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Trenten Cintron feeds a dog inside one of the runs at the Wiregrass Humane Society on Wednesday.

Since the beginning of the pandemic there have been staff shortages everywhere, mostly noticed in restaurants, fast food chains, and retail stores. However there are a few workplaces that have been overlooked.

Places such as humane societies, pet shelters, kill shelters, and others have been suffering from the staff shortages as well. Wiregrass Humane Society, a non-profit pet shelter, has been short not only in workers, but also in supplies for the animals.

“It’s a lot of dirty work cleaning out the cages, and the heat from the summer is not making anything easier right now,” WHS manager Joy Parkman said.

“Right now we only have six workers. However, two are only here for the summer and will have to leave once school starts back, so we still need more people to help take care the animals.”

Wiregrass Humane Society staff (from left) Alison Jones, Lynsey Hudspeth, Candice Richards and Joy Parkman pose for a photo inside of the facility on Wednesday.

According to Parkman, the humane society received applications almost every day pre-pandemic without having to post on social media about needing help. Now the facility has problems even getting people to volunteer.

“It’s a lot of dirty work, cleaning cages, moving trash bags full of dirty litter, and helping keep the dogs clean, it’s just hard to find people who are OK with that stuff,” she said. “It’s hard to find good, hardworking, and dependable people that come in expecting to work with our conditions. And with the summer heat, our air conditioning still needs work done for parts of the shelter.”

The staff shortage is not the only issue the Wiregrass Humane Society is facing. There has also been an uptick in overcrowding issues. The shelter has been forced to refuse animals because it’s at maximum capacity.

“We have a certain number of animals we can take on in our care at the shelter and recently we have reached and exceeded that number, due to not only there being a slowdown of adoptions, but also because it is puppy and kitten season right now,” Parkman said.

“We have taken on animals that are pregnant and have now had their litters. But because of the overcrowding issue, it has forced us to turn down people trying to surrender their animals and in those who find strays or neglected animals,” she said. “We have tried to refer them to other shelters in the area to try and still help the animals, but at this point we just don’t have the staff-to-animal ratio to be able to properly care for more animals.”

The main animal food issue is there has been some difficulty in finding wet cat food.

“Lately we have noticed a lack of dog and cat food donations, so we started going online to Amazon or Chewy and we saw that a lot places are sold out of our usual orders or out of certain types of food,” she said. “We have such an hard time now just trying to find wet cat food and other food for the animals that we have started outsourcing.”

Due to the shortage the shelter has been forced to find and use alternative food sources to keep the animals fed. Parkman reports they have been giving the animals a lot of chicken and rice to help keep their protein up from the lack of dog and cat food that is available.

“There are some ladies that will cook homemade chicken and rice and will bring it in the shelter for the animals and also other things such as boiling a chicken and bringing it in for the cats and dogs,” she said “There have been some times where Kelsey Barnard Clark with KBC has donated bone marrow and other things that she has left over to help us and the animals.”

However due to the change in food types for the animals is has resulted in a lot more “tummy issues” according to Parkman. She and her team have noticed change in diet is causing some upset stomachs.

Parkman reports that because of the stomach issues in some of the animals, the shelter has closed down more often throughout the week to clean the cages. The WHS has recently started asking for donations of pumpkin puree, as it not only gives the animals the protein they need but also helps with the digestion issues that may have come up due to the change in diet.

The shelter is asking for helping hands in the form of volunteers or employees willing to work, as well as donations at this time. Those wishing to help by donation can either donate items needed to the shelter or send the shelter a check to the Wiregrass Humane Society to P.O. Box 1045, Dothan, AL 36302.

Wiregrass Humane Society is asking for a few top priority things which include low splash bleach, cat and dog wet/dry food, regular unscented Dawn dish soap, 13-gallon trash bags, latex gloves, apple cider vinegar, and puppy pads.

Any type of donation can be dropped off at the wiregrass humane society location at 255 Jerry Dr. in Dothan, or those willing to donate but do not have the time to go by the shelter can place an order for the Wiregrass Humane Society with either Wal-Mart or Target and notify the shelter they have left a paid order for them at the store location of their choice.

A full list of donation items needed or wanted can be found on the Wiregrass Humane Society website by going to https://www.wiregrasshumanesociety.com/wish-list

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Trenten Cintron feeds a dog inside one of the runs at the Wiregrass Humane Society on Wednesday.

Wiregrass Humane Society staff (from left) Alison Jones, Lynsey Hudspeth, Candice Richards and Joy Parkman pose for a photo inside of the facility on Wednesday.

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