Humane Society of Elmore County News
While COVID is no doubt still an issue, after two plus years, we have all pretty much navigated how to live our lives and work around COVID. So, we are often asked lately – are you back to letting people just come in and look around? The upfront answer is no – we are going to stay with our Adoption Application/Appointment as well as Intake by Appointment system and here is why.
Like all of the Shelters in the River Region, we are an Open-Admission Shelter meaning we take them all from our own counties (bite cases being the exception under AL Rabies Laws) – the nice ones, dangerous, sick, injured, young, old, etc. Prior to COVID all of us basically lived in a constant state of barely controlled chaos & complete reactionary mode. We had no clue when & what the public would show up with, or what they were looking for until they walked in the door. And, like everyone in retail will attest to – either no one was here, or everyone showed up at the very same time.
As non-profits none of us have huge staffs just sitting with nothing to do. There is a non-ending litany of tasks every single day in an animal shelter – vaccinations, medications, behavior evaluations, photos, cleaning, feeding, getting them ready and sending for spay/neuter surgeries, settling in the animals coming in via citizens and Animal Control Officers, working with adopters to meet potential best friends, matching up lost and found reports, restocking supplies and on and on and on.
When COVID forced us all to adjust so that we could stay operational, we ALL found that going to an appointment system finally put some sanity into our daily operations. With intake and adoption appointments we can look at the schedule at the beginning of the day and have a 75% idea of what is on tap for that day and plan accordingly. We all still have people who do show up to surrender an animal they found or cannot keep and fit those in accordingly. We all still add appointments same day as we are able, but since those are not the majority we can adjust much more easily.
Knowing what is coming in helps us have the appropriate space be prepared – a litter of nine puppies has an entirely different need than a 95-pound Great Pyrenees and by knowing what is coming we can be ready instead of scrambling to find the right spot. We can also work to keep dangerous animals from coming at the same time a family with children is also walking across the parking lot. We take in more dangerous animals than most realize and getting them safely and quickly moved into the kennels is our priority for that appointment. Animal Control Officers cannot schedule with us as they are reacting to calls from the public, so we are working their animals in as well.
As for adoptions – doing the Adoption Application FIRST helps us help the adopter find a pet that will be a success for both pet and people alike. The application helps us see what their wants and limitations are, so we don’t make a bad match. If someone wants a dog but also has a cat, then we might have to first check the dog they are interested in to make sure it is actually safe with cats – sometimes they are not and then we can see if another dog might be a potential good fit. This process can also save people wasted trips to the Shelter as reality is about 75% of people contacting us for dogs want a small dog. But small dogs are generally less than 10% of our population and right now we just do not have any small dogs for adoption. Same can go with puppies as we might not have any or we might not have kittens in the winter. Sadly, the one thing we ALWAYS have are large, adult dogs looking for homes – ALWAYS!
If you don’t know – this system does require us to all to keep our pets posted on sites like www.petfinder.com or www.adoptapet.com and there you can search and see what pets we all have for adoption. These listings change constantly as we all add new pets and take off those that have been adopted but this is how you can easily see what we all have for adoption. You can also go to our website at www.elmorehumane.org to do a WISH LIST Application and tell us what you are looking for so we can be on the lookout.
Across the country, most Shelters are staying with some variation of an appointment system as, undoubtedly, they learned what we did – it improves our ability to care for our animals, keep everyone safe and helps us help the public. Please work with us and you will find that it is not as burdensome as you may think – just call us at 334-567-3377 or email hselco@bellsouth.net for any questions.
