FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Welcome to the hub for information about HCHS. If you have a question, the answer is more than likely found below. However, if you can’t find what you are looking for, please contact us at +1 601 596 2206; we’ll be happy to help!
What are your hours?
We are open Monday-Friday 11:00am-5:00pm. Saturday we are open 10:00am-5:00pm. Meet and Greets are from 1:00pm-4:00pm.
What are your surrender fees?
When you make your appointment, we will go over all fees.
If I donate money or an item, is it tax deductible?
We are a registered 501C3 non-profit, so monetary donations and donated items are tax deductible.
What areas do you serve?
We serve the counties outside the City of Hattiesburg, that do not currently have the benefit of animal control officers to assist in their animal welfare concerns.
What is a no-kill shelter?
A no-kill shelter means we do not put animals to sleep in order to make room for other animals to come into our care. This also means we keep a 90% live release rate. Our live release rate was 98.8% in 2022.
What is your intake process?
We have a two-step intake process. You will call and make an appointment for an initial intake. At this visit, your animal will have a medical and behavioral assesment. Your animal will be updated on any vaccines or other medical care that is required for them to come into our facility and will be microchipped. When then require your animal to return home with you while the vaccines take effect and until a space opens for them at our facility. We will call you when a space opens.
How do you get funding?
We are a donor funded private 501C3. We are not government funded. We depend on private donations and grants to service our community. Our adoption and surrender fees do not cover the full cost of care most animals receive, so we need people like you to help us be humane to all the homeless pets that enter into our care.
Why can’t I drop my animal off same day?
No, we do not do same day drop-offs. There are two reasons that it is important that we do a two-step intake process. The first is to protect your animal and our current animal population from diseases. If we accepted every animal same day, we would take the risk of diseases being introduced and it could be deadly to our current animals. We are also a no kill facility, so in order to stay a no kill facility, we only accept animals when a spot is available. We understand the frustration, but we won’t put animals to sleep to make room for other animals. We committed to save each animal in our care and they have their spot with us until their forever home is found.
Do you spay and neuter community animals at your facility?
We do not currently spay and neuter community animals. We only have spay and neuter services for animals in our care.