A staple in the community for providing a safe and secure place while pets await adoption into their forever homes, the Jackson Animal Care Center is receiving a much-needed expansion.
Walking through the shelter, rows of kittens, puppies, and cat cages are stacked to maximize space. Dogs are assigned their own space, while making temporary space wherever available for less frequent shelter intakes such as rabbits, chinchillas, and guinea pigs.
A municipal shelter with a current capacity of about 58 dogs and between 30 and 35 cats is too small to take in additional animals, which is an overcrowding problem, according to Animal Care Center Director Whitney Owen.
“It’s hard to explain how much it’s needed unless you’re here,” Owen said. “We are at capacity. We don’t have a single open cage in the building except for these two cat cages. There’s not anywhere to put a dog, at all.”
In December 2021, the Tennessee Department of Health granted the shelter a Certified Animal Control Center Agency license, a milestone for JACC. Having this status opens the door for more grant funding opportunities while ensuring a standard of effectiveness and accountability.
With an operating cost of about $800,000 per year, the shelter receives the bulk of its funding through donations raised throughout the year that are then reimbursed by the city.
Contributions versus fundraising amounts depend on the year, but Owen said the last three years have proven successful for the shelter, with fundraising totals of nearly $600,000 over the three years.
‘We are drowning’: Jackson Animal Care Center overwhelmed with record-breaking use, shortage of supplies
Through donations alone, the shelter has completed more than 6,000 spay and neutering surgeries in the past three years between both dogs and cats. Over the past 18 months, the county has seen a decrease in the number of kittens and puppies as a result.
Despite such efforts to prevent overpopulation, the problem remains that the number of strays is greater than the availability of JACC to house them, and hence, the need for expansion.
On Feb. 6, the Jackson city council unanimously approved a contract with Mid-South Business Construction to expand the Animal Care Center, nearly doubling the current capacity to 140 spaces.
Although the shelter will not increase square footage significantly, the new space and layout will allow for a more economical and efficient use of space.
Overpopulation and insufficient adoptions
About 65% of the animals that come through JACC are adopted, but with adoption rates nationwide declining and restrictions in place on which dogs can be adopted, the problem continues.
The Shelter Animals Count, the nationwide database of shelter animal data, reports that while there were 2.2 million dogs adopted in 2023, dog adoptions overall were 5% lower than in 2019.
Dogs that become JACC suffering from old age or severe neglect are usually not eligible for adoption, either considering the general low quality of life if health arises.
The shelter screens extensively for aggression and other behavioral issues, so each dog is matched with the best prospective adopter depending on the needs and circumstances of both the animal and the owner. The JACC is a city entity and since they cannot accept the liability that comes with what might happen if an aggressive dog is adopted, those considered a public safety risk are not eligible for adoption.
More: The Animal Care Center accepts large donations
“If it’s not hurt or actively trying to hurt other people, we have to leave it on the street because we don’t have a place to put it,” Owen said.
Another caveat of the conversation revolves around “backyard breeders” — those who engage in irresponsible animal breeding and inherently hinder the department’s ability to control overpopulation.
Speaking passionately and dismayingly about the situation, Owen said the quality of life for domestic animals that are products of backyard breeding is less than satisfactory.
“They don’t feed a quality diet, they feed Dollar General food. They don’t vaccinate, they don’t deworm, and they breed their females every time they go into heat and sell puppies in parking lots. out of six week old,” Owen said.
An outdated method of solving overpopulation, JACC does not euthanize its animals to create space for new ones, leaving the need for expansion of existing facilities as the only solution. Owen said Madison County has seen a 95% decrease in euthanasia over the past decade.
“The only humane solution to the overpopulation issue is to simply prevent them from being born in the first place,” she said.
“This is why our really aggressive education campaigns, spay and neuter campaigns, and foster care programs have been statistically shown to be the best option for reducing overpopulation.”
Adopted at JACC
Only about one in 100 cats taken to shelters are reclaimed by their original owners, according to Owen, with the numbers not much higher for dogs. A reason for this? Many large metro cities across the country charge large amounts to reclaim pets, but smaller municipalities, like Jackson, offer more affordable options.
Each animal is fixed before it is adopted from the shelter thanks to a partnership with local veterinary clinics, and JACC offers cost-efficient adoption rates that cover all other vaccinations and necessary procedures.
There is an $80 adoption fee for cats and a $120 adoption fee for dogs.
Compared to non-adopters, the cheapest spay/neuter procedure at a local vet is $95 for a male cat and $115 for a female. Between $50-$100 can be expected in addition to vaccination fees.
More: Jackson Animal Care Center to host first-ever Bow Wow Brunch to raise funds for low cost spay/neuter program
The average cost of a spay/neuter procedure for a 50-pound dog will run between $145-$165 on the low end but can cost upwards of $400, a number that also doesn’t include vaccinations.
Help Wanted: Animal Control Officers
For all of Jackson, two Animal Control Officers are employed to respond to all complaints, with coverage jurisdictions informally split between North and South Jackson.
As of February 9, they have dropped to one.
Just days before he transferred to the Jackson Police Department, Michael Ananea had worked at JACC for two and a half years, including the last year and a half as one of the city’s two Animal Control Officers.
“There’s a lot of education that needs to happen. A lot of things are solved by getting out in the community,” he said, reflecting on his time as an ACO.
“We’re not the Disney villain that’s going to come and get your dog.”
Both Owen and Ananea expressed feelings about the influence of pop culture on the public’s perception of animal control.
“It’s not like law enforcement, EMS, fire, because you see them out and about all the time, but our force is smaller,” Owen said.
“Unless you have them at home to call, you won’t interact with them, you won’t catch them in public because they don’t have one hundred, two.”
Prospective applicants wishing to apply to become an Animal Control officer may do so on the City of Jackson website, under Career Opportunities.
Owen said he hopes to one day operate with four ACOs to increase the shelter’s level of proactivity versus reactivity under current circumstances.
Sarah Best is a reporter for The Jackson Sun.
