June 6, 2025 • 39 mins
We sit down with Tiffany Smith from the Washington Humane Society in Washington Parish, Louisiana, to explore the vital services they provide.
Join us as Tiffany shares an inside look at the challenges and triumphs of animal rescue, focusing on their crucial spay/neuter initiatives, vaccination programs, and other essential efforts that are making a tangible difference in the lives of animals and residents across Washington Parish. Discover the compassion and commitment that drives this dedicated team as they work to improve animal health and control pet overpopulation.
Tune in to learn more about the Washington Humane Society and how you can support their life-saving mission!
#AnimalWelfare
#SpayAndNeuter
#PetHealth
#CommunityCare
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Dixie (00:02):
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Hi, Tiffany, . How are you?
Tiffany (00:11):
I'm good.
Dixie (00:11):
Thank you so much for coming on the show to talk about
The Washington Humane Society.
Could you introduce yourself and yourrole with the Washington Humane Society?
Yes.
Tiffany Smith and I am the Vice Presidentof the humane Society, Washington.
And how did you first getinvolved in animal rescue?
Tiffany (00:33):
As a kid I always loved animals and wanted to be a vet but
never could get past the point ofbeing able to put 'em down if they're
injured or even, sick and stuff.
And so we rescued, growingup with my family,.
And then, probably alittle over 10 years now.
I met up with Magnolia Chapter backthen 'cause we were a sister facility
off of the humane side of Louisiana.
(00:55):
Met up with them and juststarted volunteering my time
and just went from there.
Dixie (01:03):
Were you involved in the formation of the Washington Humane Society?
Tiffany (01:09):
No, they had formed probably a couple years before
I started volunteering there.
Dixie (01:18):
And what is your mission and what areas do you serve?
Tiffany (01:24):
We serve mostly Washington Parish.
But we do help outsideof our parish as well.
Our goal now we to have fosters andanimals up for adoption and so forth.
But as time goes on, we lose fosters andwe don't have that ability really to.
hold onto foster.
So what we do more now is the spay,neutering program trap cats to get
(01:48):
feral cats fixed and released backto where they were and to help the
public just, educate the publicon the importance of spay neuter.
The importance of adopting.
We work with other facilities and otherrescue groups to try to help move animals
from the south up north where theyhave a much successful adoption rate.
(02:08):
We just try to help where we can, whenwe can and try to help the community
and how we can with with animal needs.
Dixie (02:16):
And how long has the Washington Humane Society been
operating in Washington Parish?
Tiffany (02:22):
I've been helping them for about 15 years and they
started before I, came aboard.
So I would say probably20 years, maybe longer.
Dixie (02:34):
And the spay neuter program that you have, can you
explain what that program is?
Is it different from other areas?
Tiffany (02:41):
I guess it just depends on your price.
So we have an amazing vet in herstaff out of Mississippi, and we
go to Crossroads, Mississippi.
They've been doing spay neuter forever.
And as time goes on,prices increase, of course.
For $85 you can get a female ormale fixed no matter the size.
And you get rabies shot and now we doevery animal that comes in, whether it's
(03:05):
a cat or dog, they get microchips too.
So that's free of charge.
Same with cats.
Cats come in.
We usually have, vouchers for feral cats.
We have trappers that'll go out and settraps the night before, bring the cats in
the next day, and then wherever they'retracking that, they'll hold onto the cats
for a few days afterwards to make sure,the incisions and stuff are doing good.
(03:25):
So we have it once a month and Kay,which is also one of the board members,
she helps out with the Washington.
Parish shelter.
So she does spay / neuter with them too.
We have everybody call, whoever wants tocome in to call first come, first serve
because we only could do so many a time.
And we have a house that'sbeen transformed into a
vet clinic, so to speak.
(03:46):
And, parents, so the animals orwhatever would drop off their babies
fill out paperwork, drop 'em off.
We spend the entire dayfixing cats and dogs.
It could be anywhere upto 60 cats and 30 dogs.
We've done a few more.
We've done a few less in the aday, and it's our vet staff and
then we have volunteers that comeand it's a well oiled machine.
We have people in recovery, wehave people doing paperwork, we.
(04:10):
The owners of theanimals, if they're ready.
Then we have, like I said, our vet staffand her staff, so it's just a bunch of.
volunteers and our vet that haveeverybody get together once a
month, usually on a Saturday anddo the spay neuter for low cost.
Because you take an animal to the vetnowadays especially female, you're
gonna pay 150, 200 up to get them fixed.
(04:33):
And here it's very low cost for them.
, Sometimes we do getgrants to where we can fix
say 30 dogs at one day.
Last one we had, it was a grant and wewere able to fix all these cats and dogs.
I think we had 50 cats and 21 dogs thatall were fixed for free through the grant.
(04:53):
So I don't know if it's muchdifferent than anybody else's.
I think price wise we're onthe cheap end, but I know that
also other rescues do cheap.
They neuter at times as well.
Dixie (05:07):
Have you noticed any kind of decrease in the feral cat population since
you've started this spay neuter program?
Tiffany (05:14):
I think so, yes.
We do a lot of areas like we'rebuilding, grocery stores or fast
food restaurants where, you have allof 'em that are by the trash cans.
And then there are certainareas that we work on.
And I think definitely thepopulation has decreased.
I do believe that we have made a hugedent in the feral population one cat
(05:35):
can produce five kittens, and then thosekittens can produce and so on the forth.
So I definitely think that we've reducedthe the amount of feral animals out there.
For sure.
Dixie (05:45):
As a board member, what are your duties or what is like a
typical day or a typical week like?
Tiffany (05:52):
So we're all volunteer based we have changed so much over the past few
years from when we used to have fosters.
I was the foster coordinator, somy job would be to go out, find
fosters, and then have those fosters.
Foster, whatever animal they wantedto, I would never say, oh, you have to
take this dog or that dog or whatever.
I would be like, okay, whatis your home life like?
(06:14):
What do you have at home?
And then, okay, this is what wehave available that needs fostering.
Once they take their.
Dog or cat, whichever it was I wouldgo and make sure they had everything
they needed as far as vetting, wormervaccines, get 'em set up for spay neuter,
and then we'd have adoption events andI would help do that as well and get
the fosters to bring their dogs there.
(06:36):
Over the course of the past few yearswe, like I said, we've gotten out of
the fostering, it's a lot of work.
It really is a lot of work, and it's been,Kay, Beth and I mostly us that do most
of the, groundwork with that and we hada lot of great volunteers along the way,
but everybody gets busy in life and we nowjust, what I do is spay / neuter clinic.
(06:59):
If we have somethingafterwards and animals.
lick themselves open or something.
They would send me out orBeth depends on who's closer.
And Beth usually does most of ourrecovery, but I do go out occasionally.
I also go out and my daughterand I, we will go rescue animals.
So I also do, post on, socialmedia, all three do that.
(07:23):
But we post on social mediaanimals in need owners that need
help with their animals res otherrescues, other shelters as well.
Dixie (07:32):
Do you have animals in your care that would be put up for adoption?
Tiffany (07:38):
Not at this present time, no.
We, like I said, we got awayfrom the fostering because.
there was those few fosters thatwe had that were tremendous.
Their lives got busy and they couldn'tdedicate the time, which is understandable
to fostering an animal and bringing 'emto, adoption events and when you have the
(07:59):
same people doing things over and overagain, you spread yourself really thin.
And because we're such a smallhumane society and the demand
was so high, we couldn't keep up.
So we had to turn ourendeavors to something else.
And that would be educating the public.
That would be rescue, working withother rescues that do transports.
(08:21):
Working with the spay neuter programs,getting grants to help the community
spay and neuter their animals, workingwith local shelters to get them
on transports and to get the, therural shelters get the animals out.
So that's been our mainfocus in the past few years.
Dixie (08:39):
I understand that, so you switch more to a preventative type
role rather than dealing with theanimals that were currently there.
And I do think that'swhere you have to go.
You have to go to the source, which isspay and neuter, because then when you do
that, then you don't have as many animalsout there that are actually needing homes.
So you mentioned educational programs.
(08:59):
Do you have any other types ofeducational programs or can you explain
what you do as outreach programs?
Tiffany (09:07):
So I know not so much in the past year or so because we,
like I said, we've all been busyand health wise for all three of us.
We've had a lot going on.
But I would go to, schools withan animal and talk to the kids
like different grades and stuff,not really young, those who could
comprehend and understand a little bit.
But talk to them about the importanceof spay neuter, the importance of
(09:30):
getting your animals vaccinated.
How to approach dogs if a dog's chasingyou, things like that to start young.
