Going my way? County animal shelter gets creative in getting dogs back home
On Thursday, a Facebook post from the Beaufort County Animal Services asked the community for help in transporting a recovering dog to Greenville.
The request isn’t an uncommon one either, according to Animal Services Director Tallulah Trice. Often, instead of sending their staff on a long journey, the animal services department will see if anyone from the public is heading in that direction and would be willing to help with transportation.
“There are a lot of rescues we get from the Pennsylvania area and all over,” Trice said. “There are a lot of people here from Ohio, Pennsylvania and so we’re always like ‘Is anyone going home? Can you give someone a ride?’”
“It’s amazing,” she said. “This community is very good about you know, reaching out and assisting. They always have been.”
In this case the county shelter came into possession of a Nala, an eight-year-old golden pit mix in need of medical attention. When they scanned its microchip they saw it came from the Greenville Humane Society.
At first, the Greenville facility was at capacity and couldn’t take the dog back, so Trice’s team took it in and provided the needed medical treatments. However, when Greenville did have capacity they called and asked for the dog to be returned.
“We have dogs here that stay in office and if they got adopted and ended up at a county shelter, we would go get them,” said Trice.
Sending an employee on a seven hour round trip to the opposite end of the state was something Trice would have preferred to avoid for two reasons; It’s not a effective use of tax payer dollars and this is one of the busiest times of year for the shelter.
Trice said they offer to pay for the gas needed to drive to and from the dog’s destination as a way to entice people to help. But often times, they don’t need an enticement, Trice said.
Trice confirmed Wednesday afternoon that the shelter was able to find someone willing to transport the dog upstate.
