KILN — Hancock County is moving forward with plans to replace its animal shelter as overcrowding, drainage problems and inadequate ventilation strain the aging facility.
The Board of Supervisors has authorized the county engineer to begin determining the size, design, location and cost of a replacement.
“We don’t want to get into a situation where it’s an emergency situation to do something,” said County Administrator Jimmie Ladner. “This is trying to be a little preemptive and a little proactive as opposed to reactive.”
Ladner said the board unanimously supports replacing the shelter and that financial support is in place to move forward with planning.
“It’s much more than just an idea,” Ladner said. “It’s an idea that has backing. It’s an idea that has financial support in place.”
Shelter reaches its limits
The current Hancock County Animal Shelter was built after Hurricane Katrina damaged an older shelter in Waveland. Shelter Director Greg Long said the facility originally had space for 18 dogs.
The county later converted outdoor runs into kennels and added covered outdoor spaces. The shelter now has 51 kennels and can safely hold about 65 to 70 dogs because some larger kennels can be shared by siblings or dogs that get along, Long said.
Even that is sometimes not enough.
“We have actually outdoor emergency runs that we’ve had to use on the other side where we’ve had to put dogs in there because we ran out of space due to court cases or an influx of strays,” Long said.
The shelter receives animals from Hancock County, Bay St. Louis and Waveland animal control officers. It also accepts animals found by residents and scheduled owner surrenders. As of Sept. 21, surrender appointments were booked through December.
Animals connected to criminal cases pose an additional challenge because they cannot be adopted while their cases move through court. Long said those holds can last from 15 days to four months.
Ladner said a new shelter would need separate space for animals involved in cruelty, neglect or hoarding cases. Those animals may arrive with illnesses or other health concerns and must be separated from adoptable animals until they can be evaluated.
Beyond capacity, Long said ventilation and drainage are among the building’s biggest problems.
Some walls were constructed with what Long described as meat-locker-style material. Mississippi’s humidity can cause condensation on the walls, contributing to mold and mildew.
“There are some rooms that do have mildew growing down the side of it just because we can’t keep the condensation out because of the way the shelter was built,” Long said. Poor air circulation can contribute to respiratory problems for animals and potentially staff, Long said, while illness adds veterinary expenses for a shelter caring for animals that may already arrive with conditions such as heartworms.
“We do our best to keep the animals safe and healthy and to keep the smell down,” Long said. “There’s only so much you can do when the building doesn’t have the filtration system and the needs to support the animals properly as they should.”
Heavy rain can also overwhelm the drainage system, causing water to rise in some shelter runs, Long said.
Planning a replacement
The Board of Supervisors authorized the county engineer to study shelters serving communities of similar size, prepare preliminary plans and determine what Hancock County needs.
“We’re at the stage where we know we need something,” Ladner said. “We’re just trying to figure out what we need, the size of it, then we’ll figure out the cost of it, and we’ll go from there.”
The county is considering county-owned property farther north. Ladner said the larger tract is away from residential and commercial development and would put the shelter further from flood-prone areas.
The current shelter sits near the edge of a flood zone. Long said the building avoided flooding this summer, although water reached nearby areas.
The county engineer plans to visit shelters in comparable communities to examine their designs, costs and construction challenges. Preliminary sketches are also expected.
Ladner said the county hopes to complete the site visits and preliminary planning by the end of the year, with additional decisions expected in the first quarter of 2027. Formal design, bidding and construction would follow.
If planning proceeds as expected, the project could go out for bids or begin construction by fall 2027, Ladner said.
The cost will depend on the size and features ultimately selected.
Ladner said the county wants a facility that addresses the shelter’s long-term needs rather than another temporary fix.
“The one that’s there has truly outlived its functional capability,” Ladner said. “We’re trying to not put a Band-Aid on something.”
Community support Long said the shelter has significant support from the county, community and Friends of the Animal Shelter in Hancock County.
The nonprofit provides supplies, offers spay and neutral assistance and helps cover heartworm treatment for eligible animals adopted from the shelter.
“The county seems to support us, the public seems to support us, and like I said, the charity group, the Friends of the Animal Shelter, they’re really good resources for us as well,” Long said.
Ladner said the organization has been involved in discussions about the replacement shelter and could help with fundraising or equipment.
For Long, the goal is a facility that can accommodate Hancock County’s animals while providing a safer environment for them and the seven full-time employees who care for them.
“My end result hope is we get a shelter that can benefit the animals in Hancock County,” Long said, “Something that the public and the staff here can be proud of, that they can come into and know that the animals are getting the best treatment they possibly can.”
This article first appeared on RHCJC and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