Send brochures home and flyers home sothey can bring them to their parents
to educate them about the importanceof vaccinations, the importance of
heartworm medicine, the importance ofspay neuter, and how you can get , our
information reaching out at a younger age.
(09:51):
A lot of people grow up andthey're like we don't know.
We didn't know about y'all.
We didn't know it was this cheap.
We caught our vet and it was hundredsof dollars to get a dog fixed, or we've
also offered vaccination clinics beforewhere, you can get vaccinations . We've
offered rabies clinics before because bylaw you have to have a rabies certificate
and tag and shot for your animal.
We've also offeredmicrochip, clinics before.
(10:14):
So we've educated the public like that.
As far as the importance of why you needto spay neuter, why you need to vaccinate,
why you need to, flea prevention andheartworm prevention, what the importance
of that is reaching out to younger kidsin hopes to start a generation where they
grow up and see the importance and want todo better than possibly what we have now.
Dixie (10:38):
There are a lot of rescue groups out there that are foster based
and even though they do encouragespay neuter they do get overrun.
Like you said, you onlyhave so many fosters.
They can only take so many and youhave such a big influx of animals,
so for small rescues that wanna getstarted with something like you are
(10:59):
doing with a spay neuter clinic,what advice would you have to them on
how they can get started with that?
Tiffany (11:07):
I would say partner up with somebody who has been doing it or does
it because we're all supposed to be outthere for the better of the animals.
We all have our own ways of doingthings at times, but the end result,
if you're out there for the animals,then you want to help another rescue.
You want to help your fellow rescuerto educate them and to help them
(11:28):
with, okay, this is how we did things.
And then not saying that theyhave to do it exactly how we do
it or how someone else do it.
They can take our lead or someoneelse's lead and run with it.
I try to go to someplacethat has this going on.
A spay, neuter clinic, a regularthing, low cost, see how it's done.
(11:49):
You get donations, you get grants.
Grants are a big thing.
And then once you get yourfeet wet it all falls in line.
But I would definitely, shadow arescue group, if you're a small,
especially a small rescue group,shadow them and see how they do things.
And not saying how we do things , is theexact and the way that has to be done.
(12:10):
'cause everybody has theirown way of doing things.
But at least you would get theconcept of it, you'd get the gist,
and from there you'd say, oh, okay,we can do it like this instead.
So I would definitely say try to shadow,ask questions, and the rescuers that are
out there for the animals and not for theglory of what they do, they're gonna be
(12:32):
the ones that are gonna wanna help you.
They're because they see you wannahelp stop this overpopulation and you
wanna help these neglected animals.
And so we're on the same team because youhave those out there who aren't like that.
They're out there for the gloryof look at me, type attitude.
Dixie (12:49):
I was actually gonna say in the bigger cities, that goes on a lot.
There is a lot of fighting
Tiffany (12:54):
Yes.
Dixie (12:55):
Between rescue groups.
I don't understand it.
'cause everybody has the same goal.
Tiffany (13:00):
Yes.
I don't, and that's all I cansay is it's about a status thing.
We did this much, we did that much.
It's a, look what wedid, look what we did.
You can say that all day long,what is the quality of life of
the animals that you have and thatyou're, where you're sending 'em.
If you doing your job as far as an animalrescue or a shelter or whatever, then.
(13:23):
Everything speaks for themselves.
You're gonna have negative anywhere yougo with any rescue you have, someone's
gonna say something negative abouta rescue unit is done to us all the
time, but those who know us, thoseknow who , what we stand for and what
we do for the public and what we havedone and what we'll continue to do.
Know that.
These are just otherpeople that are upset.
(13:43):
Maybe we couldn't have helped them inthe timely manner that they wanted us
to, because that's not how life is.
We couldn't help some, we can't alwayshelp people with their problem, and a lot
of people wanna put their problem onto us.
Big corporation, rescues.
It's all about how muchmoney can we get in.
And look at our numbers.
And that's not always a big thing.
It needs to be about the animaland not about the recognition.
(14:08):
Obviously you want your rescue to berecognized, but it's a whole team thing.
Anytime my daughter and I or or my kidsand I, we went on a rescue, it was never.
Look what we did.
It takes a team, and that's alwaysbeen our slogan is it takes a team.
There's never one person.
It's always multiple peoplethat make everything work for
the better of the animals.
Dixie (14:30):
Absolutely.
And that was the whole pointbehind this podcast is I was hoping
that this will actually bringrescues together because it's time
Tiffany (14:39):
it needs
to,
Dixie (14:39):
yeah.
It's time for them to startworking together and put
aside the glory like you said.
Tiffany (14:47):
Yes.
And see I worked as ACOin Bogalusa, a officer.
And there's rescues, I didn't carefor some of the people that, volunteer
with them or worked with them, but it'snot about my feelings towards those
people, it's about my feelings towardsthem wanting to help the animals that
are in need that I had in my care and
I might not like their personality.
(15:08):
We might clash, but they're stilldoing good for animals and helping.
And as long as that's going on, I couldput any differences aside and work
with somebody for the greater goodof abused, neglected animals, because
there's such a high population of them.
Dixie (15:24):
I definitely agree with that, and then I see that happening too,
where rescues will fight over actualvolunteers because you might have one
person that has this philosophy I'mgonna help where I can, and it starts
like a big feud between rescues.
It's crazy sometimes, if you're in it forthe animals, just put that to the side.
It doesn't matter.
Tiffany (15:46):
Yeah, if you're in it for the animals, then it shouldn't matter If Nancy
helps you and then goes across the streetand helps them and then goes down the road
and helps , it shouldn't matter becauseno matter what, it's still an animal
in need, whether it's in your care orwhether it's with another rescue's care.
It's still an animal in need andthat's what you have to look at.
Some people are like, oh thedog crossed over state lines.
(16:07):
It's not our problem anymore.
It's still an animal in need.
It doesn't matter how many people you havehelping you, or if those people wanna go
someplace else and help them because theday that they can, you take the help you
have, you take it, you be grateful for it.
And then if they wanna help , somebodyelse, another, agency or whatever, let
them, because they could be like, oh, theydidn't have a problem that we helped them.
(16:31):
Next time we're gonna come backand bring five people with us.
So you always wanna be happy foryour companion rescues because
you all have to work together.
And when you don't and you collideand you fight, that's when it
becomes about not the animal.
And that's a lot of problemswith a lot of rescues.
Dixie (16:53):
Absolutely.
You are in Washington Parish, soWashington Parish is a smaller
parish in the state and a lotmore like of a rural area.
So how do you get your primary
funding?
Tiffany (17:06):
Donations.
We run off donations and grantsand we do fundraisers like crazy.
We'll sell shirts.
We do raffle tickets.
We'll do half and half, whereyou sell raffle tickets, and then
whoever, we draw a number and whoevergets it gets half the pot and we
get the other half, adoption fees.
Not like when we did have adoptionsour adoption fees weren't high at all.
(17:27):
I think our adoptions were a hundreddollars and we pay 85 for a spay neuter.
So you're looking at $15.
We, put in pocket thatput back into the rescue.
And after you look at, allvaccinations and stuff like
that, you're not making anything.
You don't make anything anywaysin rescue because it always goes
whether.
In the form of food or medical.
(17:49):
We just have to hope for donations.
We have regular people who, like,when they pass, they'll give a
donation to memory of we have tohave people to do fundraisers.
And that's how we in grantsand that's how we survive.
Dixie (18:04):
Where do you have your raffles?
Tiffany (18:08):
So we do 'em online usually.
Because we don't have a building.
Washington Humane Society does nothave a building because we were foster
based, so we've never had a building.
So we would do 'em online.
We would pre present everything onlineand then we would do a live drawing
and pick, just draw from whatever.
And whoever won would win the prize andwe would meet them and do the prizes.
(18:29):
, If they're in Bogalusa, we wouldmeet 'em in Bogalusa, in Franklinton,
pine, any of those places.
Dixie (18:35):
With your spay neuter clinic, you said that the Washington Humane
Society does not have a building, butyou have a house that you use that
was converted to a medical facility.
Is that correct?
Tiffany (18:47):
Yes, it's our vets, so it's not our building.
. It's like an older house andshe purchased it herself.
And it's in Mississippi andwe have our clinics there.
But it's strictly for spay neuter.
That's all it's for.
Dixie (19:01):
So I guess it wouldn't be open to the public then unless you
had an appointment for your events.
Tiffany (19:08):
Yeah.
So unless we have a spay neuterclinic, then, it's not open.
And the spay neuter clinic's open topublic, obviously, but as far as just
going there, no, it's just strictly forspay neuter on those days that we have it.
