In 2007, three Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine students from the Northeast noticed a problem.
Megan Caulfield, Krista Gazzola and Amy White realized many animal shelters, both locally and throughout the Southeast, are overpopulated. The shelters have great difficulty finding enough people interested in adopting pets or fostering for the shelters.
Meanwhile, shelters in the Northeast faced the opposite problem. There, many shelters have long wait lists for those interested in adopting a dog.
In response to these issues, the three students founded Homeward Bound, an organization that transports dogs from local shelters to shelters in the Northeast, where they will be more adoptable.
Terri Snead, the director of operations for Homeward Bound, said she became involved with the group in 2008, when she received an email from the students about fostering.
“As I interacted with them, I realized they needed a bit more structure,” Snead said, “I thought, ‘Instead of just fostering, why don’t I help with that?'”
While Homeward Bound works with animal shelters within a three-hour radius to find dogs to send to the Northeast, some animals become a part of the program through the group’s connections to the veterinary college.
“Vet students get calls all the time,” Snead said. “Somebody found a kitten or someone down the road had a litter of dogs.”
Snead said she believes several factors cause the disparity between the number of stray dogs in the Southeast and the Northeast, but the largest is likely residents in urban areas in the Northeast have embraced spaying and neutering pets.
Snead said she thinks the fact affordable spay and neuter clinics are more common in the Northeast plays a big part in this, while other factors include geography and population density.
“The shelters we send to are about an hour from New York City,” Snead said. “Whenever you have that dense of a population, there is going to be more demand for animals from the animal shelter.”
While dogs cared for by the program are transported to Northeastern Shelters, the discrepancy between supply and demand for cats in the Northeast is not as large. So, the cats cared for by Homeward Bound are available for adoption locally.
Brandie Amos, the feline medical coordinator for Homeward Bound, said the program is focused on matching cats with families the group believes they will mesh well with long term.
“We try to adopt them out to the best home possible,” Amos said.
Cats available for adoption through Homeward Bound can be seen at Petsense in Starkville and Petco in Meridian.
Individuals interested in adopting a cat through Homeward Bound must fill out a three-page written application, which the adoption coordinator will then review.
After reviewing applications, the adoption coordinator conducts phone interviews with applicants and begins placing each cat with a home.
The positions of feline medical coordinator and medical records keeper where added to Homeward Bound this year to relieve the foster and adoption coordinators of some of a heavy workload.
Amos said the creation of the new positions has also made it possible to care for more animals at once. She said the largest number of cats the group was able to handle at one time last year was around 40, while this year the group has been able to handle closer to 60 cats at one time.
While the increase in officer positions allows the group to care for a larger number of animals, the largest factor in determining the number of animals the group can care for is the number of people who volunteer to foster for the group.
“Fostering is one of the most important things people can do for us,” Snead said.
Carley Pierson, the foster coordinator for puppies, and Amos became involved with the group as a foster during their first year of veterinary school. Pierson said a large portion of volunteers become involved because of Homeward Bound’s connections at MSU, while others are community members and undergraduates.
Pierson said she would encourage anyone interested to become involved with the organization.
“With Homeward Bound, I feel like I am doing something important,” Pierson said.