Columbia Animal Control and Rescue is looking to make improvements, and thanks to a trip to Louisiana it is completely changing its operations.
A group representing the shelter traveled to Hammond Aug. 15 to visit Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control and its director Chip Fitz, who was also recently elected to be the president of the Louisiana Animal Control Association.
Alderman Mike Smith said the group learned a lot about overpopulation, which is vital information because he said Columbia’s shelter is consistently overpopulated.
“(Fitz) says that’s the worst thing that can happen because you can’t control the disease that comes with animals if you’re overpopulated,” he said.
Attending with Smith were Columbia Police Chief Michael Kelly, animal control director Mallory Belk, Belk’s assistant Donnel Fortenberry, Justin Corley (Belk and Fortenberry’s immediate supervisor) and Kirby Simmons.
Smith arranged the meeting with Fitz, who completely overhauled the shelter in Hammond.
“When Chip took over animal control 11 years ago, theirs was so diseased that they had to put down every animal in there,” Smith said. “When he started out there it was horrible. Chip told his wife he’d never be able to eat lunch there. Now you go in, and it’s like going into the hospital. You would think there’s not a dog within 50 yards of there. You don’t smell anything. Their floors, walls, everything is just perfect.”
Smith said the group is wanting to reach that level in Columbia, and it’s going to take making some tough decisions.
“There’s an adoptable animal and one that’s not, and you can’t keep the ones that are not. That’s how you get overflowed with animals. You just can’t keep them all,” he said. “That’s a hard thing to do. But one thing he told us is that we didn’t cause the problem, but we’re the solution and have to take care of it.”
Smith said the group was told that it can’t just bring new animals in through the front door. It needs to examine them beforehand before they can be brought in where the other adoptable animals are. He said just last week that five puppies were brought in and all died from parvo within two days. He said if they had been exposed to the virus, it could have wiped the entire shelter out.
It also learned that it needs to switch up which cleaning chemicals they use week to week because viruses can become resistant to them over time. Another thing the group learned was to document everything from the moment an animal comes in until the moment it leaves.
“We learned processes of things that’s going to help our shelter be more efficient,” Smith said.
Smith added Fitz will be coming to Columbia’s shelter in a couple of weeks to provide any extra information that could potentially be helpful.
“We care about animal control. It’s not like we just got thrown out there, and we don’t care about it. We’re just learning how to do it the right way. This is helping us get a handle on it,” Smith said. “Once we get a handle on it and manage it, we can get ours like (Fitz’s shelter). His wasn’t like that 11 years ago.”
Pictured Above: Columbia officials visit Aug. 15 with Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control Director Chip Fitz. From left are Police Chief Michael Kelly, Fitz, Alderman Mike Smith, Mallory Belk, Justin Corley, Kirby Simmons and Donnel Fortenberry. | Photo submitted
