Surrendering a Pet

Are you considering surrendering your pet or a stray animal? The decision to give up your pet can be a difficult one, but Southern Pines is here to help. If you are in need of medical or financial assistance to keep your animal in the home or need information about how to rehome your animal without bringing them to the shelter, please view the community resources available on our website. If you believe surrendering your animal to the shelter is the best option, our Community Resource Coordinator can help walk you through our surrender process. Southern Pines practices care-based intake, which helps us ensure that we have the appropriate resources to properly care for all of the animals that we take in. To do this, we require a surrender appointment and fee to help off-set the cost of care for each animal.

For more information or to set up an appointment, please either fill out the form on this page, or call 601.544.6632 and press 7559 to speak with our Community Resource Coordinator. If she is unavailable, leave a voicemail with your name, phone number, county of residence, and a brief description of the animals you need to surrender, and she will return your call as soon as possible. Thank you.

Interested in trying to rehome
your pet yourself?

check out our rehoming resources

Surrendering to Southern Pines:
A Step-by-Step Guide

Southern Pines takes special care to make the surrender process as easy and judgement free as possible. We employ a Community Resources Coordinator who will be responsible for setting up your appointment, counseling you through the process, and being your point-of-contact for any follow up after your drop off. If you've decided to surrender your animal to Southern Pines Animal Shelter please follow these steps to make this process go smoothly:

1. Talk your decision over with our Community Resources Coordinator
Please call the Surrender Department at (601)544-6632 (menu option #2) in order to discuss your decision. If you're unable to speak directly with our Community Resources Coordinator please leave a detailed message and they will return your call as soon as possible. Our Community Resources Coordinator is out of the office on Wednesday and Sunday.

2. Make An Appointment
Southern Pines Animal Shelter practices care-based intake, which helps us ensure that we have the appropriate resources to properly care for all of the animals that we take in. This appointment system allows us to manage our intakes which has been instrumental in us becoming a no-kill shelter. We always strive to provide the animals at our shelter with the best care possible and often our capacity for care is directly affected by our intake. Our Community Resources Coordinator is happy to discuss your availability to surrender and find a time that works for both you and our organization. Please keep in mind our surrender wait times vary from a couple of days to up to six weeks during our busy season. We accept animals from the entire state of Mississippi and we intake around 7,000 animals annually, consisting almost entirely of just cats and dogs. Beginning January 1, 2019, we are no longer taking in community cats from outside of our contract areas. Please visit our community cats page to determine if this may apply to you.

At the time you make an appointment the Community Resources Coordinator will give you the next steps in the process, but we will outline them briefly here so you know what to expect.

3. Arrive at Your Scheduled Appointment Time and Date
You will receive a phone call 1-2 days before your appointment to confirm. At this time please let us know about any cancellations or if you need to reschedule. If there is no need for alterations, please arrive at the shelter as close to your scheduled time as possible. Often we have appointments coming in at various times throughout the day and a late arrival can shift all of our appointments and cause frustration for our other customers.

When you arrive on the property please make sure your animals are comfortable and secure in your vehicle and make your way up the ramp to the front office to notify office staff of your arrival.

5. Request Additional Donation
The average cost of care for one animal from initial intake to adoption is around $350. This cost can fluctuate depending on the animal's age, behavior, and medical needs while in our care. For example, an adult dog that tests positive for heartworms that receives treatment during their stay carries an additional cost of $200-$400. Southern Pines is dedicated to providing the best quality of care to all of the animals during their stay at the shelter, but that is only possible with help from our community. Please consider bringing an additional donation with you at the time of your appointment in order to help us save more lives than ever before.

6. Your Pet Goes Up for Adoption
After the counseling session we will take the animal to go through the intake process. Your obligations end here and we will take the animal to get up to date on all treatments, go through a brief behavior assessment, and place the animal in appropriate housing. Often, many animals surrendered will go up for adoption immediately but in some cases senior pets, animals with medical issues, or animals with behavior concerns may take some time to become available for adoption. In some circumstances an animal may not be a candidate for adoption. Many of our animals will be posted to our website very soon after you drop off and you can follow their progress online or you can follow up with the Community Resources Coordinator after you drop off.

SURRENDER FEES & INFORMATION:

Residents from Forrest County (excluding City of Petal) and the City of Hattiesburg live in areas that contract with Southern Pines Animal Shelter to help offset the costs that residents from those areas pay. All contract residents must be able to provide proof of residence using their driver's license or a piece of mail with their name on it. The fee scale for contact areas is listed below:

$40 per dog
The fee is waived for a litter of puppies under 6 months (with or without mom)
$100 per indoor, owner-surrendered cat (Strays/community in City of Hattiesburg are eligible to participate in Hattiesburg Animal Control’s Trap-Neuter-Return program.)
Stray/community cats 4 months and older or kittens/cats unable to pass behavior assessment are not eligible for surrender. Outside kittens 4 months and older are considered community cats. Strays/community cats who are 4 months and older in the City of Hattiesburg are eligible to participate in Hattiesburg Animal Control’s Trap-Neuter-Return program.
$100 per litter of inside kittens under 6 months (with or without mom) or social, outside kittens who are 3 months and under.
Thanks to grant funding, for an additional $25 we are able to have the mother of the litter fixed, micro-chipped, vaccinated and returned to her family once the puppies are weaned. This program makes it easier for mother cats and dogs to remain with their families and also prevents future unwanted litters.

Mississippi residents from outside of our contract areas:

$80 per dog + $200 heartworm fee if the dog tests positive for heartworms at the time of the appointment
The fee is waived for litters of puppies under 6 months (Mother is included in the surrender fee if the puppies are 3 months or younger.)
$100 per cat (Due to a change in policy we will no longer be accepting outdoor stray, community, or feral cats from outside of our contract areas. Southern Pines will only accept indoor, owner surrendered cats that are able to pass a behavior assessment as of Jan. 1, 2019.)
$100 per litter of indoor kittens under 6 months (With or without mom; must be able to pass a behavior assessment.) Outside kittens 4 months and older are considered community cats.
Thanks to grant funding, for an additional $25 we are able to have the mother of the litter fixed, micro-chipped, vaccinated and returned to her family once the puppies are weaned. This allows animals to remain with their families and prevents future unwanted litters.
We waive surrender fees in lieu of service hours completed before the animal's surrender appointment and it must be scheduled through our Community Resources Coordinator. This does not apply to the $200 heartworm fee for heartworm positive dogs from out of contract areas.
We waive fees for litters of puppies or kittens for people interested in the foster-to-surrender program which requires a foster commitment until animals are eligible for adoption. Our Community Resources Coordinator is happy to give you more information on the requirements to participate.
Independent rescuers, animal organizations, and individuals who have received assistance from an animal organization must make an appointment and will be responsible for a base fee of $200 per animal at the time of that appointment. Additionally, there will be costs associated with any medical issues that animal may have at the time of the appointment, including but not limited to, heartworms, skin conditions, and injuries.
Individual rescuers or animal organizations who are interested in partnering with Southern Pines to help more animals through our Embark Transport Program, can contact aparis@sopines.org for more information about eligibility.

QUESTIONS? PLEASE CONTACT US AT 601.544.6632