The Sixth Annual Walk and Wag pet show, hosted by the Oktibbeha County Humane Society, will be Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Sportsplex.
Money raised will go toward the building of a new animal shelter on Industrial Park Road.
Cindy Orrick, director of wellness at Oktibbeha County Hospital, said the event is open to everyone and every species. One year, she said, someone even brought his goat to the event.
After owners walk their animals, they can enter them in several pet contests to determine attributes such as loudest bark and sweetest eyes, Orrick said.
Orrick said two Arkansas football tickets, two men’s non-SEC basketball tickets and an opportunity to guest coach at a women’s basketball game before Christmas will be auctioned off at the show. The football tickets come with access to the skybox, she added.
The Oktibbeha County Humane Society was contracted by the city of Starkville to run the city’s current animal shelter about eight years ago, OCHS president Dianne Wall said.
Already $180,000 has been raised, Wall said, but an additional $50,000 is needed to complete the new shelter. Planning for the shelter began over four years ago, she said, and OCHS hopes to be in the new shelter by January.
“We’re thankful for the money that goes to the building fund,” Wall added.
The new shelter will provide improved living conditions for the animals and possibly save more animal lives, said Delisa Simmons, the shelter manager.
In the current shelter, they bring in animals, but cannot monitor these animals for diseases before putting them into the general population, Simmons said, and sometimes diseases spread between animals; this forces the shelter to euthanize the diseased animals.
“The new shelter will have isolation, which will prevent communicable diseases from being transferred from one animal to another,” Simmons said.
Simmons hopes the new shelter will be easier to find, have better security and will be more comfortable for the animals, she added.
At the event, pet owners must pay a $12 registration fee, Wall said, and provide proof of rabies vaccinations for their animals.
Orrick said registration for the walk will begin at 1 p.m.
Puppies less than 6 months of age are asked not to participate, Orrick said.
Orrick said that the weather has usually been good, but one year they had to cancel the event due to bad weather.
Orrick said that the event is fun and it gets people out for exercise with their pets, but all pets do need to be on leashes.