07/23/2026
I COPIED THIS FROM SOMEONE WHO OBVIOUSLY KNOWS THE SCORE. SPAY AND NEUTER IS THE BEST RESCUE.
Dear Blount County... actually, all of Alabama.
Grab a cup of coffee and sit down for a minute. We need to talk.
The other day, when I arrived at the shelter, we had taken in 27 puppies and 13 adult dogs in just two days.
One litter of four will probably be fairly easy to place. The rest? Hard-to-place bully breeds, puppies with swollen worm-filled bellies, older puppies completely shut down from fear and neglect.
By what feels like an absolute miracle, I've managed to secure rescue placements up North for many of these puppies.
But at what cost?
Thousands of dollars will be spent on vaccines, veterinary care, boarding, health certificates, and transportation. Hundreds of volunteer hours will go into coordinating every single dog.
People imagine there's some magical transport that simply whisks Southern puppies away to loving homes.
There isn't.
It's dirty, exhausting, heartbreaking work. It's expensive. And it never stops.
So here's the question we all need to ask:
Why don't other parts of the country have this level of stray cat and dog crisis?
The answer isn't complicated.
Many states have widespread access to affordable spay and neuter programs, often supported through licensing fees and local government funding. Pet owners register their animals annually, much like registering a vehicle. Keeping an animal intact costs more; once it's spayed or neutered, the fee drops. Those funds help support affordable sterilization programs.
It's not perfect.
But it works.
Here in Alabama, we have low-cost spay and neuter options too.
Please... use them.
The money I will spend saving this one group of puppies could have spayed countless mother dogs before those litters were ever born.
If cost is stopping you, reach out to me. I'll help you find resources. We can figure it out together.
But I can't keep doing this alone.
I'm one volunteer. I drive nearly three hours round-trip to Blount County. I don't receive a paycheck. I spend thousands because these animals have no one else.
I need all of you to start having uncomfortable conversations with your friends, coworkers, family, and neighbors.
People need to understand that every "oops" litter doesn't just affect one household.
It affects the entire community.
If you think puppies and kittens aren't euthanized by the hundreds every day across Southern shelters, you're mistaken.
Shelters aren't making those decisions because they want to.
They're making them because there is simply nowhere left to put them.
And the puppies who never make it to a shelter often suffer even worse. They starve. They're hit by cars. They're killed by coyotes. They're shot. They die slowly and alone.
That litter you're proudly giving away online to "good homes"?
Most of those puppies won't be spayed or neutered either.
The cycle continues.
One unspayed female dog and her offspring can produce tens of thousands of puppies over just a few years. That's not an exaggeration—it's simple exponential growth.
And if I hear one more person say, "She accidentally got out," or, "The neighbor's dog came over," I might lose my mind.
Intact dogs are biologically driven to reproduce.
They'll climb fences.
Dig under them.
Break through them.
They will find a way.
Here's another truth:
None of us in rescue wanted this life.
We stay because we know what happens if we walk away.
More suffering.
More overcrowding.
More euthanasia.
Please help us change that.
Spay your pets. Neuter your pets. Encourage others to do the same.
I'll leave you with one image I'll never forget.
One day I walked into the shelter and saw two tiny puppies sitting together in a kennel in the lobby.
One was yellow.
One was black.
They were cold. They were trembling.
The little yellow one stole my heart. In my mind, I named her Lily.
She looked up at everyone who walked by with huge hopeful eyes. Her tiny tail wagged nervously, as if she knew she'd finally made it somewhere safe.
Moments later, she and her sister were taken to be euthanized.
Not because they were sick.
Not because they were aggressive.
Because there was simply no room left.
That is the reality created by irresponsible breeding, by failing to spay and neuter, and by believing someone else will always fix the problem.
There is no "someone else."
There is only us.
Please. Fix your pets
