Southern Pines Animal Shelter — Attraction in Hattiesburg

Our dog had gotten out of our yard and was dropped off there for the first time in two years. The first time someone had grabbed him from our front yard. We had paid to get him chipped but he was determined to be too old to be fixed, he was 14 at the time. This time when we checked to see if he was dropped off there (they didn't call when they had received him) they said that they had lost his paperwork and needed to send him back to the vet to verify that he couldn't be fixed and we could pick him up the next day at the vet, otherwise we would have to pay the same day reclaim fee that we couldn’t afford. Today when we had called the vet to make sure our dog was okay, they said that we would have to wait until tomorrow as they haven't gotten around to the dogs sent by the shelter, only to call back and say they had went ahead and fixed him despite that he was previously pardoned due to his age. I want it to be apparent, this is not an attack on the employees. My problem is the guidelines they are FORCED to stand by. The owners of this company have zero concern for you or your dog’s well-being. EXAMPLE: If your dog gets out of your yard and you want to claim him same day (within 24 hours) there are conditions that will determine the cost of your claim, with total disregard of whether you can afford it or not. If you attempt to claim your dog and he is not fixed or micro chipped, they will charge you $100 for a same day reclaim. If you pay that and take your dog home, they will repeat the process except the second time it happens (even if 2 years pass between visits) it will be $200, next $500. However, if you let them chip and fix your animal it will only cost $25. They progressively threaten you with larger and larger bills. However, the reason they have this in place is not for your or your dog’s benefit; it’s so they can ask Maddie’s Fund® for more funding because of having so many animals to microchip and fix. This is a company forcing ideals on other people AND their animals for an artificial gain. My concern goes out to the families that could not pay for their own family members back, since after 5 days they put the animal up...

I have to say, southern pines has helped pull me out of a real bad, dark place twice now. The first time was when they helped me meet me best friend and companion, the four legged love of my life, Inara. Sweet girl always has a wag, a smile, and a cuddle for her Papa. The second was more recent. I had seen someone dump a pit bull pup, maybe 5-6 months old last year of in a remote location. I spent 3 days trying to find that pup before he cut the road on front of me. Poor little guy was all bit up, full of worms, 3 days (at least) of hunger. I whistled one time and he stoped, I said "hey bubba, want to come with me?" And he jumped right on in this truck. I got him home and he ate till he passed out. He hasn't had to question a meal since, even though I don't have the space a hyper pup needs, he's loved and happy. Unfortunately my situation has gotten worse again and I have to do right by that boy and help him into a situation that's better than I can give him now. I had tried to call to surrender him on an emergency basis on a day with no surrenders, but they couldn't accommodate on that day. I can't honestly tell you how things would have panned out if they could have taken him, but I can say that I could not bear the thought of him not being taken care of alone and hurting if things had gotten really dark for me that day, so that kind of gave me a reason to stick around a little longer. I still have to surrender him for his own good, but that turned out to be the blessing I needed when I didn't know it. Thank you all at Southern Pines, you're angels for these wonderful animals, and sometimes for us two...

The staff are less then nice! They can be rude and the price gulging is unbelievable!! READ THE ADOPTION PAPERS!! I bought a cat for my 3 yrs old son for $125 plus a cardboard crate for $10. The people said he had been fostered in a house and did well. I got him home and he is so skiddish my son cant play with him, he stratches the kids and is picking at the furniture. I gave him time to adjust but after a couple weeks realized he was not going to fit in with our family. I called to see if i could exchange him, they told me my return was refused because i requested it 3 days beyond the time frame. I explained the situation but all they did was offer to wave the surrender fee. So in other words they would keep my money and take the cat back so my son would have no pet and i would be out $125+ dollars!! They were completely unreasonable and all they want is money!! I had to foster a kitten I rescued from a ditch before because they wanted to charge me $100 to surrender him, i had a trip to go on so after fostering him a while I took him back to surrender him. They still charged me $100 they didnt even knock off the price for the fostering I did!!😡 I WONT BE GOING BACK FOR...