Dixie (19:22):
And how many volunteers total do y'all have?
Tiffany (19:26):
That varies.
Now if we're talking aboutclinic, we have day 1, 2, 3, 4.
Up to at a clinic sometimeswe just have four.
But volunteers overall, that'shard to say because you have
some people who volunteer once.
You have some people whovolunteer regularly, I would
have to say we probably have 10.
(19:50):
maybe 15 that volunteerregularly for things.
The spay neuter whether it belike every other spay and they
come to, or every spay neuter.
And then we have people who volunteer.
Like when we had one a couple weeksago, they brought us sandwiches and
pizza and drinks and snacks and acake to feed the, to feed us while
we're there working from, seven 30 towho knows, 5, 6, 8 o'clock at night.
(20:13):
It just depends on how longit takes us to get done.
Dixie (20:18):
What are some of the challenges you have in recruiting
and retaining the volunteers?
Tiffany (20:26):
I think that a lot of people come in volunteering thinking I
was gonna get to play with puppiesor play with dogs and that's it.
I know when I worked at the shelterand that was a lot, they didn't
realize that, volunteering couldalso mean cleaning up behind a dog.
It could mean helping mow the grass.
It could mean helping givevaccinations, holding 'em.
(20:47):
It could mean, sitting with a sickdog, just one dog that may need a
little more extra time with someoneto, they're scared or something.
It could mean cleaning kennelsout cleaning the feed room out.
So I think sometimes volunteersdon't realize, they think, oh,
we're just gonna go have fun, playwith the dogs, and cats, don't get
me wrong, they need socialization.
(21:09):
That's very important forthe mentality of an animal.
But it's also hard,.
And I think that sometimes people don'trealize that and when they do realize
it, they don't wanna come back unlessit's something fun, which is great.
It's fine.
You still need those people too, but.
You also need those who arewilling to put in the hard work,
the sweat, the labor part as well.
(21:30):
And I think that sometimes peopledon't realize how hard it is
until you get there to do it.
Dixie (21:35):
Yeah.
You get to play with them, but youhave to clean up after 'em too yeah.
Then that is a job.
Definitely.
It's not something that's fun.
Tiffany (21:43):
No, not all the time.
No.
Dixie (21:45):
What are the barriers to affordable veterinary care for
pet owners in Washington Parish,and do you help bridge that gap?
Tiffany (21:55):
So we help bridge it as far as when we offer the spay neuter clinics,
the vaccination clinics, microchip clinicsand stuff like that, because it's very
low cost, like a microchip for $10.
You can't go to a vet andget a microchip for $10.
You are looking at $45at, to walk in at least.
And then, probably or more for the.
(22:17):
Whereas we would do clinics and saywe have a hundred chips where we could
do a hundred dogs or cats for $10a pop, which is covering our costs
of the chip easily and helping the.
Public.
Same with vaccinations.
We buy 'em in bulk, we get 'em a littlecheaper, and so we can offer a vaccination
(22:38):
for $10 and get it done and do it right.
So people aren't scared to do it.
Or maybe they have an aggressivedog and they just need help doing
it, , I think most vets not all butmost vets have gotten away from.
It's about the animal and not about money.
A lot of vets are not very personable.
They, just wanna rush you in, rushyou out, like doctors nowadays.
(23:01):
But I think that most vets havestarted to do it's about a money thing.
Our vet is wonderful if she canhelp you out or help anybody out.
With something over the counter orwhatever, she's gonna tell you she's
gonna let you, she's gonna help youbecause her priority is the wellbeing
of the animal, not about the cost.
Now, she's not gonna sit and say, ohyeah I'm give this to you for free.
(23:24):
Because she still has to cover her costs.
But she is by far.
And I've met a lot of vets, andlike I said, I'm not saying all
vets like this, but she is byfar one of the most compassionate
vets that I've ever worked with.
Just because it is about theanimal and it's not about the cost.
Of, she's not gonna run a hundredtests, she's gonna say, okay.
(23:47):
So I think that's a problem withvets nowadays it's more about money
than it's about the animal andhelping the human with the animal.
Dixie (23:56):
For the vaccinations and the microchip clinics, when you do those,
do you and your volunteers give thoseor do you have your vet there to give
those vaccinations and microchips?
Tiffany (24:07):
If it's a rabies clinic, our vet is there because it has to be.
If it is a microchip or a vaccination.
Like you're just annual vaccination?
No, it's a handful of people thatwe know and trust and I've done two
of them the past few years myselforganizing , a microchip and a vaccination
clinic, and it's just of you get carsgoing, they stay in their vehicle.
(24:30):
We come up, it's a checkpoint.
Everyone, you get your paper, youpay, you come up, we get everything.
Go up next, . It runs really well.
Okay.
So not everybody gives 'em, because wewanna make sure that you know how to
give them, you give them, efficiently.
We, don't have time to sit andwait for people to learn how to
do it during a clinic like thatbecause it's usually fast paced.
(24:52):
You have people waiting to get in becauseit's usually first come, first serve.
If we have a hundred, wedo the first a hundred.
Dixie (24:59):
And what if somebody has an animal and there's some kind of
illness going on with the animal,but they can't afford vet care?
Do you assist with that as well?
Tiffany (25:08):
We have in the past.
We'll also ask fordonations to help cover it.
Like I said, our vet works with us, sowe have in the past set people up and we
don't make it a habit like this because,we are a nonprofit organization that
they make payments to us, like if theycan pay this amount then we can cover
the rest and we'll try to work littlepayments out here and there with them.
(25:30):
And like I said, our vet is wonderfulat, we explain everything to her.
This is what's going on.
And it might be an elderly person that'son disability and their dog is really sick
and she say, okay, I'll do it at cost forthis so she's not making anything of it.
She's given her time and it's at costwhere it would cost her for the medicine.
(25:50):
No visit charge and stuff like that.
So we do help out the public when we can.
Our only bad thing is our vet is allthe way to Mississippi which we don't
mind a drive, but we can't always doa drive because, we have families and
we work outside of volunteer work.
Dixie (26:05):
Since your vet is in Mississippi, how far is she away from y'all?
Tiffany (26:10):
She's in Gulfport, Mississippi.
But , like I said, she comes Crossroads,which is 30 minutes down the road from
me, from Fanklinton I've driven to herplace plenty of times and go for it.
And so have Beth and Kay and we have somevolunteers that will drive a sick animal
or injured animal or hurt animal there.
And like I said, we also work closely withdifferent shelters who have vet staff on.
(26:33):
call or have vet staff that can stabilizean animal until we can get 'em to a vet,
or they can get their vet to look at 'em.
So that's why I say it's always veryimportant to have open communications
with all vets and shelters that are aroundyou and never turn help down because now,
nowadays you need as much help as you canin the animal world with as many as we
(26:56):
have on the streets and overpopulating.
Dixie (26:58):
Right now, since your vet is a little bit of a drive away, do you do
like a transport for the clinics thatyou have or do you have people just
bring them back and forth to the vet?
Tiffany (27:10):
So the spay neuter clinic, since it's on crossroads,
they bring their animals.
We've had people bring them an hour away.
Because even driving an hour andpaying like an $85 fee is still
cheaper than going to, a vet.
So they bring their own animals andthen we call them an hour before their
animal is ready to pick up, to give themclean enough time to come and we stay,
obviously stay until the last animal waspicked up, but they bring their own animal
(27:35):
and then they take 'em home themselves.
Unless we have worked somethingout ahead of time and if it's a
disabled person or an older person,they can't get their animal.
We might have a volunteer that wouldpick them up and drop them out, back off.
That has happened before'cause I've done it before.
Dixie (27:51):
And how is your relationship with the Washington Parish Animal Shelter?
Tiffany (27:56):
We have a good working relationship.
Kelsey, who is the directorover there and she does spay
neuter clinics all the time now.
And Kay works with her with that'cause Kay is like our go-to
spay neuter woman, she does oursand she helps Kelsey with hers.
So we have a really goodworking relationship with them.
Dixie (28:17):
That's great.
Do you ever deal with handling animalcruelty or any kind of neglect cases?
Tiffany (28:24):
Yes, we have we used to do that all the time and we still do,
if people call, but usually they'llcall the police first or whatever.
We don't have jurisdiction likea police officer does, but people
will call us or let us know and wewill get the police involved or the
authorities, whoever we need to.
The humane society of Louisiana isa bigger, Jeff Dorson if we need him
(28:46):
because he's on , a bigger scale than us.
We will get others involved in helpingan animal that's being mistreated.
And as I worked as animal officer,I was able to do that more with
authority by the police departmentto handle cases like that, neglect.
And we have had several neglect cases.
