About Our Organization
The Humane Society of South Mississippi (HSSM) is the largest animal welfare organization in the state of Mississippi. In 2023, HSSM cared for nearly 5,000 homeless pets.
Since our incorporation in 1952, HSSM has been committed to ending pet overpopulation on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. HSSM is an open-admissions shelter and turns no pet away based on health, age, or behavioral status. Oftentimes our open-admissions status in a community with a disproportionately high number of homeless pets leads to needless euthanasia of adoptable pets in our shelter HSSM has now vowed to change this.
In January of 2012, HSSM’s Board of Directors adopted the most progressive initiative ever undertaken by our organization. This initiative, entitled Countdown to Zero, aims to eliminate the euthanasia of all healthy and treatable pets in our community. Our dream is to make South Mississippi a truly humane community where every pet lives out his/her life in a loving home. When HSSM achieves this goal, we will be the first community in the Deep South to achieve this milestone.
Our Mission
The mission of the Humane Society of South Mississippi is to save and enhance the lives of pets through cooperative and innovative approaches to adoption, spay/neuter, sheltering, wellness and community engagement.
HSSM’s life-saving programs
Agressive spay/neuter efforts
We offer public spay/neuter surgeries 4 days per week, and offer income-based pricing.
Proactive pet identification campaigns
HSSM provides microchipping and tagging onsite, and all adoptable animals automatically receive these services.
Exhaustive return-to-owner efforts
HSSM’s Lost & Found operations help reunite hundreds of lost pets with their owners each year.
Progressive adoptions programs
Over the past 10 years, 45,088 homeless animals have been adopted from HSSM into loving families.
Innovative Love Train transports
Hundreds of adoptable pets are sent to partner shelters across the country for adoption each year.
We are 100% non-profit.
HSSM is a 100% independent, 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. We depend on the support of our community to shelter and care for nearly 5,000 homeless pets and provide spay/neuter, pet identification and other services for an additional 10,000 community-owned pets each year. Offering nearly 20,000 services on a $2.1 million annual budget means HSSM runs a highly effective and efficient operation. In fact, HSSM cares for 34% MORE homeless pets, adopts/transports out twice as many and spays/neuters three times the average animal shelter with a comparable budget. In addition to our aggressive lifesaving efforts and programs, HSSM strives to maintain our 41,000 square foot facility and provide a pleasant, clean environment for the people and pets we serve. HSSM’s facility was built using the nation’s leading Children’s Museums as models, with bright colors and oversized architectural sculptures.