Agenda - 09-19-2006-7b - Laserfiche WebLink

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Orange County Animal Services Sheltering Practices and Philosophies 74 volunteers' efforts, the old freezer that once served as the euthanasia chamber has been laid to rest in favor of a more humane chamber donated by a businessman, and the shelter will soon switch to euthanasia by injection after the part-time dog warden and two humane society volunteers receive training in the method, Because of Bruner's persistence, the county and city have paid $1,800 to have a well dug on shelter property, rendering the old routine of retrieving buckets of water from a tank outside the municipal facility a thing of the past. And the first adoption program in county history placed 55 dogs-or 35 percent of impounded animals-into new homes between April and November, By March the humane society had found homes for 30 more. "What communities need to realize is that even with very little, you can still do something," Bruner says. "I think that's what we had to arrive at, It seemed overwhelming, We just had to get started," For Baltimore's Anderson, even the little things make the jab seem daunting some days: for instance, even though he had a $50,000 grant to install a new computer system in the shelter, he had to sit on a waiting list for two years to get the jab even partially done. Roof and ceiling repairs can also take several years from the time of a requisition to the time of fulfillment, But Anderson still has big plans-a volunteer program is in the works, and he's looking for resources to hire a part-timer who can do community outreach through newsletters and public relations efforts, He's managed to procure $350,000 in grants and bequests over the course of just a few years, and he scrounges far whatever free help he can get, As he walks through the shelter, Anderson points out an industrial dishwasher that didn't match the electrical system of Baltimore City schools but pumps out water hat enough to wash and disinfect food bowls; a generator purchased with money donated by a senior citizen; a donated washer, dryer, and cat cage bank; and storage shelves built with extra care by a sympathetic city carpenter, "As you can see, we're trying our best, but the place is falling apart," Anderson says. "I'm not proud, I'll ask, I'll beg," Anderson's commitment has helped his staff, too: Baltimore ACOs finally have the chance to receive professional training and certification. They now drive air- conditioned vehicles that Anderson affectionately calls "our Cadillacs," and they carry basic tools in their trucks that they'd never had before-safety gloves, cat graspers, and snake tongs, to name a few, Bruner and her fellow volunteers need only to drive past the old freezer sitting abandoned in the brush on the side of the road to be reminded of how far they've come. "When we have our meetings, we do a lot of crying, but we do a whole lot more celebrating of things that we feel we do right," Bruner says. "And we talk about it a lot, [wondering], What if we weren't there? What would this be like for these guys if we weren't there? ,. Our goals are mostly short-term in the sense