Wednesday, Jul. 23, 2008
Recognized animal shelter gets even better
By Terry Evans
tevans@star-telegram.com
A brief rain sent folk scurrying for cover at Weatherford/Parker County Animal Shelter’s groundbreaking Wednesday.
But the drops didn’t dampen spirits of county and city officials and employees, shelter volunteers and people who have for years supported the facility and its mission.
Interim Police Chief Greg Lance told the crowd of about 50 that the ceremony was to launch the next phase of capital improvements. Already, upgrades have turned W/PCAS into a veritable Shangri-La when compared with what it was 20 years ago.
Assistant City Manager Jerry Blaisdell said he got a sinking feeling the day in 1989 when he first saw the shelter at 403 Hickory Lane. As the city’s new police chief, Blaisdell accepted ultimate responsibility for the then-15-kennel facility.
Describing the place as "in sad shape" was being generous, he lamented. Desperately in need of improvements, the shelter was going to cost a lot of taxpayers’ money.
But Blaisdell said he believed that the animals that came through the shelter deserved the best opportunity to find new homes that he and his staff could give them.
"How was I going to go about doing this?" Blaisdell said.
The answer was to combine the energies and resources of Parker County and the county seat. The plan was so successful that W/PCAS became an example that communities across Texas have studied and followed, Blaisdell said.
Recently, W/PCAS became the first animal shelter in the state to receive recognition from the Texas Municipal League, Texas Association of Counties and Texas Association of Regional Councils.
Malinda Nowell, Blaisdell’s secretary, said they shelter personnel were excited about that.
Author of the nomination that was submitted to Austin in May, Nowell said she and Blaisdell talked about the history of the shelter and how deteriorated it was when Blaisdell joined the city.
"Then we wrote about how the city and county combined in 2000, how we started the spay and neuter program in 2001 and added microchip identification in 2004," Nowell said. "We also had a section [in the nomination letter] about the fundraising campaign and building improvement projects."
Blaisdell and Nowell also lauded the mobile adoption unit donated in November 2006.
"The trailer was donated by Mitchell and Evan Siegal and it’s been used to get more than 70 animals adopted in the last six months," Nowell said. "We talked about the $10,000 grant from PetSmart Charities that funded 175 low cost spay and neuter surgeries. Then we talked about Parker Paws, the gang of volunteers who work down there and whose primary responsibility has been the mobile adoption trailer. They’ve also raised money for supplies."
But most of all, the nomination writers made sure the Austin-based organizations knew about what the shelter is like today: a healthy, friendly facility, Nowell said.
Lance said the city and county came together out of necessity to enhance animal control services. There were some initial investments from the coffers of both entities, but private funds and donated services and material helped build a campus that is the envy of other communities.
Three large kennel complexes border the small cinderblock building where staff and volunteers work. A huge fenced dog run separates older kennels from the 18-cage kennel built last year.
A foundation is formed for a larger, 24-cage unit just north of that one that will include a cat room in its 2,280 square feet. It was inside those forms that Drew Springer, Judy Savage and Patsy Hooks were surrounded Wednesday by other animal enthusiasts as they lifted ceremonial shovels to break ground.
Under peach and pecan trees in an alcove at the entrance to the old office, an aviary holds several birds, and a koi pond (in name only) is home to catfish and other refugees from a nearby creek.
Corrals and a round pen on the 40-acre property’s northern edge are sanctuary and exercise yard for horses brought to W/PCAS. Across the parking lot, on the shelter’s west side, a pair of fenced pastures provide room for horses to run and space to keep other homeless livestock that range from goats to cattle. Even the occasional pig finds itself a guest there.
A set of wooden forms cut into the northernmost pasture to outline the 2,240-square-foot foundation of the future home of the W/PCAS office, adoption center, spay and neuter surgery center and recovery kennels.
With few exceptions, the upgrades have been accomplished through just under $400,000 in donations from animal lovers, Lance said.
"Almost all of the capital improvements have been done with donated money over the years," he said. "All of the recent improvements have been through donations with very little burden to our taxpayers."
Springer is the original private donor, Lance said.
"He was the first to give, and the first to match money in the fall of 2004 when this capital improvement campaign started," he said. "He’s a genuine animal lover."
Springer said the animal shelter is worthy of support not only because of the service it provides, but also because of the "really caring people working out there."
"The thing is that people can take care of themselves," he said. "Animals need someone loving to take care of them."
Morgan is the lucky dog Springer takes care of, and the 14-year-old West Highland Terrier’s owner said she inspires him to continue supporting W/PCAS.
"Overall, people want to give to something they feel is good for the community," he said. "The spay and neuter work they do is just so good. It isn’t fair to keep having litters and litters of animals when they’re being run over in the streets."
Lance said that Robert Stukey of Stukey Architects is another animal lover who donated a lot of time to the projects.
"We want to thank all the donors," he said. "This is a top notch facility where we’re able to take care of animals the way they deserve to be treated, and we owe it all to them."
Many of those donors will be listed on a commemorative brick wall that’s among final-phase plans, said Alecia Durham, special events coordinator.
Benefactors who purchase bricks for $100 each may use three lines of up to 12 characters each to memorialize a beloved pet or other family member, or just list the family’s name or a business name.
Durham said that about 50 bricks have been sold so far. She recommended brick purchases by others who wish to be part of what Precinct 3 Commissioner John Roth said illustrates what’s possible when residents and entities cooperate.
"The combined effort provides one of the best animal shelters in the state," he said. "The city does a good job running it, the county helps fund it and it’s a good partnership."
Roth said that what the county and city get by combining efforts is a facility that provides better service than either the Commissioners Court or Weatherford City Council could or would want to afford on their own.
"This animal shelter, there’s a lot more to it than either of us would have by ourselves," he said. "The way they do spay and neuter, the adoption program, it’s just a fantastic service."
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