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Launches new adoption program
TOP PHOTO: See puppies and more animals ready to adopt at the animal shelter Tuesday – Saturday, noon – 5:30pm.
By Charlotte Underwood
JACKSBORO, TN (WLAF)- Friends of Campbell County Animal Shelter celebrated its 10-year anniversary of running the shelter on Saturday with an open house and free adoption day. In just a few hours on Saturday, the shelter adopted out approximately 20 pets! The open house event also featured an ice cream party for the dogs, sponsored by Indian River Marina.
According to organizers, the event went great, with tons of people coming out and approximately 20 pets adopted in “just a few hours.”
Over the past decade, FCCA has “cared for over 27,000 animals”, having a huge community impact in the county. The organization’s Critter Cupboard has provided 209,430 pounds of dogfood “to help residents keep their animals in their homes.”
At last Monday’s Commission workshop, Shelter director Patricia Siwinski gave a one month, a yearly and a ten-year report on the shelter, telling commissioners that Tuesday, was the shelter’s official anniversary of FCCA running it.
“For the month of June, we cared for 335 animals in program, we vaccinated 315 pets, and we spay and neutered 240 pets from the community,” Siwinski said.
She also reported 10 euthanasia services in the month of June, with three of those being shelter animals and seven were “owner requested end of life services.” The shelter also distributed 6,650 pounds of donated food to 80 families in need.
“We have launched a new part of our adoption program, so with every adoption, you will now receive 30 days of pet insurance and that is through MET Life. We are hoping that will increase our adoption rate,” Siwinski said.
She also reported that the shelter was launching a community cat program. A town hall was held last week with discussion on trapping and deterring.
The shelter has also partnered with a crematorium, so shelter animals that are euthanized at the shelter will “no longer go to the landfill, they will be cremated, and their cremains will go to a barrier reef, right now they are going down around Alabama. We will be offering that to residents at our cost, which will be a low-cost cremation.
“It is the same as other animal welfare organizations use, we just won’t be charging an up charge,” Siwinski said.
She also went over the shelter’s community impact report for 2024-2025.
“We provide services to 6,803 animals in the county, 2,046 were cared for in our program; 2,672 pets were vaccinated, 2,085 pets were spay/neutered. We had 187 euthanasia services and of those 187, 124 were shelter animals and 6 were owner requested end of life services,” Siwinski said. During the year, the shelter also distributed 59,385 pounds of donated food that went to 645 families in need.
“when you look at our census today, we have 67 dogs in the shelter, not counting the ones in foster, just at the shelter, Our shelter has 24 kennels, so that puts us at about 240 percent capacity,” Siwinski said, adding that she had spoken to other animal shelters in the area and it was an “epidemic across the state and the country.”
She gave the ten-year report, stating that from 2015 to 2025, FCCA cared for 27,100 animals.
“We started our low cost spay and neuter clinic in 2019 and we have fixed 7,935 dogs and cats. We have provided a low-cost vaccine program to 6,990 pets. We launched our Critter Cupboard and have provided 209,430 pounds of dogfood to help residents keep their animals in their homes,” Siwinski said.
Of the 27,100 animals, 20,655 were adopted or reclaimed, meaning that in 2024, the shelter reached its goal of a live release rate of 92.1 percent.
“That is a lot,” Siwinski said. (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED-07/21/2025-6AM)