Dixie (29:06):
When you have the neglect cases, do you put those
animals like in a foster system?
Tiffany (29:13):
When Washington Humane used to have the foster system, yes, we did.
We would, because we hada large base of fosters.
At one time I think we had 10 fosters.
But it would be a fosterthat we knew very well.
We knew they could takecare of that animal.
Beth was our number one foster.
For cats and dogs.
And she's very well knowledgeableabout medical stuff.
So she would take some on, and we hada couple others that were knowledgeable
(29:36):
with medical and issues with dogs.
So we did put 'em in a foster system.
When we didn't have it anymore,then we would work with, Bogalusa
Animal control when I was there.
And Kelsey and other rescues thathave a foster based system or even a
building, and we would work with themlike we worked North Shore before.
(29:57):
But we would work with them and theymay take the animal on for us and we
just give over everything to them.
So if we were raising moneyfor it, it goes to them.
If , people were sending likefor dogs that are emaciated.
If they're sending food andblankets, it would go to them then.
But yeah, those neglect cases and stufflike that we partner with different
rescues, shelters, and when I sayshelters, I mean like the Washington
(30:20):
parish shelter, like one that, isvery knowledgeable and has vet staff.
But that's how we do neglect cases.
Dixie (30:28):
What challenges do you face in reaching all corners of Washington
Parish with your message and services?
Tiffany (30:35):
I would say just people stuck in their ways.
That just don't care.
In law enforcement we run intoa issues with law enforcement.
We have three where we had three shelters.
We had one in the city of Franklinton.
We have one in the parish, which isWashington Parish in all shelter.
(30:57):
And we had Bogalusa the city shelter,which is Bogalusa animal control.
Bogalusa animal controlwas shut down this year.
It needed to be shut down.
It is not operable atall, any, any longer.
They don't have animalcontrol there either.
We have, I think someone who is nowacting as a parish animal control officer.
I don't know his exact title asfar as what he can and can't do.
(31:20):
And then Franklinton has,firefighters will go out and,
pick up animals and stuff.
So the problem is, our biggest issue,I think with any rescue really is.
Law enforcement.
A lot of times law enforcement donot know the updated rules or laws of
animals, and they wanna turn a blind eye.
(31:42):
I'm not saying everybody's like that,
but working with law enforcement asanimal control, I saw that firsthand.
A lot of them, oh, it's not my problem.
It's not a human, it'snot, a law is a law.
Whether it be a human law oran animal law, a law is a law.
And if you're there to uphold the law,then you need to uphold all the laws.
(32:03):
It doesn't matter if you're an animalcontrol officer making people uphold
the laws, or if you're a policeofficer or a sheriff deputy or whoever.
A law is a law, and I think thatwe need to get back to that.
To that part where an officer,sheriff, deputy whatever,
they need to uphold all laws.
(32:25):
And I know that's a lot, butthat's the world we live in now.
So you can't uphold some laws and thennot other laws just because I'm not human.
Dixie (32:35):
And that is something that I'm actually consistently hearing
too, from a lot of other rescuesthat I've been speaking with.
Tiffany (32:40):
Yes.
You'll call, you'll tell people to callthe sheriff's department or call the
police station, whatever, and they'llbe like, okay, we'll send somebody out.
Because it's an emergency.
I've been there I've been where peopleare selling animals in a parking lot.
They're not supposed to or givingaway, and they're not supposed to be.
That's a law.
And it might be a stupid law,but it's a law for a reason.
(33:01):
Some people might think jaywalking isstupid law, but it's a law for a reason
and you can't pick and choose whichones you're gonna uphold and not uphold.
So that's, that is a bigproblem I think everywhere.
Is that I think that officers once ayear, maybe once every six months, need
to have a training with animal rights.
(33:22):
And they need to just, if you becomean officer, become a police officer,
sheriff, deputy, or whatever, youneed to understand that a law is a
law no matter what it obtains to.
And I think that once, if wecan get that through, it would,
things would be a little better.
Not saying that's the cure ofeverything, but that's a starting point.
Dixie (33:44):
Coming from an animal control background, I know a lot of people when
they hear animal control, they're scaredof it, they think of the old, kind
of cartoons with the the dog catchers
Tiffany (33:56):
yes
Dixie (33:56):
so it's not a good thing.
They don't have a good association withanimal control, why is animal control
needed and do you think that there shouldbe animal control in Washington Parish?
Tiffany (34:11):
I
definitely think there should be animalcontrol when you have animal control.
It does help the law outin general, the police.
Because that, that one part,and, Washington Parish is,
it's small, but it's still big.
So two or three animal controlofficers doing the entire parish
and city limits of everywhere.
That's not a lot.
And honestly, not with the populationoverpopulation that we have.
(34:33):
And the cruelty, the dog fightingrings, all that stuff that goes on here.
So we definitely need animal controland it would help officers out.
Those who are there for the publicand not necessarily for animals.
There needs to be accountability.
If you're going to have an animal,there needs to be accountability for it.
(34:54):
You're accountable for your kids thatare humans and they're living, then
you need to be accountable for otherliving things that you're supposed to
be taking care of because that animaldidn't choose to come live with you.
You chose to take that animal in,you chose to go buy that animal or
to go rescue that animal or whatever.
We don't get to sell our kidsbecause we're having another baby.
(35:17):
So why should you be able to justdump a dog because you are having
a baby or because you want a puppy?
Because this dog's older.
Laws need to be enforced and I thinkthat's a big thing with the difference
between up north and down south isup North enforces laws, they enforce
spay neuter they uphold laws as faras you have to have your animals.
(35:39):
They have to have 'em.
You have to have tags on 'em.
You have to pay a fee for 'em.
You only can have so many.
There's so many backyard breedersthey just wanna look away.
If I don't see it, I don't,the problem's not there.
And it's still there.
It's still there.
So animal control officersare definitely needed.
Dixie (35:57):
What are your long-term aspirations for animal welfare in Washington Parish
and the Washington Humane Society?
Tiffany (36:07):
I would be lying if I said I wish we could go back to foster base.
But that's just not foreseeable for us.
I hope to do, still more clinics,obviously and rabies clinics and
vaccination and microchipping.
Because I think when you have healthydogs all around, then the animals that the
(36:28):
shelters do get won't be as sick or, theywon't have to put as much money into 'em.
Because there's healthier dogs runningaround, if that makes any sense.
Definitely more outreach of spayneuter and grants with spay neuter
to help those with low income or noincome or the elderly to help them.
And I just wish that we would,there's so many dogs that are
(36:52):
chained with no, no proper sheltersor that are just standing in mud.
I just wish that.
Like I said earlier, law enforcementwas forced to enforce laws for animals
and it didn't just come down to one ortwo people or rescue groups to have to
constantly nag and nag to get that done.
(37:14):
There's, we can't do it ourselves,so we all have to work together.
And so I would hope that.
One day stricter laws would be made,or at least laws that we have would be
enforced more to help with these animals.
Dixie (37:32):
What message would you like to share with the community about
the importance of animal welfareand responsible pet ownership?
Tiffany (37:40):
Just think about it.
Think about what you want.
Not buy off a whim.
Or, adopt or get one , oh, my kid wantsa dog and your kid's four years old,
and then six months later you're givingthe dog up because the kid wouldn't
feed, the dog, wouldn't take care of it.
It's a 4-year-old.
It's a kid.
I have three kids and we fightthem all the time about feeding
the dogs and that's, that is theirresponsibility is to feed the dogs.
(38:03):
And but then, they're like,oh, we want this to know it.
It's a responsibility thing.
I'm not gonna get rid of mydogs because I have to force
my kids to feed 'em sometimes.
So you have to take ownership.
You have to take responsibility.
And before you think, oh, I wantthis kind of dog, do your research.
'cause you might think youwant this kind of dog, but it's
(38:24):
your lifestyle for that dog.
And a lot of people don't realize that.
They think that it's a cute dog,they want that dog, and then
they throw it like a pug outside.
A pug cannot be outside a Boston.
terrier cannot be outside, sodo your research on these dogs.
And seriously consider getting 'em fixed.
Everybody says, oh, I justwant one from the litter.
(38:45):
Okay?
What happens to the rest of the dogs?
You want that one?
They have seven.
So you have six dogs now that can breed.
So is one really worth six more dogs thatcan breed, that aren't gonna get fixed?
So just the outreach of moreimportance of spay neuter.
Everybody says if you spayand neuter all of them, then
(39:07):
you'll never have any more dogs.
That's not true.
That's not true at all.
Dixie (39:12):
Yeah, absolutely not true.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Tiffany (39:17):
I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
Dixie (39:18):
You're welcome.
