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Dear Editor,

“That’s terrible! Someone should do something about it!”

This is our reality.

It is summer of 2022 and animal rescues all over the country are in crisis mode. They have been begging and pleading for help and here in Troup County the crisis is just as real and present. The LaGrange Troup County Humane Society needs your help, now more than it ever has before! The dogs we work with come solely from within Troup County. This crisis isn’t just happening in other cities; this is happening in our hometown!

As the Director of the Humane Society, it is my job to follow the needs of each animal in our care. I want to love each and every one of these babies as if they were my own.

What level of care would I want for my own fur-baby? What level of care do they deserve? The answer, of course, is only the best. But how? We are a non-profit, funded solely by donations and there just isn’t enough to go around.

Compared to the same time frame two years ago (Jan- June), our cost for vet bills has increased by 35%. Vet supplies (such as flea/tick, heartworm prevention, etc.) has increased 144%. Animal intake (the number of animals coming in our doors) has increased 59%. And the number of vouchers provided to adopters when they get an animal from the City of LaGrange Animal Shelter (paid for partially by the City of LaGrange and partially by the LaGrange Troup County Humane Society) has gone up by 60%. Despite all of this, our donations are down by 23%. More animals, higher costs, and less funds to cover it all. We cannot sustain this pattern in the long run. We know that funding will run out at this pace, but how can we look at an animal in need, standing right in front of us, and then turn a blind eye? We can’t. We won’t.

Puppies, kittens, dogs and cats from all over Troup County come in to one facility, the City of LaGrange Animal Services, with whom we share a building. The LaGrange Troup County Humane Society pulls dogs from the city shelter and works to get them fully vetted and into safe, loving, forever homes. Many times, the barrier between that animal and a forever home is medical.

Dogs with medical ailments sit in the shelter significantly longer than their healthy counterparts…watching as every dog around them gets adopted, one by one, into a new life with a loving family. And still they sit. Dogs who are so terrified when they come into the shelter that they come across as aggressive…we all know how that story usually ends. But it doesn’t have to!! This is where we come in. This is where we shine!! However, we simply can not do what we do without you.

We believe in the work we do, and in our community’s faith in that work! Yes, the animal welfare crisis is terrible and someone should do something about it. Please!! Be that someone today!! So many animals’ lives depend on you and what you do right now!

Rescue. Foster. Donate. Volunteer. Troup County, we need you!!

MANDI BONO

Executive Director LaGrange Troup County Humane Society