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We are the Humane Society of Marlboro County, SC and though newly formed, we have been trying for many months to gain control of the Marlboro County and City Animal Shelters. We have raised a substantial amount of money to put towards a new building and have almost secured the site to put it on, have received a pledge of $50,000 from the county which the city may match in like. We have held adoption drives and coordinated and transported rescues and many other actions. We need YOUR help to get these shelters out of county and city control and into the hands of compassionate folks who know how to properly care for abandoned, stray and neglected dogs and cats.

The Marlboro County Animal Shelter is an old jailhouse in need of major repair, with one county employee (ACO) and a prisoner who is dropped off every morning. There is no rhyme or reason to when and how many animals get euthanized on which days.  We feel all of our new followers should have some basic perspective of what is going on in this “shelter” and why we all need to work to get this situation improved.

This past summer, we were able to convince them to shut down their gas chambers, though they are still a high kill shelter. In September, we gained a set of keys to access the facility after hours and were able to post videos and photos of the conditions there which have outraged the public. The animals are starving, cold and sick. The cats are kept in a dark inner room with the lights kept off the majority of the time and sometimes 13 adult cats to one cage. The runs are not cleaned properly, the concrete floor never dries, and the animals only have space heaters in the winter months. The only heating/air is in the front office. After the videos and photos were made public, the county promptly changed their locks and will only allow us in for photos if we request permission from the County Administrator and ACO. This takes days. Due to the outcry, the county has made some minor improvements including attempting to repair drainage (though it still does not drain properly) to the main hall to alleviate pooling and repairing some lighting problems, but obviously the needs go way beyond that. They will not allow volunteers to make improvements due to liability reasons.

In September, the county offered the Humane Society of Marlboro County a lease agreement which must be read at the Marlboro county council meeting three times before it can be passed: October, November and December’s meetings. The earliest we might be able to take over this facility is January of 2012. Many of you have asked when a clean up day will be scheduled. If you would like to be notified of a clean up day when we gain access to the shelter, please sign up for notifications in the sign up box in the righthand column.

In the meantime, we work tirelessly to pull as many animals from this shelter as possible through the help of rescue groups such as Michelle Neufeld,  Where Hope Lives (Nancy Bartow), Help Save One, Inc. and Middle Mutts as well as many other rescues across the country. We get limited access to the shelter to take photos of newly arrived animals. Please understand that we can only pull an animal that has a rescue commitment.

Though we do not have full access to this facility yet, there are so many ways that you can help now. Please check out the Support Page to find out more and as always, thank you for your care and support of these abandoned homeless animals.