Results Of meeting With Bob Crowell, Target Zero Institute Letter From City to me.... Thank you all for your help thus far in our continued efforts at enhancing the services of the Amarillo Animal Management & Welfare Department. As you may know we have entered into a contract with the Target Zero Institute, a non-profit animal welfare organization to perform an independent assessment of our shelter and operations. The intent of this assessment, which will be performed by a veterinarian with specific expertise in shelter operations and medicine is to help us continue to progress in improving our operations and also to serve as a guide for the new Director, once hired. As a part of this assessment, we want to provide you the opportunity to meet with the TZI representative and share your concerns, suggestions, etc. for her consideration. I have allocated 10:30 – Noon on Tuesday August 19th for this meeting, which will take place at the shelter. Please let me know if you are able to attend the meeting. If you are unable to attend I will work with you to ensure your thoughts get forwarded to TZI. If you have any questions or need additional information please do not hesitate to contact me by email or phone at 378-3012. Thank you, Bob Bob Cowell Assistant City Manager - Development Services City of Amarillo 509 S.E. 7th Avenue Results Of Meeting.... The meeting went very well. Dr Pizano is a very knowledgable and dedicated representative from Target Zero. She feels that the Amarillo Shelter has some positive going for it compared to other cities she has visited. The fact that we have guillotine type doors on the kennels is a plus as many cities dont and this makes it much easier to clean by locking the pets in while cleaning the outside and visa versa. Having the Kuranda Beds( even thought they dont use them) I gave her the facts told to me as to why the beds are in storage this summer and why they are left hanging on the fencing during the winter. She stated that it should be the pets choice as to whether they want to lay on the bed or on the cement, She also stated the beds were built for a shelter type environment and do not harbor fleas or ticks, She liked that the Humane Society has hired a coordinator to work with the rescues. Some of he downside to the Shelter are the feeders, lack of having a volunteer training program in place, lack of a sufficient software system to keep records current on all pets, lack of a Veterinarian on staff, the cat room and not vaccinating pets upon arrival. She didnt like the idea of the paid extension fees or the lack of a surrender counselor to help people with other solutions then surrendering their pet, Dr Pizano arrived on Monday and our meeting was on Tuesday. She is staying until Friday doing observation on how the shelter operates and performs the cleaning. With our meeting being on Tuesday I feel we may not have the benefit of her full observation. Dr Pizano stated the two main issues on a shelter environment are to move pets out of the shelter ASAP! Because every day a pet is in the shelter it is raising the risk of exposure and sickness, and preventing a pet from entering a shelter. Scott McDonalds lack of acknowledging there is a problem with distemper at our shelter ( along with all of Amarillo) was discussed at length. Dr Pizano agreed along with the rest of us that accountability is very important and that this should be addressed by Scott in a positive and structured manner. She did ask that we take into consideration that Scott has little knowledge in the Shelter management area and this isnt an area of expertise with him. Dr Pizano stated that after her visit she will write a review and recommendation as to what she feels will work for the Amarillo Shelter. She did state that most likely major changes wont take place until a new director was hired. Bob Crowell suggested the target date of hiring a new director will be November 2014. I think the most we can do now is try to be patience and realize that until we get a new director then we will have to pull together as a community and watchdog the shelter to make sure the pets are being saved as the best they can under the current administration.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 15:07:27 +0000