Local Animal Express Reaches Milestone

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI) – The overpopulation of humane societies in our area has been a problem, but thanks to a transport program, adoption rates have skyrocketed.

For over a year, the Oktibbeha County Humane Society Express has been taking van-loads of animals to new homes across the country.

“The goal is to try and move animals from areas where we have tons of adoptable animals and not enough demand to areas where there’s a high demand and not enough animals,” said outreach director, Sarah Buckleitner.

The Express program comes after OCHS received a half million dollar capital grant from Petsmart in 2016, paying for the two vans.

“The grant was a blessing to our organization,” said OCHS Manager, Christy Wells. “We are now able to send more animals and actually serve our community better by housing more animals.”

Before the express, the shelter did have a transport system, but were still having to put down around half of the animals in their facility.

“We had to a lot more euthanasia, just due to space,” said Buckleitner. “It’s a really hard thing to do, and now thanks to our transport program we’re able to adopt-out about 98% of our animals.”

It’s not just Oktibbeha County.

The services takes in animals from around the area.

“There are a lot of counties that don’t have the resources like we have here, so we are able to partner with rescue groups and shelters to help move some of their animals that are a little bit harder to place,” said Wells.

The program hit a milestone with Tuesday’s transport.

A one year-old dog, Velvet, is going to be OCHS’s 4,000th pet transport.

Sending animals like Velvet to places with a demand gives employees at OCHS a sense of accomplishment.

“The feeling that you get form knowing that every animal you come into contact with, just about, except for really sick or injured ones, is going to find a forever home is a really great feeling,” said Buckleitner.