Winona, MS Pound Rescue

Lauren with Hendrix and Joplin who were
rescued from the Winona, MS Pound.

A friend of Lauren’s called her to report that the Winona Pound was over-crowded and a paralyzed dog was dragging herself through the waste in her run. Lauren headed straight for the Pound to check it out. Upon arriving, Lauren called me and confirmed the conditions - she was clearly very upset. It was evening and Charlie, the closest thing Winona has to an Animal Control Officer, was off duty, so it would be the next morning before we could do anything. The next morning we headed straight for the pound after caring for our pups.

Charlie, the Animal Control Officer
at the Pound, with Joplin and Crosby.

We've worked with the Charlie for several years and have helped inspire the formation of a humane society that’s planning fundraisers to build a proper shelter. In the meantime, dogs are impounded in the deplorable conditions of the open-air kennel. Faucets run continuously, keeping the cement runs wet. Large and small dogs are crowded together. While county jail inmates are deployed to clean the pens, the number of dogs and infrequency of cleaning means the dogs are surrounded constantly by feces and wasted food. There’s only one sleeping compartment for each run, which are made from sections of road culvert and are not large enough to accommodate multiple dogs. Dogs aren’t inoculated or wormed, nor do they receive medical attention, even those beyond recovery.

Doll removing Belle from the Pound and some of Belle's injuries.

On this morning we found a female dog, Belle, who had obviously been hit by a car. Her back end was paralyzed and had open, untreated wounds from the impact. Charlie confirmed that she had been there several days in this condition. We also found a momma dog with a litter of puppies, a single puppy in another run and several more adults. All of whom we took. We only left two dogs that were in together and were clearly well cared for, handsome dogs. We contacted the editor of the Winona Times, who is also president of the humane society. I asked her to get a story in the paper featuring these dogs on how to find your missing dog. We'll check back in to make sure these dogs are looked after and don't fall through the cracks.

Unfortunately, Belle was confirmed by the vet to be hopelessly paralyzed and suffered internal injuries that she would not recover from. Charlie asked that she be euthanized, and without hope for her recovery we had no other choice. The other dogs will be altered tomorrow and have been wormed and given their shots.

We realize we can't save them all, but we always do our absolute best and at least this group is not suffering any longer at the Winona Pound.

Doll cradles Tammy before placing her
in the van for the trip to Project Hope.