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Problems, Progress And PromiseHow's The Oklahoma City Shelter Doing Now?By Hugh Jones |
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In the spring of 2001, Catherine English packed up over 20 years of experience and moved from Austin, Tex, where she managed the city's animal shelter. She came here to take over the Animal Welfare Division, a division full of problems but promise. Was it the challenge of the problems or the promise that lured her? A little of both. Thanks to concerned citizens, a sympathetic municipal government and $2 million in bond money from 1995, the city's animal shelter was in a new building. But it's what's in the building that counts. There were shortages of equipment and staff, and discontent among the staff. An aging fleet of trucks was unreliable, at best. An aging barn for animals other than dogs and cats needed replacing. The dogs and cats were kept together–never a good idea. A 75 percent euthanasia rate was unacceptable to English...etc...etc. The new superintendent needed to spark a new attitude and new directions. That spring, the PetGazette interviewed English about the state of the shelter and her plans and hopes. She saw the problems, but she also saw potential. Since then, positive changes have been made, more are coming, new programs have been installed, but problems persist. We sat down with her recently for a question and answer session on where things stand and where they're heading. Q: The last time we sat here, you were just getting under way. We hear this past year has been difficult, with the shelter going through a big staff overhaul and, at the same time, you're having to deal with the budget crunch that's squeezing every government agency. A: It has been rough. In the last year, we've gone through a major reorganization of the division. We reorganized by job title, eliminating some, like Animal Shelter Worker, and creating others, like Animal Welfare Officer. We created seven new positions under that title, and hired for those positions back in the summer. They're still being trained. It takes a while. We created a position called Animal Welfare Rep and eliminated a customer service clerk position. We gained nine positions there, and they handle the front desk, adoption, foster and rescue and such. They're in training too. And we created supervisor positions that are management level. Some of our people were promoted into that, and they've each been given a division of labor, one over foster and rescue, one over the shelter, one over volunteers, etc. In the budget process, we also lost seven positions, three full-time and four part-time. That was a huge hit for a department with only 55 people to begin with. And now we're under a hiring freeze. So we've done a lot of jockeying around, trying to fill gaps. The budget crunch really crippled us–losing positions and going through this reorganization at the same time. There were days where we had two or three officers trying to cover 621 square miles. All we could handle was priority calls. Still, we've done a lot of work, a lot of cruelty cases that were successful and a lot of rescues. We're still active in the rescue program. Q: What about the rescue program? When you started, that was one of your priorities. How has it been affected by all this? (Editor's note: English initiated Pet Placement Partners, allowing the shelter to work with nonprofit rescue groups, like Pets and People, and various breed rescues. Rather than pay an adoption fee, the groups can take animals free of charge and place them through their own programs. She started a Citizen Request program, where people can acquire animals that wouldn't ordinarily be up for adoption. And she wanted foster homes to socialize animals not ready for adoption.) A: It went well in 2001. But since the spring of 2002, it has lagged due to staffing issues, not having people assigned specifically to that. The rescue and foster program lost its theme, and staff was trying to pick it up as they could. This was a huge overhaul. With the transition–so many people moving around, changing positions and new ones coming in–the program is not where I anticipated or hoped it would be. But we have sent out about 600 dogs and cats and 1600 wild animals (mainly to Wildcare in Noble). And we're getting more into rescues across state lines. Connecticut came and got a bunch recently, and we're pursuing some shelters in Texas. We still have an active wish list. The "red alert," as it's called, is an important part of our program, where people can come into the stray side and find animals they want. It has been subject to abuse, though. People would put their names on everything, thinking they were stalling euthanasia of the animals. In fact, they were stalling the opportunity for other people to get those animals. Now, you're allowed to put red alerts on only two. But this has probably quadrupled the number of animals available to the public. Q: Speaking of euthanasia. In our first interview, you said you wanted the shelter to be a high