THOMASVILLE, Ga. (WTXL) — “Ultimately I think we’re— the reality is there are going to be animals in Thomas County that are not given the help they need,” said Chandler Giddes.
Since June, the Humane Society and Thomas County have gone back and forth on the renewal of their contract. The Humane Society asked for additional funding to help with the growing demand in the area of their services.
“Our idea of what the services cost versus what the county wanted to pay are two very different things,” said Giddes.
As of January 1, the Humane Society is no longer over animal control in Thomas County. Instead, the County will be responsible for things like stray animals or other animal related calls.
What the county is looking to do is a two-phase plan to shoulder the responsibilities the Humane Society once did. Phase one will include limited animal control for the next 6 to 12 months.
Phase two involves a newly built shelter that will only house animals for a short time period.
“I never thought this was something I’d see in Thomasville,” said Popiel.
Nate Popiel is a Thomasville native and grew up living on a farm. He understands the value of animals and is a certified animal lover. Needless to say, when he heard about the situation between the Humane Society and County, he felt concern about what was next for stray animals.
“With cats and dogs’ overpopulation can be an issue but it’s sad to see that it’s come to this. Surely there can be some other way to deal with this issue,” said Popiel.
As for now, the humane society is fundraising and finding different ways to cut back on costs due to their separation from the county.
“We don’t want to, we don’t want to close our doors,” said Giddes.
