Best Friends Sanctuary hosting a series of fundraising and adoption events this week to address a critical overpopulation of animals in Fentress County that has left the organization struggling.
Lead Fundraiser Jan Shank said the organization is currently caring for some 75 dogs and puppies at the shelter while a foster coordinator recently managed 50 cats. Shank said the sanctuary operates as a completely volunteer-driven entity that receives no funding from Jamestown or Fentress County.
“We are never ever going to get out of this overpopulation unless people start spaying and neutering the animals that they have in their care or animals that are their pets and things and stop the backyard breeding,” Shank said. “Because that just perpetuates the problem because we end up with them.”
Shank said the sanctuary offers a low-income spay and neuter program that provides $25 vouchers for residents to use at three local veterinarians.
The sanctuary is holding a yard sale Friday at the shelter to sell excess donated items to help support the cause.
Shank said the organization is “literally drowning” in puppies and kittens because many residents cannot afford to feed the animals or fail to sell them.
“We get no money from the county, we get no money from the city, it’s all volunteer and donation driven,” Shank said. “So it’s like a never-ending wheel kind of like a little mouse in a cage and you’re running on a wheel, you’re never going to get ahead but you keep running and running and running and that’s the way we do.”
Shank said the sanctuary receives limited funding from the state of Tennessee through specialty license plate programs specifically for spay and neuter initiatives. Shank said all other costs, including electricity, food, and medical expenses like vaccinations, must be covered by private donations.
“You see so much heartbreak, you see so many things that make you sad, angry, you know, bring you down, and then you see the little guys get adopted,” Shank said. “So that kind of thing when the animals get a good home to go to and get their forever home and they’re healthy and they’re happy, that’s what keeps me going.”
Shank said the sanctuary often encounters abandoned animals, including litters of puppies only a few weeks old found in ditches. Shank said the organization provides food assistance to pet owners to help them keep their animals rather than dumping them.
One local man, Shank said, has made it his mission to offer a loving home to whichever dog has been in the shelter the longest. Shank said after the first dog he adopted finally passed away, he came back to adopt another long-term shelter pup.
“It happened to be our little pocket Pittie that we had here that had been here I think seven or eight years and her name was Alice and she was adopted,” Shank said.
The organization also hosts a dog adoption event on the last Saturday of every month at Tractor Supply.