volume placement center and a low volume euthanasia facility. Any headway there? (Editor's note: at that time, the shelter was euthanizing 28,000 annually.) A: Oh yes. Our rate now is around 56-60 percent. That's pretty good for a municipal shelter, though it's still not where we want it to be. And that's a true euthanasia figure, not cooking the numbers, as some shelters do. Some have formulas for deciding what the rate is. There's a major shelter in Colorado that, when the animals are brought in, they all go into a receiving area where they're evaluated by the staff. It's thumbs up or thumbs down right there. The ups are worked into the adoption program; the downs are euthanized. The rate is based on how many of the adoptable ones eventually have to be euthanized, completely ignoring all those euthanized initially. To me, that's cooking the numbers. Some no kill shelters don't take into consideration the animals that were euthanized because they were sick, injured, vicious, rabies suspects, etc. They're concerned with what's placeable. It's not our fault that animals come into the shelter that aren't placeable. What you really want to look at are two things: what brings animals into shelters and, if they're placeable, why aren't they being placed? What aren't you doing in the community that you should be doing that would open doors for those pets? What could the community be doing? Two of the top reasons why owners give up animals are: they're moving and behavior issues. As a community, if we want to restrict intake, and therefore limit euthanasia, we need to address behavior problems through obedience training, behavior modification programs and help lines. Q: I noticed the new vans in the parking lot. Obviously, some progress has been made on the equipment front. (Editor's note: In 2000, the shelter was awarded over $2 million in bond money for further improvements and that old barn. And English has been creative in freeing up money on hand to cover other needs.) A: There are 11 new vans purchased with capital funds from 2001 and 2002, and I'm very glad to have them. They're totally enclosed, heated and air conditioned for the animals' comfort. Inside, they're stainless steel, sanitary and easy to clean. We've added computers, equipment and supplies–things this program had been lacking for a long time. It's made a big difference in how we operate, the safety of the officers and bringing the place up to standards. We ordered equipment for the vet services, such as retrofitting the tops of the surgical tables, so they're heated. In surgery, especially pediatric, animals have a hard time regulating body heat. When you put them under anesthesia, they can go into shock and crash on you. If you can regulate their body temperature for them, you have very few problems. Next comes the new barn, but it won't end there. The bond money includes renovations for the shelter. We're going to make some major changes. (Editor's note: English grabs a couple of magazines from the piles of paper populating her desk. As she thumbs through them, her eyes light up.) Here, look at this place in San Francisco. That's a $10 million center. And look at this facility in New York. People here have never seen anything like this. But we can borrow their ideas. More and more shelters are getting away from just cinderblock buildings and cages. I'd like to see the cats put in open, see-through rooms. The people can see in, the cats can see out, and we can keep an eye on all of them. It's very secure for them, and it gets away from the cage concept. Part of the bond money was for putting in cat rooms, because at the time it passed, they were still in with the dogs. That was fixed a month after I got here. We have the cat condos now, larger more comfortable cages. What I hope we can do is use the condos for the ferals and cats that don't want to be handled and have the other rooms for adoption cats. I want a get-acquainted area for dogs. We can take them out of the adoption cages and put them in something larger and see through. They present better in that environment. They tend to stay mentally and physically healthier, and they don't get as stressed. We need isolation areas for the sick and injured and a grooming area. We're going to have the architects look at everything. Then, there's regular maintenance to consider. As manager, I have to think not only of the animals, but about the staff, volunteers and the public that comes in. How does the building look to the world? If we want to bring in the public and encourage volunteers, this has to be a place, in terms of the physical plant, they want to be. Everything, including color choice, is important. It can't be dingy, dark and icky. Drab can permeate people's mentality and make them drab–animals too! We want a bright cheery building. (Read Update at the end to find out how these plans are progressing.) Q: Sounds great, more power to you. Course, guess that means in the future we'll have to come back and do yet another story. A: Sure. This will be an exciting project, and it will unfold over the next year and