreated into their house, the stray dog broke into their house and attacked their pet dog.  He said "There is blood all over the floor, and the aggressive dog won't leave the house."  All we could do was tell him to call the sheriff.  The next call was from an elderly lady who said her next door neighbors had moved out 2 weeks before and left their dogs.  When the caller realized they were over there, they started taking food and water to them, and since they were in city limits, they called the city.  A building inspector came out and said he would address the problem and mow the grass.  The elderly woman feared the dogs would just be destroyed.  It's heart wrenching getting these calls, knowing there is nothing you can do.  We don't have the funds to build a facility to help cats and dogs.  There is a group that runs a humane society for dogs only out of their home in our area, but they are filled and refer most calls to us.  They will not deal with cats under any situation, and we get a lot of calls on cats.  We would like to tell you about a recent call that was so desperate I couldn't say no.

The owner had passed away awhile ago, and her daughter was unable to find anywhere for the cats to go, so they had been living in the house for over 6 months.  She would take food and water to the cats, and she kept it climate controlled as long as she could afford the electric bill.  Her finances were stretched past the breaking point, and the power was shut off to the house and it was going up for auction soon.  She called, crying, pleading for help.  When we arrived at the house there was piles of trash outside.


Inside the stench was overwhelming.  There was cat feces everywhere, urine in the carpet, and the whole place was a horrific mess.  The windows were closed, and it was hot, humid and sticky.  The cats were semi-feral in the house, and it took a long time to find their hiding places.


The cats mostly hid in the back of a closet, piled high with clothes and debris.


One by one we managed to catch the cats and take them to the waiting cage.


The cats are all related, and thankfully had been spayed, thanks to a spay/neuter program in Tennessee.


As the owner filled out the paperwork, she was crying and tears were falling on the paperwork.  She said she loves animals so much and she was devastated she couldn't do something sooner.  There were no options, what was she to do?  Take them out and dump them on the side of the road like so many do? 


On the drive back to the shelter my mind was whirling.  There needs to be a safe place for animals to be surrendered here in rural Tennessee.  This madness has got to stop!  The things I have seen in this rural area are maddening and heart wrenching, leaving me feeling so helpless.


The animals that we have tried to help passed through my mind.  Emaciated dogs dumped along the road, starving with no one to care for them.  There is no safe place for them to be.  They are dumped because their owners do not care about them.  Many other animals are not dumped, they're just shot in the back yard when their owner cannot keep them anymore.  As horrible as it is, it's more merciful than turning a domesticated animal out to starve or be eaten by wild predators.  We have been told about entire litters of puppies who have been shot because their owner couldn't find homes for them, and they didn't want to dump them.


The desperate looks we see in their faces, pleading for help, will haunt us for life.  It is so wrong.  There are tens of thousands of compassionate people who would never turn a blind eye to helping animals, and we wish those people could see what we see on an almost daily basis.  Our hearts are breaking for the domesticated animals of rural Tennessee.


This situation is easily fixed.  With your help, we can build an open door dog and cat shelter that will accept any dog and cat that needs help.  Our focus is, and always will be, horses, but how can we pretend this isn't happening?

I know I am going to ask for the impossible, but I don't know what else to do.  Constructing a dog and cat shelter and getting it operational will cost $65,000.  Some of our Facebook posts go viral and reach 150,000 people or more.  If everyone donated even just $1, we would have the funds for this shelter overnight.  Let's make that happen!  The only way it will happen is if people just like you donate, and share.  This will be a shelter that will accept any dog or cat in need, saving them from being shot, dumped, abandoned, or simply left locked in a house or their kennel when their family moves away.  Together we can make this happen!  Thank you from the bottom of my heart!

Tawnee Preisner 

President
Horse Plus Humane Society
Hohenwald, Tennessee