Evaluations
SCACCA provides evaluations for shelters and will make recommendations on ways to improve them. Evaluations cover a variety of areas such as housing, facility, layout, sanitation, disease control, record keeping, policy and procedures, organization, etc.
There is a nominal fee to cover travel expenses, but it is an inexpensive way to get helpful hints and tips to improve current and future facilities to better serve the animals and people in your community.
For information or to make arrangements, please contact Marli Drum (803-776-7387) or Danny Bellows (843-747-4849).
MAINTAINING FACILITIES THAT WORK FOR THE ANIMALS
SHELTER EVALUATIONS
Providing solutions to make our State’s facilities the best they can be.
Animal sheltering and control should be a service, not just a process. When any community is charged with the care of lost and homeless pets, there should always be a commitment to providing them with the most humane care possible.
However, SCACCA understand that funds are not always immediately available for ideal environments and solutions. Improvements often take time and must be budgeted over extended periods – perhaps even one to three years or sometimes longer.
Overall, a shelter needs to be comfortable and workable for animals, staff, and citizens. An animal care and control program should be just that – a program. This program will be viewed by the public as either negative or positive. How animals are treated and the care they receive can elicit very emotional responses from the public. By simply making the necessary adjustments (large or small), any animal care and control program can become something to be very proud of. By creating the right environment, more animals will receive the care they deserve and adoptions and return to owner’s (RTO’s) will go up due to a more visible and positive image. When adoptions and RTO’s go up, euthanasia rates often go down. Shelter revenue can also increase and public perception improves. For so many animals, local shelters are the last stop. It is our responsibility to make sure they are treated humanely while they are in our care.
As many of you know, SCACCA offers shelter evaluations for a nominal fee to any animal care and/or control agency in our state. The object of these evaluations is to look at all or portions of current programs to determine what is working and what is not, and make objective and unbiased, suggestions, no matter how large or small that will help that agency improve.
Most recently the City of Abbeville took advantage of this service. Board members Danny Bellows, Marvin Grimm and Marli Drum spent a day in Abbeville touring their shelter, talking with staff and City officials and looking over records.
We commend the City of Abbeville for taking that first step in efforts to improve their current facility and their desire to better provide for pets in their community. They have a very dedicated employee (Officer Clay O’Bannon) who serves as shelter manager and animal control officer. Though the shelter itself has room for improvement, his commitment to the animals and the concern of City officials make us very hopeful that positive change is on the way. In fact we were impressed with some efforts Officer O’Bannon had already taken of his own initiative.
As a group of volunteers serving on our State Association’s Board of Directors, it is our intent to provide the best guide we can to help our colleagues across South Carolina. If your agency or one you know of would benefit from these services, please do not hesitate to contact us. We enjoy the opportunity to help.