a half. You know, you can judge a city by how it treats its animals. Institutionally, you can tell a lot about a city and their groupthink by how they treat the sheltered animals. In some Texas cities, like Houston, they have a euthanasia rate as high as 98 percent. In a city where the politicians and upper management care, that doesn't happen. Then again, they just reflect the greater community. So it tells you something about the general population. Q: So, now that you've gotten to know us, how do we stack up against the competition? A: The fact that this city not only considered it, but they're excited about it, pursuing it aggressively, shows great progress. It really speaks to the council and city manager. They got that bond referendum passed two months after the shelter was completed. There aren't many cities that would take on a $2.15 million bond referendum to expand a shelter they just poured millions of dollars into. It told me a lot. It's one of the things that attracted me to the city. It told me they were progressive, forward thinking and they cared. For somebody in the business, you want to work with people who like animals, who care about the image of the shelter and how the animals are treated. October 2003 Update Since the above interview appeared in the OK PetGazette almost ten months ago, we asked English for a current update: The statewide budget crunch that hurt us last year is still wreaking havoc throughout the City, and we have experienced significant problems. Our budget was cut almost $200,000 this year. Because Adoptions is not a "core" program for the City, we came close to losing our vet and 2 vet techs, since veterinary service primarily supports the adoption program and they were the only adoption-related positions that could be cut. We saved those positions through fee increases in adoption and reclaim, but lost five others on July 1 of this year–one supervisor and 4 Animal Welfare Reps–which cut further into our ability to provide customer service, care for the animals in the shelter, answer phones and handle the foster and rescue programs. Additionally, one Officer was called to military duty, further shorting field services. The Mayor and Council are sympathetic, and have stated that Animal Welfare is the priority when funding comes available again. Hours of operation were severely cut. We're now closing to the public at 4:45 p.m. instead of 6:00 p.m. While we haven't seen a nosedive in adoptions or reclaims, those hours are very inconvenient for our public. Our staffing levels absolutely prevent us from being open longer, however, or opening on Mondays for adoptions and reclaims again. We have gone from 55 employees to 43 in two fiscal years–a real blow to operations both in the shelter and in the field. Thirty-eight percent of our service requests are not being completed, exclusively stray animal calls. Priorities like bites, cruelties, sick and injured animals, vicious animals and law enforcement assistance calls are all being completed, although some of the response times are not what we'd like. There has been good news, too, including receiving the preliminary plans from the architects. The bids for the work will probably go out on the street sometime between February and April, with construction starting in April or May, to be completed in three stages. The barn and new administration area will be built first. Second, the current admin building will be gutted and turned into a cat center and a small conference room. The cat center is slated to have 3 isolation rooms for sick, injured and bite animals, each with their own air exchange system; an exam room; a workstation; and 20 cat rooms, each at least 9' x 6' in size. Third, the interior and front part of the shelter will be completed, which will include the receiving, reclaim, and adoption desk; glass rooms to house exotic animals, 4 more cat rooms, and 3 get-acquainted areas; and a safe after-hours night drop so animals aren't dumped in the parking lot or on the streets. That room will serve during the daytime as our holding area, getting the crates and cages out of the lobby. We'll also plan to have three 12' x 14' puppy play areas so small dogs and puppies can get out of their cages during the day for real play time. The air exchange system will be upgraded, and we want automatic waterers in all of the dog runs. We also want to change the drain system to improve operations and cut labor time during cleaning. We're planning a separate room with after-hours access for WildCare, since we take in over a thousand wild animals a year for them. It's tough for their volunteers to get here before we close every day. We're expanding the small workrooms in the dog areas to include grooming sites, and will have sick animals on different air systems than healthy ones. The architects really did a great job working with us on our "wish list". Of course, money drives the system, so we'll have to wait and see how the bids come in to know for sure how everything will work out. Back to Features |
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