And that's all the time wehave for today's episode.
If you are in animal rescue, or ifyou know someone that has a story that
should be told, please contact us.
We would love to haveyou or them on the show
. Thanks for listening, and pleasejoin us next week as we continue to
explore the world of animal rescue.
Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the
people and rescues making adifference in the lives of animals.
Hi, Tiffany, . How are you?
Tiffany (00:11):
I'm good.
Dixie (00:11):
Thank you so much for coming on the show to talk about
The Washington Humane Society.
Could you introduce yourself and yourrole with the Washington Humane Society?
Yes.
Tiffany Smith and I am the Vice Presidentof the humane Society, Washington.
And how did you first getinvolved in animal rescue?
Tiffany (00:33):
As a kid I always loved animals and wanted to be a vet but
never could get past the point ofbeing able to put 'em down if they're
injured or even, sick and stuff.
And so we rescued, growingup with my family,.
And then, probably alittle over 10 years now.
I met up with Magnolia Chapter backthen 'cause we were a sister facility
off of the humane side of Louisiana.
(00:55):
Met up with them and juststarted volunteering my time
and just went from there.
Dixie (01:03):
Were you involved in the formation of the Washington Humane Society?
Tiffany (01:09):
No, they had formed probably a couple years before
I started volunteering there.
Dixie (01:18):
And what is your mission and what areas do you serve?
Tiffany (01:24):
We serve mostly Washington Parish.
But we do help outsideof our parish as well.
Our goal now we to have fosters andanimals up for adoption and so forth.
But as time goes on, we lose fosters andwe don't have that ability really to.
hold onto foster.
So what we do more now is the spay,neutering program trap cats to get
(01:48):
feral cats fixed and released backto where they were and to help the
public just, educate the publicon the importance of spay neuter.
The importance of adopting.
We work with other facilities and otherrescue groups to try to help move animals
from the south up north where theyhave a much successful adoption rate.
(02:08):
We just try to help where we can, whenwe can and try to help the community
and how we can with with animal needs.
Dixie (02:16):
And how long has the Washington Humane Society been
operating in Washington Parish?
Tiffany (02:22):
I've been helping them for about 15 years and they
started before I, came aboard.
So I would say probably20 years, maybe longer.
Dixie (02:34):
And the spay neuter program that you have, can you
explain what that program is?
Is it different from other areas?
Tiffany (02:41):
I guess it just depends on your price.
So we have an amazing vet in herstaff out of Mississippi, and we
go to Crossroads, Mississippi.
They've been doing spay neuter forever.
And as time goes on,prices increase, of course.
For $85 you can get a female ormale fixed no matter the size.
And you get rabies shot and now we doevery animal that comes in, whether it's
(03:05):
a cat or dog, they get microchips too.
So that's free of charge.
Same with cats.
Cats come in.
We usually have, vouchers for feral cats.
We have trappers that'll go out and settraps the night before, bring the cats in
the next day, and then wherever they'retracking that, they'll hold onto the cats
for a few days afterwards to make sure,the incisions and stuff are doing good.
(03:25):
So we have it once a month and Kay,which is also one of the board members,
she helps out with the Washington.
Parish shelter.
So she does spay / neuter with them too.
We have everybody call, whoever wants tocome in to call first come, first serve
because we only could do so many a time.
And we have a house that'sbeen transformed into a
vet clinic, so to speak.
(03:46):
And, parents, so the animals orwhatever would drop off their babies
fill out paperwork, drop 'em off.
We spend the entire dayfixing cats and dogs.
It could be anywhere upto 60 cats and 30 dogs.
We've done a few more.
We've done a few less in the aday, and it's our vet staff and
then we have volunteers that comeand it's a well oiled machine.
We have people in recovery, wehave people doing paperwork, we.
(04:10):
The owners of theanimals, if they're ready.
Then we have, like I said, our vet staffand her staff, so it's just a bunch of.
volunteers and our vet that haveeverybody get together once a
month, usually on a Saturday anddo the spay neuter for low cost.
Because you take an animal to the vetnowadays especially female, you're
gonna pay 150, 200 up to get them fixed.
(04:33):
And here it's very low cost for them.
, Sometimes we do getgrants to where we can fix
say 30 dogs at one day.
Last one we had, it was a grant and wewere able to fix all these cats and dogs.
I think we had 50 cats and 21 dogs thatall were fixed for free through the grant.
(04:53):
So I don't know if it's muchdifferent than anybody else's.
I think price wise we're onthe cheap end, but I know that
also other rescues do cheap.
They neuter at times as well.
Dixie (05:07):
Have you noticed any kind of decrease in the feral cat population since
you've started this spay neuter program?
Tiffany (05:14):
I think so, yes.
We do a lot of areas like we'rebuilding, grocery stores or fast
food restaurants where, you have allof 'em that are by the trash cans.
And then there are certainareas that we work on.
And I think definitely thepopulation has decreased.
I do believe that we have made a hugedent in the feral population one cat
(05:35):
can produce five kittens, and then thosekittens can produce and so on the forth.
So I definitely think that we've reducedthe the amount of feral animals out there.
For sure.
Dixie (05:45):
As a board member, what are your duties or what is like a
typical day or a typical week like?
Tiffany (05:52):
So we're all volunteer based we have changed so much over the past few
years from when we used to have fosters.
I was the foster coordinator, somy job would be to go out, find
fosters, and then have those fosters.
Foster, whatever animal they wantedto, I would never say, oh, you have to
take this dog or that dog or whatever.
I would be like, okay, whatis your home life like?
(06:14):
What do you have at home?
And then, okay, this is what wehave available that needs fostering.
Once they take their.
Dog or cat, whichever it was I wouldgo and make sure they had everything
they needed as far as vetting, wormervaccines, get 'em set up for spay neuter,
and then we'd have adoption events andI would help do that as well and get
the fosters to bring their dogs there.
(06:36):
Over the course of the past few yearswe, like I said, we've gotten out of
the fostering, it's a lot of work.
It really is a lot of work, and it's been,Kay, Beth and I mostly us that do most
of the, groundwork with that and we hada lot of great volunteers along the way,
but everybody gets busy in life and we nowjust, what I do is spay / neuter clinic.
(06:59):
If we have somethingafterwards and animals.
lick themselves open or something.
They would send me out orBeth depends on who's closer.
And Beth usually does most of ourrecovery, but I do go out occasionally.
I also go out and my daughterand I, we will go rescue animals.
So I also do, post on, socialmedia, all three do that.
(07:23):
But we post on social mediaanimals in need owners that need
help with their animals res otherrescues, other shelters as well.
Dixie (07:32):
Do you have animals in your care that would be put up for adoption?
Tiffany (07:38):
Not at this present time, no.
We, like I said, we got awayfrom the fostering because.
there was those few fosters thatwe had that were tremendous.
Their lives got busy and they couldn'tdedicate the time, which is understandable
to fostering an animal and bringing 'emto, adoption events and when you have the
(07:59):
same people doing things over and overagain, you spread yourself really thin.
And because we're such a smallhumane society and the demand
was so high, we couldn't keep up.
So we had to turn ourendeavors to something else.
And that would be educating the public.
That would be rescue, working withother rescues that do transports.
(08:21):
Working with the spay neuter programs,getting grants to help the community
spay and neuter their animals, workingwith local shelters to get them
on transports and to get the, therural shelters get the animals out.
So that's been our mainfocus in the past few years.
Dixie (08:39):
I understand that, so you switch more to a preventative type
role rather than dealing with theanimals that were currently there.
And I do think that'swhere you have to go.
You have to go to the source, which isspay and neuter, because then when you do
that, then you don't have as many animalsout there that are actually needing homes.
So you mentioned educational programs.
(08:59):
Do you have any other types ofeducational programs or can you explain
what you do as outreach programs?
Tiffany (09:07):
So I know not so much in the past year or so because we,
like I said, we've all been busyand health wise for all three of us.
We've had a lot going on.
But I would go to, schools withan animal and talk to the kids
like different grades and stuff,not really young, those who could
comprehend and understand a little bit.
But talk to them about the importanceof spay neuter, the importance of
(09:30):
getting your animals vaccinated.
How to approach dogs if a dog's chasingyou, things like that to start young.
Send brochures home and flyers home sothey can bring them to their parents
to educate them about the importanceof vaccinations, the importance of
heartworm medicine, the importance ofspay neuter, and how you can get , our
information reaching out at a younger age.
(09:51):
A lot of people grow up andthey're like we don't know.
We didn't know about y'all.
We didn't know it was this cheap.
