Panola County Needs a Shelter!

Panola County needs an animal shelter. 

This rail thin sweetheart was on the side of a very rural road yesterday. Luckily, there's a "just in case" bag of dog food in my car, so I pulled over, kneeled down, & called him over. He wagged his tail & came my way. Hungrily, he scarfed the food down while all the time wagging his tail in appreciation. He rolled over while I petted him and then followed me, taking every step I did and seriously pulling on my heart strings. I was on the phone hoping to at least find a foster, but found that pits are VERY hard (nearly impossible) to place, plus the fact that our county is absolutely overrun with strays... 

He had on a collar, but there were no homes in sight, and with ribs showing through his fur, I was just about to load him in the Tahoe and "dog nap" him no matter what..... It was obvious he was malnourished, although he otherwise looked in good condition. However, about that time, a guy drove by slowly, pulled over, and said that it was his dog and that someone had stolen him and he'd been looking for him for weeks. I said that the dog was starving and that I was really worried about him. I mentioned that I was especially worried that someone might use him for dog fighting. 

The man assured me that he loved dogs and his others were fat and healthy... The dog did greet him warmly, and the guy seemed nice, but gosh, I was still sooooo hesitant to let him go... but I was in the middle of nowhere on the side of the road with this big burly guy saying it was his dog, and who am I to argue with him? (What I really wanted to say was - "Prove it. Show me a facebook picture of you with this dog looking happy and healthy"... sigh) Anyway, he loaded him up in the car and I watched them drive away, still feeling pretty heartsick and praying that he was being truthful...(In retrospect, I wish I'd just offered to buy him and then worry about placing him after that...) 

I guess the point I'd like to get across would be if that we had a shelter in place, there would have been no hesitation on what I'd have done. I'd have immediately loaded up that baby and gone straight to the shelter. (The rightful owner still could have claimed him there.) We've got wonderful volunteers with the Panola County Humane Society and the North Mississippi Animal Rescue group, both in our area, (plus some awesome individual angels who just help out on their own) but they're all overburdened with too many strays and not nearly enough volunteers to foster them all. Panola County needs a shelter. I pray one day enough local heroes (people and businesses) will rally together and raise enough money so we can have one of our own.