Frontline Responders: Rocky Rockette

MERIDIAN, Miss. (WTOK) -Whether it be cleaning kennels or adopting out dogs and cats, the Director of the Lauderdale County Animal Control believes that this job is not meant for anyone who just loves animals, but they must want to make a positive impact.

“I saw a lot of need for change, and you know, I was like, this is a pretty, pretty cool gig, something that I could see myself doing and I would, I would love to do. Because the opportunity to try to make things better was, you know, you know, the sky was the limit. So, I got involved with that because, you know, I wanted to be a part of something of a positive change,” said Director of Lauderdale Co. Animal Control, Rocky Rockette.

It is easy for the animal shelter to get overrun, and when that happens, some difficult decisions have to be made.

“Because you know, we have limited. But you know, we’ve had situations where we had to take possession of quite a few at one time. So in that situation, you know. We have to. Make room, whether that be by, you know, trying to, you know, increase adoptions or potentially having to euthanize animals to make space for those animals that we have. To take possession of,” said Rockette.

Maintaining the animal shelter is one thing, but having to run the operations for animal control is totally different and requires you to think on your feet and move quickly.

“But if it’s an emergency type situation where the Sheriff’s Department or metro, they may need assistance to do a welfare check on a person, and they can’t make entry into a person’s home because they have a large animal or any type of animal for the safety or for the personnel. You know, we just kind of hit the road, and we, we, we come run, come running,” said Rockette.

Animal control does as much as it can, but still needs help from the community to fight the overpopulation of the shelters.

If you feel led to help or volunteer, you can visit either of these Facebook pages:

Lauderdale County MS Adoptable Shelter Animals.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1609606252678537/

Lost and Found Pets of Meridian, Lauderdale Co, and surrounding Counties, MS.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/317334091671944/

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