SENATOBIA, Miss. (WREG)— A homeless teen who surrendered his dog to a Mississippi animal shelter because he couldn’t care for her has been reunited with his dog.
WREG is not identifying the 17-year-old, who was reunited with his puppy Jada, Friday morning.
Kris Robinson, Interim Shelter Director at the Senatobia-Tate County Animal Shelter, says the teen came to the shelter earlier in the week and asked if he could leave Jada there.
Robinson says he told her he couldn’t take care of Jada anymore and that he was living under a bridge. The 17-year-old said he’d left Jada in a tent while he looked for work, but she had broken out.
The teen told Robinson he didn’t even have a tent anymore and couldn’t feed the dog.
“We’re a shelter, so we’re concerned about the dog, but ultimately we were concerned about him and him getting off the street and getting some help,” Robinson said.
Robinson took Jada in even though the shelter is full but hated to the see the young man fade back into the isolation of homelessness.
“He filled out a surrender form with a little bit of information about himself, and we were able to pass that along to some folks who could help him,” Robinson said.
He left Jada there with a bag of dog food.
Though it has not been revealed where the teen was living or what caused him to leave home, late Thursday evening, the Senatobia Police Department announced officers had found the teen with the help of several community members.
“We thank everyone that assisted the Senatobia Police Department with helping us locate this young man safely,” Senatobia’s Police Chief Richard Chandler said in an email.
Friday morning, the teen was reunited with Jada at the shelter.
We’re told the teenager has a place to stay and was scheduled to reclaim Jada and take her their new home Friday.
“He’s able to go someone’s house and be with them for a while while he gets his life back on track,” Robinson said.
The shelter is flooded with calls from people wanting to donate to Jada and her owner. There are no designated homeless shelters in Senatobia, but many local churches take up the slack by offering limited assistance.
We’re told the First United Methodist Church in Senatobia is taking donations to help the family that will be caring for the teenager and Jada. The church’s phone number is 662-562-5214.