We caught our vet and it was hundredsof dollars to get a dog fixed, or we've
also offered vaccination clinics beforewhere, you can get vaccinations . We've
offered rabies clinics before because bylaw you have to have a rabies certificate
and tag and shot for your animal.
We've also offeredmicrochip, clinics before.
(10:14):
So we've educated the public like that.
As far as the importance of why you needto spay neuter, why you need to vaccinate,
why you need to, flea prevention andheartworm prevention, what the importance
of that is reaching out to younger kidsin hopes to start a generation where they
grow up and see the importance and want todo better than possibly what we have now.
Dixie (10:38):
There are a lot of rescue groups out there that are foster based
and even though they do encouragespay neuter they do get overrun.
Like you said, you onlyhave so many fosters.
They can only take so many and youhave such a big influx of animals,
so for small rescues that wanna getstarted with something like you are
(10:59):
doing with a spay neuter clinic,what advice would you have to them on
how they can get started with that?
Tiffany (11:07):
I would say partner up with somebody who has been doing it or does
it because we're all supposed to be outthere for the better of the animals.
We all have our own ways of doingthings at times, but the end result,
if you're out there for the animals,then you want to help another rescue.
You want to help your fellow rescuerto educate them and to help them
(11:28):
with, okay, this is how we did things.
And then not saying that theyhave to do it exactly how we do
it or how someone else do it.
They can take our lead or someoneelse's lead and run with it.
I try to go to someplacethat has this going on.
A spay, neuter clinic, a regularthing, low cost, see how it's done.
(11:49):
You get donations, you get grants.
Grants are a big thing.
And then once you get yourfeet wet it all falls in line.
But I would definitely, shadow arescue group, if you're a small,
especially a small rescue group,shadow them and see how they do things.
And not saying how we do things , is theexact and the way that has to be done.
(12:10):
'cause everybody has theirown way of doing things.
But at least you would get theconcept of it, you'd get the gist,
and from there you'd say, oh, okay,we can do it like this instead.
So I would definitely say try to shadow,ask questions, and the rescuers that are
out there for the animals and not for theglory of what they do, they're gonna be
(12:32):
the ones that are gonna wanna help you.
They're because they see you wannahelp stop this overpopulation and you
wanna help these neglected animals.
And so we're on the same team because youhave those out there who aren't like that.
They're out there for the gloryof look at me, type attitude.
Dixie (12:49):
I was actually gonna say in the bigger cities, that goes on a lot.
There is a lot of fighting
Tiffany (12:54):
Yes.
Dixie (12:55):
Between rescue groups.
I don't understand it.
'cause everybody has the same goal.
Tiffany (13:00):
Yes.
I don't, and that's all I cansay is it's about a status thing.
We did this much, we did that much.
It's a, look what wedid, look what we did.
You can say that all day long,what is the quality of life of
the animals that you have and thatyou're, where you're sending 'em.
If you doing your job as far as an animalrescue or a shelter or whatever, then.
(13:23):
Everything speaks for themselves.
You're gonna have negative anywhere yougo with any rescue you have, someone's
gonna say something negative abouta rescue unit is done to us all the
time, but those who know us, thoseknow who , what we stand for and what
we do for the public and what we havedone and what we'll continue to do.
Know that.
These are just otherpeople that are upset.
(13:43):
Maybe we couldn't have helped them inthe timely manner that they wanted us
to, because that's not how life is.
We couldn't help some, we can't alwayshelp people with their problem, and a lot
of people wanna put their problem onto us.
Big corporation, rescues.
It's all about how muchmoney can we get in.
And look at our numbers.
And that's not always a big thing.
It needs to be about the animaland not about the recognition.
(14:08):
Obviously you want your rescue to berecognized, but it's a whole team thing.
Anytime my daughter and I or or my kidsand I, we went on a rescue, it was never.
Look what we did.
It takes a team, and that's alwaysbeen our slogan is it takes a team.
There's never one person.
It's always multiple peoplethat make everything work for
the better of the animals.
Dixie (14:30):
Absolutely.
And that was the whole pointbehind this podcast is I was hoping
that this will actually bringrescues together because it's time
Tiffany (14:39):
it needs
to,
Dixie (14:39):
yeah.
It's time for them to startworking together and put
aside the glory like you said.
Tiffany (14:47):
Yes.
And see I worked as ACOin Bogalusa, a officer.
And there's rescues, I didn't carefor some of the people that, volunteer
with them or worked with them, but it'snot about my feelings towards those
people, it's about my feelings towardsthem wanting to help the animals that
are in need that I had in my care and
I might not like their personality.
(15:08):
We might clash, but they're stilldoing good for animals and helping.
And as long as that's going on, I couldput any differences aside and work
with somebody for the greater goodof abused, neglected animals, because
there's such a high population of them.
Dixie (15:24):
I definitely agree with that, and then I see that happening too,
where rescues will fight over actualvolunteers because you might have one
person that has this philosophy I'mgonna help where I can, and it starts
like a big feud between rescues.
It's crazy sometimes, if you're in it forthe animals, just put that to the side.
It doesn't matter.
Tiffany (15:46):
Yeah, if you're in it for the animals, then it shouldn't matter If Nancy
helps you and then goes across the streetand helps them and then goes down the road
and helps , it shouldn't matter becauseno matter what, it's still an animal
in need, whether it's in your care orwhether it's with another rescue's care.
It's still an animal in need andthat's what you have to look at.
Some people are like, oh thedog crossed over state lines.
(16:07):
It's not our problem anymore.
It's still an animal in need.
It doesn't matter how many people you havehelping you, or if those people wanna go
someplace else and help them because theday that they can, you take the help you
have, you take it, you be grateful for it.
And then if they wanna help , somebodyelse, another, agency or whatever, let
them, because they could be like, oh, theydidn't have a problem that we helped them.
(16:31):
Next time we're gonna come backand bring five people with us.
So you always wanna be happy foryour companion rescues because
you all have to work together.
And when you don't and you collideand you fight, that's when it
becomes about not the animal.
And that's a lot of problemswith a lot of rescues.
Dixie (16:53):
Absolutely.
You are in Washington Parish, soWashington Parish is a smaller
parish in the state and a lotmore like of a rural area.
So how do you get your primary
funding?
Tiffany (17:06):
Donations.
We run off donations and grantsand we do fundraisers like crazy.
We'll sell shirts.
We do raffle tickets.
We'll do half and half, whereyou sell raffle tickets, and then
whoever, we draw a number and whoevergets it gets half the pot and we
get the other half, adoption fees.
Not like when we did have adoptionsour adoption fees weren't high at all.
(17:27):
I think our adoptions were a hundreddollars and we pay 85 for a spay neuter.
So you're looking at $15.
We, put in pocket thatput back into the rescue.
And after you look at, allvaccinations and stuff like
that, you're not making anything.
You don't make anything anywaysin rescue because it always goes
whether.
In the form of food or medical.
(17:49):
We just have to hope for donations.
We have regular people who, like,when they pass, they'll give a
donation to memory of we have tohave people to do fundraisers.
And that's how we in grantsand that's how we survive.
Dixie (18:04):
Where do you have your raffles?
Tiffany (18:08):
So we do 'em online usually.
Because we don't have a building.
Washington Humane Society does nothave a building because we were foster
based, so we've never had a building.
So we would do 'em online.
We would pre present everything onlineand then we would do a live drawing
and pick, just draw from whatever.
And whoever won would win the prize andwe would meet them and do the prizes.
(18:29):
, If they're in Bogalusa, we wouldmeet 'em in Bogalusa, in Franklinton,
pine, any of those places.
Dixie (18:35):
With your spay neuter clinic, you said that the Washington Humane
Society does not have a building, butyou have a house that you use that
was converted to a medical facility.
Is that correct?
Tiffany (18:47):
Yes, it's our vets, so it's not our building.
. It's like an older house andshe purchased it herself.
And it's in Mississippi andwe have our clinics there.
But it's strictly for spay neuter.
That's all it's for.
Dixie (19:01):
So I guess it wouldn't be open to the public then unless you
had an appointment for your events.
Tiffany (19:08):
Yeah.
So unless we have a spay neuterclinic, then, it's not open.
And the spay neuter clinic's open topublic, obviously, but as far as just
going there, no, it's just strictly forspay neuter on those days that we have it.
Dixie (19:22):
And how many volunteers total do y'all have?
Tiffany (19:26):
That varies.
Now if we're talking aboutclinic, we have day 1, 2, 3, 4.
Up to at a clinic sometimeswe just have four.
But volunteers overall, that'shard to say because you have
some people who volunteer once.
You have some people whovolunteer regularly, I would
have to say we probably have 10.
