Donations help hundreds of shelter pets find homes

Director Charlie Jackson coaxes 8-year-old cattle dog Buddy out of a kennel on Friday, Dec. 23, 2016, at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter. Director Charlie Jackson coaxes 8-year-old cattle dog Buddy out of a kennel on Friday, Dec. 23, 2016, at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter. Photo: Michael Minasi, Staff Photo: Michael Minasi, Staff Image 1 of / 9 Caption Close Donations help hundreds of shelter pets find homes 1 / 9 Back to Gallery

Through the generosity of a handful of anonymous donors, more than 250 animals at the Montgomery County Animal Shelter found homes this Christmas.

And according to new shelter Director Charles Jackson those donations will cover the cost of about 200 more adoptions for county residents looking for a new furry family member. The effort to find the shelter animals homes began Dec. 16 after Jackson was approached by several community members wanting to sponsor adoptions after he made a plea to find the shelter pets forever homes.

"It's fantastic," Jackson said adding the veterinarians are working hard to ensure all the animals are spayed or neutered before leaving the shelter ensuring they will be home for Christmas. "Animals are not allowed to leave unless they have been altered."

While some believe pets should not be given as gift, Jackson said the statistics show those animals don't have any greater return than pets adopted any other time.

"It's a huge misconception that animals that go out during holidays come back at a high rate," he said. "We still to the regular adoption process. We still screen people to make sure they are able to provide care and be responsible pet owners."

Jackson was recently hired by the county to take over direction of the shelter from interim director Dr. Todd Hayden. Following almost two years of turmoil, Jackson said he is working hard to get the shelter back on track and get more animals of the shelter alive.

Among those efforts are setting new policies and mending fences with numerous rescue and volunteer groups that stopped working with the shelter under the old management.

"There are some great employees here," he said. "It was hard for them to be successful in a system that was broken."

Jackson said the key to the shelter is the community.

"If a shelter doesn't have the support of the community, it won't be successful," he said. "If the community doesn't get engaged, we are going to fail."

To help with spay and neuter surgeries, the Montgomery County Commissioners Court approved a grant for the shelter from the PetCo Foundation in the amount of $25,000 during its meeting Tuesday.

Jackson said the grant will allow the shelter to do target spay and neuters in the areas of the county that need that assistance.

"One of the fastest and easiest ways for us to manage intake is targeted spay and neuter in the areas that need it most," he said. "Most of those zip codes are in East Montgomery County."

Precinct 3 Commissioner James Noack said he was excited about the direction of the shelter.

"They community has really stepped in and gotten behind him, and they said they would when we got the right director," Noack said. "It's awesome."

The Montgomery County Animal Shelter is located at 8535 Texas 242. For more information visit www.mcaspets.org.