On April 8, in collaboration with Oktibbeha County Humane Society (OCHS), we announced the opening of the OCHS Animal Support Center by the ASPCA, a first-of-its-kind facility in Mississippi that will bring animal sheltering and veterinary care services to thousands of vulnerable animals in the state each year. The Animal Support Center will house the OCHS Spay & Neuter Clinic, a stationary spay/neuter clinic for pet owners and shelter animals, and the VanLandingham Kennel Facility, a hub for the region’s shelter animals where they will be provided temporary care in preparation for relocation to other shelters for adoption.

“The opening of the OCHS Animal Support Center marks the beginning of a new era of expanded animal welfare services for dogs and cats in Northeast Mississippi,” says Matt Bershadker, ASPCA president and CEO. “The ASPCA is incredibly proud to have partnered with OCHS over the past eight years with a shared goal of creating a better future for animals across the region, and this new center is a monumental step forward in creating that better future for vulnerable animals.”

The Animal Support Center, which was built in part through $1 million in grant funding from the ASPCA, will help increase and improve OCHS’s capacity to care for animals in Starkville and the shelter’s 17-county service area. The Animal Support Center’s high-quality, high-volume spay/neuter and relocation efforts will impact thousands of animals in the state by reducing the number of unwanted litters within the community, decreasing animals’ length of stay at shelters in the region, and improving access to low-cost spay and neuter procedures for pet owners. The new Spay & Neuter Clinic will increase the shelter’s current spay/neuter capacity from 2,900 to 5,800 surgeries annually.

The opening of the Animal Support Center’s VanLandingham Kennel Facility marks an especially important extension to the OCHS campus. Resulting in roughly 3,300 square feet of additional space, including 30 new kennels, the VanLandingham Kennel Facility provides a separate holding area for animals being transported to other shelters for adoption, improving health safeguards for both shelter and transport populations. A covered space with a weatherized loading and unloading area will accommodate larger numbers of animals at one time, enabling transports to happen more efficiently.

Through the VanLandingham Kennel Facility, OCHS will be able to increase the number of animals they can send on transports annually from 1,800 to 3,500. With shelter animals in Mississippi experiencing increased lengths of stay due to ongoing capacity challenges and strained resources, the VanLandingham Kennel Facility will help displaced and vulnerable dogs and cats move to shelters with the space and resources to provide the care they need until they are adopted.

“Over the next few years, we hope to see the OCHS Animal Support Center by the ASPCA serve as a catalyst for positive change in animal welfare in the region, enabling OCHS to not only support more animals, but serve as a resource for pets and their people,” says Michele Anderson, executive director of Oktibbeha County Humane Society. “With increased transport capacity and expanded spay/neuter services, we expect to see more positive outcomes for animals in the region. Through this new facility, OCHS and our partners will show what’s possible when we come together to tackle animal welfare challenges head-on.”

Over the last eight years, the ASPCA and OCHS have worked together to improve the lives of shelter animals in the Starkville, Mississippi, area and surrounding communities. OCHS is a partner shelter in the ASPCA Animal Relocation Program, an initiative that works with overcrowded shelters in under-resourced areas of the country to relocate their animals to other shelters where those animals have greater chances of being adopted into loving homes. Since 2016, OCHS has partnered with us to move over 18,000 animals from OCHS to shelters with more opportunities for adoption.