Bigbee Humane Society continues the fight to save animals

Most of us rush home after work to feed our families and take care of other household chores. For two Demopolis residents, Cindy McDonald and Martha Ellis, the end of the day means that it’s time to hurry to the Bigbee Humane Society to care for over 70 animals.

They lack electricity at the facility, so most of the feeding, watering, cleaning and nurturing takes place in the dark. The dedication of these two ladies is quite remarkable, and it is easy to understand why Bigbee Humane Society won the Business of the Year award in 2012 from the Demopolis Chamber of Commerce, although technically they are a 501c3 charitable organization.

The Bigbee Humane Society merged with City of Demopolis four years ago because animals were being put down after 7-10 days. The City of Demopolis allowed a small space for Bigbee near their animal control facility.

At that time the Bigbee Humane Society began building built 10×10 kennels to save each animal, one at a time. They have grown from that point to house 70 or more animals. They are at full capacity.

Almost all dogs that they rescue come from the local area but about 98 percent go out of the area, transported by volunteers who pay the expenses out of their own pocket. As McDonald stated, “The animals come out of some harsh conditions in the local area, so why put them right back out there again?”

Bigbee Humane Society works with regional, state, and national groups to find good homes for the animals they rescue.

Expenses to feed and care for the animals at the shelter run approximately $300 per week. The Bigbee Humane Society Thrift Store in downtown Demopolis, operated by other volunteers such as Sylvia Homan, Kathy Wilson, and Virginia Overstreet, generates about $500 per week in revenue.

The vet bills for the animals runs in the thousands of dollars. Bigbee Humane Society pays on the bill when they can and have benefitted from the Demopolis Animal Clinic letting them pay the bill down as they can. The society works very hard to stretch every dollar as much as they can.

The Bigbee Humane Society has only one paid employee. Otherwise, Cindy and Martha, and occasional volunteers, take care of everything that needs to be done for the animals – feeding and watering, cleaning the cages, looking for homes or places to transport the animals to, taking them to the vet, and trying to keep the society’s Facebook page updated to showcase the animals that are available consumes all of their time.

Cindy states that taking care of the animals is the equivalent of a 40 hour a week job – in addition to her “real full time job” and taking care of her own family.

The facility has come a long way in four years. Although all animals still have to reside outside, they do have concrete pads and pavers, finally, so none of the animals have to live in the dirt and mud. Flooding had been a huge problem there at one time. All dogs have some measure of shelter from the elements now, but it’s still not an ideal situation.

What does the future hold for Bigbee Humane Society? Ideally, according to Cindy and Martha, they would find an acre of land that someone would be willing to donate to them or lease, and they could move the kennels there to have more space available, and also have electricity installed for the facility. The partnership with the City of Demopolis has allowed them to function at a basic level for the past four years, but they are always mindful that the city can end that partnership with 30 days notice.

Having a place of their own would alleviate that concern and also allow them have more control over the process of accepting animals. Currently, animal control takes in animals, and they then become Bigbee’s responsibility.

Cindy and Martha reflected on the fact that some of the animals have lived at the shelter the entire time since they took over four years ago. The lives of these animals depend of these two ladies and the few other volunteers who help them. It’s hard work caring for the animals, but it is a labor of love.

The Bigbee Humane Society Thrift Store is located in downtown Demopolis on Walnut Street and is open Fridays and Saturdays. They accept items for resale. The Facebook page for Bigbee Humane Society can be viewed at https://www.facebook.com/bigbee.humanesociety.

They recently set up a Paypal account to be able to accept online donations, and also recently posted a video to their Facebook page that helps tell their story.

-Article contributed by Angelia Mance