ADKINVILLE -- There was a time not too long ago when Yadkin County was considered a particularly bad place to be a stray dog or cat.
But a broad coalition of county leaders and animal lovers has been working to make a number of improvements in how animals are treated.
Showcasing the changes, the Yadkin County Animal Shelter is preparing to launch a new volunteer program and will host an open house and adoption fair from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday.
Anna Hamby began work Monday as the county's new animal-control director in a program that's a newly separate department. The agency had most recently been part of the planning department.
New adoption policies went into place this month. The fees — $100 for dogs and $85 for cats — pay for a new adoption requirement of mandatory spaying or neutering, and also pay for required vaccinations.
The county's Animal Responsibility Committee is meeting regularly. It was formed shortly after county commissioners voted last summer to stop using carbon monoxide to put down shelter animals and instead use injections, which commissioners said was more practical and humane.
Dr. Leon Robbins, a veterinarian in practice at Grandview Animal Hospital in East Bend, as well as a member of the Animal Responsibility Committee, is the county's new director of veterinary medicine. He's volunteering to help out at the animal shelter and will help the sheriff's office on animal-cruelty cases, all at no cost to the county.
The changes have drawn praise even from former critics.
"I think they're definitely on the right track," said Alice Singh, an animal-rights advocate who sued Yadkin County officials in 2005 for what she said was mistreatment of shelter strays. "I think they've made great progress in the last year."
In years past Yadkin County was notorious for how it treated dogs and cats.
The county still gets emails from people who come across a 1990s video distributed by animal-rights activists that showed animals being put to death in a metal "kill box" at the old animal shelter at the county landfill. The county opened its new animal shelter with a commercially built and state-inspected chamber in 2005, but then switched to lethal injection in August.
Kevin Austin, chairman of the Yadkin County commissioners and a member of the Animal Responsibility Committee, said the video was hideous, and the county has made a concerted effort to change its culture about treatment of dogs and cats.
"Where we are today puts us on an equal footing with any county around," he said. "People still think about the chain link cages that were out at the landfill 15 years ago, and that's not the case today. We're determined to treat the animals right and humanely."
He invited people to come to Saturday's open house.
There are about 25 kittens — gray stripped, orange tabby, black, gray-and-white — available for adoption Saturday, as well as mother cats.
Among a number of dogs, adoption is free for any one of five shepherd-mix puppies. A family that found the strays — three females and two males — paid all the fees.
Hamby said final details are being worked out for the new volunteer policy. The first orientation sessions are scheduled for 10 a.m. June 15 or 4 p.m. June 16, depending on which time the volunteer prefers to attend. She anticipates volunteers would do things like help people adopt animals or walk dogs.
"They'll be able to volunteer as much as they like during shelter hours," Hamby said. "We're really looking forward to it. We think it's going to be a great help to the shelter."
Hamby, 31, is a Yadkin County native from East Bend, who graduated from Forbush High School and the UNC Asheville. She has worked in veterinary offices since she was 16 and is a nationally ranked equestrian rider competing in three-day events on her horse Sweet T.
Hamby still has her first horse, Peanut, which she got when she was 11, and provides a home to horses Honest Abe and Willow, as well as cats Texas Pete and Wink, and dogs Baracus and Case.
Hamby has worked for the county as a health educator and said some people have asked her why she is making the switch to animal control, with its noisy, barky, smelly environment.
"I want everything to improve," she said. "I want adoption rates to go up. I want it to smell better. I want new paint. I want employees to be more satisfied with their jobs. I want everything to be wonderful." (source : journalnow.com)
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