Report of the Animal Control Officer 2008
Another year has come and gone and the Animal Control Department has grown in leaps and bounds.
We have hired four new per-diem personal to work nights and weekends. Our new animal control personal is as follows: Don, Maureen, Renee, and of course Charles “Brett” Colson, who continues to be our Animal Inspector.
We have managed to increase the number of licensed dogs in town. The Town Clerk’s office and Animal Control have licensed over 800 dogs for 2008. It’s been an amazing jump in numbers.
We had a rabies clinic in March of 08 which benefited both the fire dept and the animal control. We will be holding another one this year. We also had a fund raiser at the Southwick Firemen’s Carnival. We thank the fire department for the invitation to march in the parade and put a booth at the carnival.
The building that was donated to us for the cats finally arrived with the help of Igor and Sons Sheds. The men from the Maintenance Dept. have done wonders to the interior of the building. It has been transformed into a beautiful new area for our cats. The new cat kennels have arrived and are being installed. The cats will be moving into their new building by mid February.
The dog building was beautified this summer by the wonderful kids at Powdermill School’s Spirit Club. They came and cleaned the garden and grounds, planted new flowers and shrubs. It was a fun day and the shelter looked fantastic. There was a facelift on the building that was a fun project and I think the children at Powdermill School enjoyed the task put to them. Drawings were done by the 5th and 6th grade classes and a classroom from each grade was picked to have their drawings put on the dog building. A wonderful artist, Victoria donated her time to paint the drawings on the building.
The wonderful people that love animals continue to give to the shelter. Monetary and donations of food, toys and other supplies to keep the shelter running continue to come in. Thank you one and all for your continued support.
We have done over 300 calls for the year, ranging from stray animals to bear calls. We have adopted over 150 animals into their forever homes and will continue to do the spay/neuter and shots on all our animals.
Respectfully submitted,
Tracy Root
Animal Control