Animal Shelter to Reopen to the Public Amidst Investigation

The Mississippi Critterz Animal Shelter will reopen to the public next week after offering only “curbside” services for the last several months due to COVID-19, according to a post on the city of Oxford’s Facebook page Wednesday.

Prior to announcing the shelter will open its doors back up to the public, the post noted that there was an open investigation by the Oxford Police Department and the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Department.

“Once the investigation is complete, OPD will present its findings to the Oxford Board of Aldermen,” the post stated.

Some readers read the post to mean the shelter was shut down due to the investigation; however, Alderman Janice Antonow told Hottytoddy.com Wednesday afternoon that was not the case and the shelter was just reopening after having to do adoptions curbside since the pandemic hit last year.

The investigation began last week when a report was filed with OPD that included complaints ranging from December 2018 to December 2020 and were based on the overall treatment of the animals, lack of medical care, over-occupancy and disposal procedures for deceased animals.

Shortly after the post went up on Facebook, Leigh Ann Hubbard, with the citizens’ group Oxford Animal Shelter Watchdogs, sent an email to city officials demanding that by 3 p.m. Thursday either the animal shelter be completely opened to the public or local veterinarian Kelsey Hanson, with Crossroads Animal Hospital, be allowed unrestricted access to the shelter to assess its condition and the condition of the animals.

“If neither, we will have a public vigil for the animals, held outside the shelter, at 6 p.m. tomorrow, February 25,” the email stated.

Mississippi Critterz runs the shelter on McElroy Drive and provides animal control services to the city of Oxford. Both Lafayette County and Oxford provide funding to the shelter.