A Conversation with an Insider at Southern Shelter
“So we told [the mayor] if y’all are adopting out unvaccinated, unaltered dogs, then you are the biggest contributor in [Lauderdale] county for disease and overpopulation. We are supposed to set the example.” – Tricia Moore, volunteer extraordinaire
I completely expected to be both angry and sad when I started visiting animal shelters in the rural South. As predicted, I spent a lot of sleepless nights stewing or crying about dogs in cages. What I didn’t expect to feel was compassion for the people working at the shelters. But time and time again, I met folks who are trying their best but are constrained by the government’s archaic and pitifully funded system of caring for our country’s homeless animals.
When I first saw Tricia Moore at the Lauderdale Animal Shelter in Ripley, TN, she was kissing on a seventy-pound pit bull. She wore a broken-in baseball hat, sweatpants covered in dog hair and a pair of dirty Wellingtons. I instantly liked her. “We can do better,” Tricia told me when I asked her why she started volunteering at the shelter last summer. Now, she spends 20 hours a week cleaning pens, doing laundry, or taking pictures of adoptable dogs at the facility. She also spends countless hours at home on her computer, connecting with nonprofit groups who just might pull animals from their crowded facility in Western Tennessee.
Tricia wasn’t always involved with her local shelter, but last year things changed when a nonprofit took pictures of sick dogs inside the Lauderdale facility and posted them online. Lauderdale Animal Control responded by shutting its doors to all rescue organizations. Tricia said when she saw those pictures, she had to try and make a change. And she has.
Let me introduce y’all to volunteer extraordinaire, a warrior who is truly making a difference on the frontlines of the animal overpopulation war in Western TN: Meet Tricia Moore.
How long have you been volunteering at the Lauderdale Animal Shelter?
I’ve been going since last July. Before [our director] Terry started, they wouldn’t let volunteers in. I came to find out it was because volunteers would take pictures of all the messed up stuff going on, and then they would have to answer for it. So, they shut that down completely. Well, we went to the county mayor [Maurice Gaines] and said we need to get back in there. You can’t just keep people out, or we are going to call the news and see what you guys are hiding.
So I built a rapport with him. And they started letting me in. We had an understanding. They didn’t ask me not to share things going on in the shelter, but I told them I know I’m going to see things that aren’t right. I’m going to come to you first. I’m going to try and resolve it with you, but if it doesn’t get resolved, then I have to do what’s right on my conscience. And they’ve been really good about fixing the stuff I suggest.
In October 2020, Lauderdale County Animal Control hired a new director, Mr. Terry. My initial impression of Mr. Terry is that he’s a good guy. Am I right?
Absolutely, I will fight over him. He does so much. He works after hours. I talk to him more than any other employee out there. I always know what’s going on at that shelter.
They didn’t even have a booking process before Terry started. I mean nobody was keeping the books. I don’t know how they kept up with anything.
I really like him, and I believe he cares. The mistakes we make now are due to ignorance. I mean I make the same mistakes he does. Like right now, I have ringworm all over me because I was handling kittens that I wasn’t supposed to. We are still making mistakes. But we want to learn. And rescues aren’t afraid of telling us how to do things differently.
What was the most surprising thing you learned from volunteering at the shelter?
The health inspector came in last week. I was really concerned. Because I’ve been in the beauty industry, and when the inspector comes in, it’s a big deal. Things have to be labeled. Things have to be stored properly. Everything needs to be cleaned properly. The shelters are not under those same guidelines at all.
They literally came in and asked if we euthanize [on site], but we don’t. So it was quick. They were in and out. And they said you passed. I’m thinking wow, by what standards. I feel like we would have passed anyway. But, are there no standards that a shelter needs to go by? Cleanliness or types of disinfectant you are using? I mean nothing like that? I mean nobody checks?
(Author’s note: Lauderdale County Animal Control does euthanize but it happens at the vet’s office instead of inside the facility. It’s always a last resort, and because of people like Tricia Moore and Amber Reynolds, it doesn’t happen often.)
How often do the animals get medical care?
Um. Minimal. We have a small budget and it’s for just…dire need. You know if they have heartworm, it won’t be treated. If they have something that is survivable, it won’t be treated. But if a dog is dying or something is seriously wrong, they will take them to the vet.
We have flea preventative now. But I don’t think they were doing anything before Terry. And there were no vaccinations. I went to the mayor and told him about vaccinations. He was like no. We are not going to do that. We are not a rescue. He was very closed off to the idea of vaccinations at all. So we told him if y’all are adopting out unvaccinated, unaltered dogs, then you are the biggest contributor in [Lauderdale] county for disease and overpopulation. We are supposed to set the example.
What about now?
It’s better. They get wormed and vaccinated. We don’t have the resources to heartworm test all of them. If they are going to a rescue, we can. But if they have heartworm, we can’t treat it. One time not too long ago we had one who had bloody diarrhea. And the wormer we were giving him wasn’t making it better. We sent him to the vet. He had coccidia. So, they are sending dogs to the vet for things like that.
Let’s talk about the shelter’s meager medical budget.
Our medical budget one year was two thousand dollars. And our big budget this year is five thousand dollars. We’ve never had that much money. But, that is not going to go far. That’s less than 500.00 a month.
Can you tell me about how you’ve been able to get the community involved with the shelter?
The more work we do with getting the community involved, the more they feel like they want to volunteer. They want to donate. They want to do whatever they can because you can’t complain about it if you are a part of it. And we’ve managed to turn some people who were against us into allies. That has trickled down into other parts of the community. Now, instead of everything being on the director, we have little watchdogs around the county that will send us pictures and hold people accountable. Like, hey, my neighbor’s dog is chained up and can’t reach the doghouse or water bowl.
I love what you are doing with this watchdog group. That’s badass.
We have a group called the Lauderdale Watchdogs, and that’s what we do. We don’t go on anybody’s property but we’ll drive by and snap a picture and make sure somebody knows what’s going on. And we will follow up on it. So people are getting involved now. And the shelter needs all the volunteers that they can get. I think people assume that they have them, and they don’t. People see what I’m doing, and they think it’s a whole team, and I’m like no it’s just me. So I would love some help. Please come help.
Why dogs? Why are you spending your life fighting for dogs?
I don’t know. I was supposed to be a cat person, but dogs need us. They are our best friends, so we need to take care of them.
Have you always been active in animal rescue?
No. I kind of did my own thing. I would pick up dogs off the road and get them adopted out, but I never dealt with any rescues or shelters. Then, back last year when our shelter was having a hard time because a rescue came in and posted pictures of [sick dogs], I was embarrassed by it. It’s embarrassing for us to be known for that, for us to be cruel and neglectful to animals. We can do better than that.