THOMASVILLE- The Thomasville- Thomas County Humane Society is dedicated to providing a safe home and loving environment for animals in the area, giving them the best chance at being adopted. However, with their new Wellness Waggin’ they are able to provide for more than just the animals in Thomas County, traveling around the region to sterilize cats and dogs, making sure they have an equally great chance at being adopted. 

According to Executive Director, Chandler Giddes the Wellness Waggin’ belongs to the Best Friends Animal Society, which is a national welfare animal association. The Best Friends Animal Society then gave the Waggin’ to the Humane Society as part of the Shelter Collaborative Program in January 2022. The program targets leaders in the animal welfare field in local municipalities and challenges them to make connections with other smaller, rural communities. 

“Instead of writing grants for large spay/neuter initiatives, Best Friends got a single donor to fund a program, where they give money to local shelters that make connections with other local shelters and mentor them, in an effort to help with life-saving,” Giddes explained. 

Some of the many ways the Humane Society helps other local shelters include creating a progressive programming plan, which helps with mitigating and reducing shelter intake, increasing adoption and helping with rescue transport, and especially increasing the volume of spay and neuters. 

“There is national shortage of veterinarians and so most rural shelters are slowed, because in the state of Georgia, by law, in order for an animal to be adopted it has to be sterilized,” Giddes said. “If you can’t get a surgery, no matter if you have an adopter or not, the animal cannot be taken home.” 

Knowing this, the Thomasville-Thomas County Humane Society created a partnership with veterinarians and local fellow shelters, who are part of the Shelter Collaborative Program, to provide spay/neuter services on site to expedite adoptions. 

The Thomasville-Thomas County Humane Society does not currently have a veterinarian on staff, but has solicited veterinarians from across Southwest Georgia to fill the need on their off days, or whenever they are available. 

Most recently, Dr. Amanda Hall-Phillips, DVM, traveled with the Wellness Waggin’ to the Douglas-Coffee County Animal Shelter, where she performed 12 spays and neuters on seven cats and five dogs. 

Hall-Phillips is renowned for her work with animals. She currently owns the Southern Hound Club in Valdosta and is a behavior consultant for pets, making her perfect for working with anxious cats and dogs undergoing procedures at the Humane Society. 

The Thomasville-Thomas County Humane Society realizes the sacrifice Hall-Phillips and other local veterinarians are making on their off days, and pay them a higher rate-per hour for their services. 

“We do not charge the fellow shelters anything for the services themselves,” Giddes said. “The program will only be sustainable through December of this year, though.” 

However, the program can be extended if Giddes and his co-workers can raise money from local donors to continue the services. 

So far, the Thomasville-Thomas County Humane Society has provided their services to the Tift County Humane Society, the Douglas-Coffee County Animal Shelter, and of course Thomasville. They also have intentions of traveling to Lowndes County and Bainbridge to help with sterilization procedures, courtesy of the Wellness Waggin’.

“During this time, we will continue to serve Thomasville as well,” Giddes assured. 

The program has already seen great success with some of the animals sterilized already being adopted, especially in the Thomasville area. 

Due to the success of the program, Giddes would love to continue the Wellness Waggin’ program and highly encourages anyone interested in helping to make donations to the Thomasville-Thomas County Humane Society. He reminded everyone that the Humane Society is a 501c3 organization, so all contributions are tax-deductible. 

If the Thomasville-Thomas County Humane Society can raise all funds for procedures and be self-sustainable, Giddes believes the Best Friends Animal Society will allow them to keep the Wellness Waggin’ in full operation, so they can continue to provide resources to Southwest Georgia.