Benefit event gets hairy
LaGRANGE — Wolfie, the Humane Society’s most popular resident, greeted guests at the Troup County Humane Society’s 15th Annual Fur Ball on Saturday.
The event sold 150 reserved tickets for the packed event. Local businesses donated everything from event tickets to platters to dog beds to help raise funds for the nonprofit organization through a silent auction that went on throughout the night.
The Humane Society seeks funds so it can increase capacity as well as other projects to help find the dogs their “forever homes.”
“The way we’re set up, we can have 20 dogs under foster care and in the kennel,” said Carla Collins, Humane Society president. “So hopefully we’ll be able to have more (in the future).”
Overflow from the Humane Society goes to the city of LaGrange Animal Shelter, the Columbus shelter or Puppy Pipeline. The Humane Society does not take cats at this time, but several organizers expressed hopes of helping all animals. The society also takes dogs out to be adopted in its mobile unit.
“I work with animals. I have animals. I volunteer with animals,” said Mae Wiggins, who has volunteered for the Humane Society for four years and often runs the mobile unit. “The mobile unit has had some problems, and we’re trying to get the money to fix that.”
The Humane Society plans to take the mobile unit to the Petsense store to encourage adoptions in conjunction with the city of LaGrange Animal Shelter on Sunday. All dogs from the Humane Society are spayed or neutered, and implanted with a microchip ID. The pet supply store is also helping the dogs that remain at the shelter.
“Petsense is running a campaign, and all profits go to the Shade Project,” said Lisa Boatwright, one of the committee organizers for the Fur Ball.
Petsense sells paper paw prints to raise funds for the Shade Project, which benefits the dogs at the Humane Society and Animal Shelter by raising funds for a fenced area where dogs available for adoption can play and meet families considering adoption. It would also allow safe interaction between current pets and potential pets.
The Humane Society wants to make Troup County a better place for dogs, and the people at the Fur Ball showed a lot of passion for their four-legged friends. This included encouraging pet owners to spay or neuter their pets to cut down on strays, as well as helping animals in subpar conditions.
“It started because of two dogs I saw on Whitesville Road, and it made me sad that this dog made me think of my dog,” said Evie Kettler about her petition to end chaining dogs to fixed objects. “They don’t have a voice. They can’t say I’m too hot, or I’m too cold.”
The Humane Society’s biggest need is volunteers to work with the dogs. Anyone who would like to volunteer can find an application on the Troup County Humane Society website. The Humane Society is also hosting a 5K and dog walk fundraiser called Bark in the Park on Sept. 10 with early registration ending on Sept. 1.