(19:50):
maybe 15 that volunteerregularly for things.
The spay neuter whether it belike every other spay and they
come to, or every spay neuter.
And then we have people who volunteer.
Like when we had one a couple weeksago, they brought us sandwiches and
pizza and drinks and snacks and acake to feed the, to feed us while
we're there working from, seven 30 towho knows, 5, 6, 8 o'clock at night.
(20:13):
It just depends on how longit takes us to get done.
Dixie (20:18):
What are some of the challenges you have in recruiting
and retaining the volunteers?
Tiffany (20:26):
I think that a lot of people come in volunteering thinking I
was gonna get to play with puppiesor play with dogs and that's it.
I know when I worked at the shelterand that was a lot, they didn't
realize that, volunteering couldalso mean cleaning up behind a dog.
It could mean helping mow the grass.
It could mean helping givevaccinations, holding 'em.
(20:47):
It could mean, sitting with a sickdog, just one dog that may need a
little more extra time with someoneto, they're scared or something.
It could mean cleaning kennelsout cleaning the feed room out.
So I think sometimes volunteersdon't realize, they think, oh,
we're just gonna go have fun, playwith the dogs, and cats, don't get
me wrong, they need socialization.
(21:09):
That's very important forthe mentality of an animal.
But it's also hard,.
And I think that sometimes people don'trealize that and when they do realize
it, they don't wanna come back unlessit's something fun, which is great.
It's fine.
You still need those people too, but.
You also need those who arewilling to put in the hard work,
the sweat, the labor part as well.
(21:30):
And I think that sometimes peopledon't realize how hard it is
until you get there to do it.
Dixie (21:35):
Yeah.
You get to play with them, but youhave to clean up after 'em too yeah.
Then that is a job.
Definitely.
It's not something that's fun.
Tiffany (21:43):
No, not all the time.
No.
Dixie (21:45):
What are the barriers to affordable veterinary care for
pet owners in Washington Parish,and do you help bridge that gap?
Tiffany (21:55):
So we help bridge it as far as when we offer the spay neuter clinics,
the vaccination clinics, microchip clinicsand stuff like that, because it's very
low cost, like a microchip for $10.
You can't go to a vet andget a microchip for $10.
You are looking at $45at, to walk in at least.
And then, probably or more for the.
(22:17):
Whereas we would do clinics and saywe have a hundred chips where we could
do a hundred dogs or cats for $10a pop, which is covering our costs
of the chip easily and helping the.
Public.
Same with vaccinations.
We buy 'em in bulk, we get 'em a littlecheaper, and so we can offer a vaccination
(22:38):
for $10 and get it done and do it right.
So people aren't scared to do it.
Or maybe they have an aggressivedog and they just need help doing
it, , I think most vets not all butmost vets have gotten away from.
It's about the animal and not about money.
A lot of vets are not very personable.
They, just wanna rush you in, rushyou out, like doctors nowadays.
(23:01):
But I think that most vets havestarted to do it's about a money thing.
Our vet is wonderful if she canhelp you out or help anybody out.
With something over the counter orwhatever, she's gonna tell you she's
gonna let you, she's gonna help youbecause her priority is the wellbeing
of the animal, not about the cost.
Now, she's not gonna sit and say, ohyeah I'm give this to you for free.
(23:24):
Because she still has to cover her costs.
But she is by far.
And I've met a lot of vets, andlike I said, I'm not saying all
vets like this, but she is byfar one of the most compassionate
vets that I've ever worked with.
Just because it is about theanimal and it's not about the cost.
Of, she's not gonna run a hundredtests, she's gonna say, okay.
(23:47):
So I think that's a problem withvets nowadays it's more about money
than it's about the animal andhelping the human with the animal.
Dixie (23:56):
For the vaccinations and the microchip clinics, when you do those,
do you and your volunteers give thoseor do you have your vet there to give
those vaccinations and microchips?
Tiffany (24:07):
If it's a rabies clinic, our vet is there because it has to be.
If it is a microchip or a vaccination.
Like you're just annual vaccination?
No, it's a handful of people thatwe know and trust and I've done two
of them the past few years myselforganizing , a microchip and a vaccination
clinic, and it's just of you get carsgoing, they stay in their vehicle.
(24:30):
We come up, it's a checkpoint.
Everyone, you get your paper, youpay, you come up, we get everything.
Go up next, . It runs really well.
Okay.
So not everybody gives 'em, because wewanna make sure that you know how to
give them, you give them, efficiently.
We, don't have time to sit andwait for people to learn how to
do it during a clinic like thatbecause it's usually fast paced.
(24:52):
You have people waiting to get in becauseit's usually first come, first serve.
If we have a hundred, wedo the first a hundred.
Dixie (24:59):
And what if somebody has an animal and there's some kind of
illness going on with the animal,but they can't afford vet care?
Do you assist with that as well?
Tiffany (25:08):
We have in the past.
We'll also ask fordonations to help cover it.
Like I said, our vet works with us, sowe have in the past set people up and we
don't make it a habit like this because,we are a nonprofit organization that
they make payments to us, like if theycan pay this amount then we can cover
the rest and we'll try to work littlepayments out here and there with them.
(25:30):
And like I said, our vet is wonderfulat, we explain everything to her.
This is what's going on.
And it might be an elderly person that'son disability and their dog is really sick
and she say, okay, I'll do it at cost forthis so she's not making anything of it.
She's given her time and it's at costwhere it would cost her for the medicine.
(25:50):
No visit charge and stuff like that.
So we do help out the public when we can.
Our only bad thing is our vet is allthe way to Mississippi which we don't
mind a drive, but we can't always doa drive because, we have families and
we work outside of volunteer work.
Dixie (26:05):
Since your vet is in Mississippi, how far is she away from y'all?
Tiffany (26:10):
She's in Gulfport, Mississippi.
But , like I said, she comes Crossroads,which is 30 minutes down the road from
me, from Fanklinton I've driven to herplace plenty of times and go for it.
And so have Beth and Kay and we have somevolunteers that will drive a sick animal
or injured animal or hurt animal there.
And like I said, we also work closely withdifferent shelters who have vet staff on.
(26:33):
call or have vet staff that can stabilizean animal until we can get 'em to a vet,
or they can get their vet to look at 'em.
So that's why I say it's always veryimportant to have open communications
with all vets and shelters that are aroundyou and never turn help down because now,
nowadays you need as much help as you canin the animal world with as many as we
(26:56):
have on the streets and overpopulating.
Dixie (26:58):
Right now, since your vet is a little bit of a drive away, do you do
like a transport for the clinics thatyou have or do you have people just
bring them back and forth to the vet?
Tiffany (27:10):
So the spay neuter clinic, since it's on crossroads,
they bring their animals.
We've had people bring them an hour away.
Because even driving an hour andpaying like an $85 fee is still
cheaper than going to, a vet.
So they bring their own animals andthen we call them an hour before their
animal is ready to pick up, to give themclean enough time to come and we stay,
obviously stay until the last animal waspicked up, but they bring their own animal
(27:35):
and then they take 'em home themselves.
Unless we have worked somethingout ahead of time and if it's a
disabled person or an older person,they can't get their animal.
We might have a volunteer that wouldpick them up and drop them out, back off.
That has happened before'cause I've done it before.
Dixie (27:51):
And how is your relationship with the Washington Parish Animal Shelter?
Tiffany (27:56):
We have a good working relationship.
Kelsey, who is the directorover there and she does spay
neuter clinics all the time now.
And Kay works with her with that'cause Kay is like our go-to
spay neuter woman, she does oursand she helps Kelsey with hers.
So we have a really goodworking relationship with them.
Dixie (28:17):
That's great.
Do you ever deal with handling animalcruelty or any kind of neglect cases?
Tiffany (28:24):
Yes, we have we used to do that all the time and we still do,
if people call, but usually they'llcall the police first or whatever.
We don't have jurisdiction likea police officer does, but people
will call us or let us know and wewill get the police involved or the
authorities, whoever we need to.
The humane society of Louisiana isa bigger, Jeff Dorson if we need him
(28:46):
because he's on , a bigger scale than us.
We will get others involved in helpingan animal that's being mistreated.
And as I worked as animal officer,I was able to do that more with
authority by the police departmentto handle cases like that, neglect.
And we have had several neglect cases.
Dixie (29:06):
When you have the neglect cases, do you put those
animals like in a foster system?
Tiffany (29:13):
When Washington Humane used to have the foster system, yes, we did.
We would, because we hada large base of fosters.
At one time I think we had 10 fosters.
But it would be a fosterthat we knew very well.
We knew they could takecare of that animal.
Beth was our number one foster.
