Baldwyn strives to keep up with increase in stray dog population

Overcrowded animal shelters mean cities and towns are forced to care for strays for months at a time

BALDWYN, MISS.  (WCBI) – Every day, twice a day,  the stray dogs picked up by Baldwyn Animal Control are fed, and their cages cleaned. It is a task performed by employees with the Street Department and Public Works.

Daily work keeps the street crews busy.

“We are out doing other duties of the city, opening drainage, for flooding culverts, putting out gravel,” said Street Department supervisor John Tigner, who also oversees animal control efforts.

He took over that role in the past year, after the longtime animal control officer retired.

Tigner said the a recent explosion in the stray dog population keeps the Humane Society at capacity, which means strays stay longer at the Public Works Department.

“Used to be we had them five days, then they took them, nowadays it may be a month or two,” Tigner said.

Baldwyn Mayor Roslynn Clark said the city has had to keep some strays as long as six months. Mayor Clark said the city puts strays on a Facebook Page for lost and missing pets.

“The guys are working very hard themselves, no volunteers, they keep kennels clean, we care about animals, and residents and sometimes one may need to be put on the lost animals page, because they might have a collar on, they belong to someone, we make an effort to identify and get anyone interested in adopting,” Mayor Clark said.

Mark Bullard works with the street department and animal control. He comes in on weekends to take care of the stray dogs and ended up adopting a bulldog mix. Now, Tank is part of the Bullard family.

“I just want to try and make them as comfortable as they can, I’ve always been a dog lover myself,” Bullard said.

While there will always be strays, pet owners can play a big role in the solution by having their pets spayed and neutered

All adoptions of strays must go through the Tupelo Lee Humane Society.

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