Humane Society shelter working hard to protect vulnerable animals

BY JOHN BRICE

THE LAFAYETTE SUN

VALLEY — Chattahoochee Humane Society President Dantz Frazerhas confirmed the details of cases of roadside dog dumping in outlying areas of Chambers County.

“Somebody dumped nine dogs up in Standing Rock, someone also dumped four, a mama and three puppies, in Welch,” Frazier said. “Fortunately there is a lady in Standing Rock that has been helping. She took three of the nine dogs that were dumped. Unfortunately, one of the dogs was run over while in the road. We know there is a bunch more animals out there so we have got to keep working doubly hard to clear up the space.”

Frazer said the shelter in Valley has faced difficulties and spoke on how they have met the moment.

“It has been a good weekend,” he said. “Actually, It started Friday, we got a bunch of dogs out. As of Thursday we were faced with some very difficult decisions. We were overloaded. We had contractual openings with Lanett and we had no place to put them if they came in. Our difficult decision is playing grim reaper, who is going to go. Fortunately, Thursday we put out a plea on facebook and everywhere else that we could and the community has responded greatly.”

Frazer said he is thankful those that have stepped up to take care of these vulnerable animals.

“We have gotten a total of five or six dogs out, some adopted, some fostered and fostered to adopt,” Frazier said. “We got some cats out too. We opened up kennels so it does not look like we are going to have to euthanize any animals. One of the last things that we want to do in the world is euthanize for space. It is a very difficult decision walking through and deciding who is going to be euthanized, who is going to be put down.”

He said life and death decisions weigh heavily on the shelter staff.

“We do have a couple of long term residents,” he said. “We have got one in particular, Linda, she is a little pit bull mix who is just as happy as she could be. She has been with us for over 400 days. She is a 50-lb beautiful brown little dog. She would be a lapdog given the opportunity. How do you put down an animal that we feel is adoptable but the right person just hasn't come in yet?”

One long-term solution is educating the public about the importance of spay and neuter.

“We have sent letters to all of the [school] principals trying to set up where we do programs to educate the youth about the importance of spay/neuter,” Frazier said. “I think that is the only thing that is going to be able to stop a lot of this is with getting the community, the citizens of Chambers County and the cities to recognize the importance of spay/neuter.”