Cherokee County will no longer be able to take unwanted and neglected cats and dogs to the DeKalb County Humane Society.

Freda Waters, executive director of the Humane Society, said her facility is overwhelmed and cannot accommodate the animals.

Sometimes she gets 60 to 80 animals a day from Cherokee County, she said last week.

“We are literally overwhelmed,” she said.

Cherokee County residents have tried to raise money to build a shelter, but those efforts have fallen short of the $250,000 estimate for a building, said Waters, who is also president of the Cherokee County Humane Society’s board of directors.



She said that estimate for a building is five years old and the building fund totals about $48,000.

“We need more volunteers. We need more fund-raising,” she said.

Cedar Bluff Council Member Ethel Sprouse said her town has a contract with DeKalb for its unwanted dogs and cats but that it is up for consideration in October.

It’s time Cherokee County and its municipalities make a commitment to fund a Humane Society, shelter supporters say.

“This issue needs to be dealt with,” said Sprouse, who routinely gets calls about unwanted puppies and dogs in the parking lot at the Piggly Wiggly.

She’s the one who gets them spayed and neutered and tries to find homes for them.

The county also needs a plan to implement an aggressive adoption program and guidelines for animal control, she said.

The Cherokee Humane Society already has a site prepared for its building in the Industrial Park.