Emily Shepherd
Contributing Writer
Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, the Humane Society of Calloway County and the Murray-Calloway County Animal Shelter are stepping up to help animals in the community and encouraging people to make an addition to their family.
“We want to free up foster homes as quickly as possible so they are available for other pets as they may arrive,” said Kathy Hodge, executive director of the Humane Society of Calloway County. “For many people, this is a good time to add a pet to their household while they are home to get them settled in.”
The humane society has started conducting and scheduling adoptions over the phone and through outdoor social distancing. They closed all walk-in traffic on March 17.
The animal shelter has also made several changes. The animal shelter and humane society are closed to owner surrenders and are taking in animals only in emergencies. At the moment, the humane society has four adult cats and one dog that are in need of a foster home until this crisis has passed.
“We have thousands of people who help by sharing our Facebook alerts at any time but even more who are helping now so that animals are safe and don’t have to be in the animal shelter while we try to get them back in a home,” Hodge said.
Adoptions are by appointment only. You can see the humane society’s and animal shelter’s pets for adoption here along with the humane society’s adoption application.
“We are very grateful to all the people in the community who are helping by holding stray animals at their homes while we put out alerts to get the pets back to their families,” Hodge said.
Both the animal shelter and the humane society have been contacted about stray animals, owner surrenders and animals needing veterinary care and food.
“We’ve been returning animals to their homes before they have to enter the shelter or before animal control has to get there through social media posting,” said Emily Cook, assistant director of the Murray-Calloway County Animal Shelter. “We need to make sure that we, as a community are not losing our pets and not letting them run loose.”
Contact the humane society if you can take an animal into your home for the next few weeks. The humane society will provide the supplies and veterinary care needed for the animal.
“We have seen an increase in bite reports,” Cook said. “That could be because a lot of people are home; they’re letting their dogs run loose and the animals are biting. This is a nationwide problem right now.”
Hodge said the humane society was fortunate to have had numerous adoptions and rescue placements before the start of the quarantine. The humane society placed dozens of puppies in foster homes in the days before they had to change their way of operating.
“We are here to help the animals in our community in whatever way we can during this crisis,” Hodge said. “People can reach out to us by Facebook messages, email or calls if you have found a stray, need emergency pet food or have any questions and we will do our best to help.”
Hodge said one of the concerns she has for animals during quarantine is the effects it may have on their mental health.
“One thing to remember while you spend so much more time home with your pets is to deliberately spend some time apart from your pet each day, napping in another room for example,” Hodge said. “If your pet gets used to you being with them constantly for weeks, he may show separation anxiety when your schedule goes back to normal, so even if you can be with your pet all the time now, practice giving him some time by himself every day.”
Hodge said the humane society would be grateful for monetary donations to put toward expenses. Donations can be mailed to the humane society at P.O. Box 764, Murray, KY 42071 or made online here.
Volunteers from the humane society will be answering phone calls at (270) 759-1884 during regular business hours. The humane society is still running scheduled pick-ups for those who need pet food from their pet food bank and for foster families who need supplies. Those with concerns of missing or found pets can also contact the humane society or animal shelter.
To contact the humane society, email humanesociety@murray-ky.net or message the Humane Society of Calloway County Facebook page. To contact the animal shelter, call (270) 759-4141 or message the Murray-Calloway County Animal Shelter Facebook page.