For cats and dogs.
And she's very well knowledgeableabout medical stuff.
So she would take some on, and we hada couple others that were knowledgeable
(29:36):
with medical and issues with dogs.
So we did put 'em in a foster system.
When we didn't have it anymore,then we would work with, Bogalusa
Animal control when I was there.
And Kelsey and other rescues thathave a foster based system or even a
building, and we would work with themlike we worked North Shore before.
(29:57):
But we would work with them and theymay take the animal on for us and we
just give over everything to them.
So if we were raising moneyfor it, it goes to them.
If , people were sending likefor dogs that are emaciated.
If they're sending food andblankets, it would go to them then.
But yeah, those neglect cases and stufflike that we partner with different
rescues, shelters, and when I sayshelters, I mean like the Washington
(30:20):
parish shelter, like one that, isvery knowledgeable and has vet staff.
But that's how we do neglect cases.
Dixie (30:28):
What challenges do you face in reaching all corners of Washington
Parish with your message and services?
Tiffany (30:35):
I would say just people stuck in their ways.
That just don't care.
In law enforcement we run intoa issues with law enforcement.
We have three where we had three shelters.
We had one in the city of Franklinton.
We have one in the parish, which isWashington Parish in all shelter.
(30:57):
And we had Bogalusa the city shelter,which is Bogalusa animal control.
Bogalusa animal controlwas shut down this year.
It needed to be shut down.
It is not operable atall, any, any longer.
They don't have animalcontrol there either.
We have, I think someone who is nowacting as a parish animal control officer.
I don't know his exact title asfar as what he can and can't do.
(31:20):
And then Franklinton has,firefighters will go out and,
pick up animals and stuff.
So the problem is, our biggest issue,I think with any rescue really is.
Law enforcement.
A lot of times law enforcement donot know the updated rules or laws of
animals, and they wanna turn a blind eye.
(31:42):
I'm not saying everybody's like that,
but working with law enforcement asanimal control, I saw that firsthand.
A lot of them, oh, it's not my problem.
It's not a human, it'snot, a law is a law.
Whether it be a human law oran animal law, a law is a law.
And if you're there to uphold the law,then you need to uphold all the laws.
(32:03):
It doesn't matter if you're an animalcontrol officer making people uphold
the laws, or if you're a policeofficer or a sheriff deputy or whoever.
A law is a law, and I think thatwe need to get back to that.
To that part where an officer,sheriff, deputy whatever,
they need to uphold all laws.
(32:25):
And I know that's a lot, butthat's the world we live in now.
So you can't uphold some laws and thennot other laws just because I'm not human.
Dixie (32:35):
And that is something that I'm actually consistently hearing
too, from a lot of other rescuesthat I've been speaking with.
Tiffany (32:40):
Yes.
You'll call, you'll tell people to callthe sheriff's department or call the
police station, whatever, and they'llbe like, okay, we'll send somebody out.
Because it's an emergency.
I've been there I've been where peopleare selling animals in a parking lot.
They're not supposed to or givingaway, and they're not supposed to be.
That's a law.
And it might be a stupid law,but it's a law for a reason.
(33:01):
Some people might think jaywalking isstupid law, but it's a law for a reason
and you can't pick and choose whichones you're gonna uphold and not uphold.
So that's, that is a bigproblem I think everywhere.
Is that I think that officers once ayear, maybe once every six months, need
to have a training with animal rights.
(33:22):
And they need to just, if you becomean officer, become a police officer,
sheriff, deputy, or whatever, youneed to understand that a law is a
law no matter what it obtains to.
And I think that once, if wecan get that through, it would,
things would be a little better.
Not saying that's the cure ofeverything, but that's a starting point.
Dixie (33:44):
Coming from an animal control background, I know a lot of people when
they hear animal control, they're scaredof it, they think of the old, kind
of cartoons with the the dog catchers
Tiffany (33:56):
yes
Dixie (33:56):
so it's not a good thing.
They don't have a good association withanimal control, why is animal control
needed and do you think that there shouldbe animal control in Washington Parish?
Tiffany (34:11):
I
definitely think there should be animalcontrol when you have animal control.
It does help the law outin general, the police.
Because that, that one part,and, Washington Parish is,
it's small, but it's still big.
So two or three animal controlofficers doing the entire parish
and city limits of everywhere.
That's not a lot.
And honestly, not with the populationoverpopulation that we have.
(34:33):
And the cruelty, the dog fightingrings, all that stuff that goes on here.
So we definitely need animal controland it would help officers out.
Those who are there for the publicand not necessarily for animals.
There needs to be accountability.
If you're going to have an animal,there needs to be accountability for it.
(34:54):
You're accountable for your kids thatare humans and they're living, then
you need to be accountable for otherliving things that you're supposed to
be taking care of because that animaldidn't choose to come live with you.
You chose to take that animal in,you chose to go buy that animal or
to go rescue that animal or whatever.
We don't get to sell our kidsbecause we're having another baby.
(35:17):
So why should you be able to justdump a dog because you are having
a baby or because you want a puppy?
Because this dog's older.
Laws need to be enforced and I thinkthat's a big thing with the difference
between up north and down south isup North enforces laws, they enforce
spay neuter they uphold laws as faras you have to have your animals.
(35:39):
They have to have 'em.
You have to have tags on 'em.
You have to pay a fee for 'em.
You only can have so many.
There's so many backyard breedersthey just wanna look away.
If I don't see it, I don't,the problem's not there.
And it's still there.
It's still there.
So animal control officersare definitely needed.
Dixie (35:57):
What are your long-term aspirations for animal welfare in Washington Parish
and the Washington Humane Society?
Tiffany (36:07):
I would be lying if I said I wish we could go back to foster base.
But that's just not foreseeable for us.
I hope to do, still more clinics,obviously and rabies clinics and
vaccination and microchipping.
Because I think when you have healthydogs all around, then the animals that the
(36:28):
shelters do get won't be as sick or, theywon't have to put as much money into 'em.
Because there's healthier dogs runningaround, if that makes any sense.
Definitely more outreach of spayneuter and grants with spay neuter
to help those with low income or noincome or the elderly to help them.
And I just wish that we would,there's so many dogs that are
(36:52):
chained with no, no proper sheltersor that are just standing in mud.
I just wish that.
Like I said earlier, law enforcementwas forced to enforce laws for animals
and it didn't just come down to one ortwo people or rescue groups to have to
constantly nag and nag to get that done.
(37:14):
There's, we can't do it ourselves,so we all have to work together.
And so I would hope that.
One day stricter laws would be made,or at least laws that we have would be
enforced more to help with these animals.
Dixie (37:32):
What message would you like to share with the community about
the importance of animal welfareand responsible pet ownership?
Tiffany (37:40):
Just think about it.
Think about what you want.
Not buy off a whim.
Or, adopt or get one , oh, my kid wantsa dog and your kid's four years old,
and then six months later you're givingthe dog up because the kid wouldn't
feed, the dog, wouldn't take care of it.
It's a 4-year-old.
It's a kid.
I have three kids and we fightthem all the time about feeding
the dogs and that's, that is theirresponsibility is to feed the dogs.
(38:03):
And but then, they're like,oh, we want this to know it.
It's a responsibility thing.
I'm not gonna get rid of mydogs because I have to force
my kids to feed 'em sometimes.
So you have to take ownership.
You have to take responsibility.
And before you think, oh, I wantthis kind of dog, do your research.
'cause you might think youwant this kind of dog, but it's
(38:24):
your lifestyle for that dog.
And a lot of people don't realize that.
They think that it's a cute dog,they want that dog, and then
they throw it like a pug outside.
A pug cannot be outside a Boston.
terrier cannot be outside, sodo your research on these dogs.
And seriously consider getting 'em fixed.
Everybody says, oh, I justwant one from the litter.
(38:45):
Okay?
What happens to the rest of the dogs?
You want that one?
They have seven.
So you have six dogs now that can breed.
So is one really worth six more dogs thatcan breed, that aren't gonna get fixed?
So just the outreach of moreimportance of spay neuter.
Everybody says if you spayand neuter all of them, then
(39:07):
you'll never have any more dogs.
That's not true.
That's not true at all.
Dixie (39:12):
Yeah, absolutely not true.
Thank you so much for joining me today.
Tiffany (39:17):
I appreciate it.
Thank you for having me.
Dixie (39:18):
You're welcome.
And that's all the time wehave for today's episode.
If you are in animal rescue, or ifyou know someone that has a story that
should be told, please contact us.
We would love to haveyou or them on the show
. Thanks for listening, and pleasejoin us next week as we continue to
explore the world of animal rescue.
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