Trials and Tribulations in DeKalb Animal Services

“I don't think, or should I say, I know, that the general public does not have a complete understanding of the trials and tribulations endured by Dekalb County Animal Services,” Kathy Mooneyham, director since 2007, confided to me in a recent interview. After hearing several stories, I agreed. Even as a pet owner and animal rights advocate, I was unaware of some of the main difficulties faced by animal control authorities in my own county. Unfortunately, I was equally ignorant about the positive happenings and progress being made. Mooneyham was kind enough to enlighten me.

Becoming Director

Mooneyham didn't step into a glamorous or stable position when she took the directorship in 2007. “I was asked by the chief of police at the time to come to Animal Services because there was a need for someone to manage the shelter. There was a director who had been let go, and the shelter was in disarray. There were several incidents that occurred prior to my arrival, and there were some pending news stories and many issues that needed to be addressed,” she explained.

Today, Mooneyham oversees more than 40 employees; manages the operation of the Animal Services Division; creates and implements the budget; handles supplies and inventory; and serves as a liaison between Animal Services and the community, attending town hall meetings, educating the public and working alongside local animal rescue groups.

Structure and Under-Staffing

DeKalb Animal Services is comprised of three multifunctional entities, all working to support each other. The first two – the kennel and field staff – are cross-trained. “They go through an academy that we teach in house and are either certified in NACA, which is the National Animal Control Academy, or GACA, which is the Georgia Animal Control Academy,” Mooneyham explained. The GACA is “put on by Cobb County Animal Control, [and] all field and kennel officers are also certified in euthanasia by a local veterinarian,” she finished.

Kennel and field staff's obligations are varied. Mooneyham detailed: “The field staff responds to dispatched calls and calls for service. They respond to complaint locations, handle emergency calls, issue citations and subpoenas for Recorders Court and pick up stray animals. The kennel staff feeds and cares for the stray animals, cleans the kennel, observes the animals for injury or sickness and aides the public when the shelter opens for business.”

The adoption / rescue coordinator, Jamie Martinez, is technically a member of the kennel staff, according to Mooneyham. Martinez does more by keeping the shelter's Adopt-a-Pet and Petfinder pages current; working with local rescue and relocation organizations; and coming up with creative ways to educate the public and promote pet adoption.

“Last year we began monthly 'specials',” Mooneyham said. “Each month of the year has either a theme or a holiday,” she noted. Martinez has been charged with creating flyers promoting these montly theme. They are then distributed to libraries, schools vet clinics and other places where potential pet owners may see them. For , 2011, reduced adoption fees were featured.

The third facet of Animal Services is the office staff, all of whom serve in various capacities. “They dispatch calls to the field officers during business hours and answer the incoming calls from the public. Each has [his or her] own individual duties in the office...such as entering all citations into the Recorders Court database, registration data entry, veterinarian billing, processing open records requests, as well as processing adoptions, reclaims and the funding related to each,” Mooneyham outlined.

Unfortunately, a high turnover rate and under-staffing plague Animal Services. “We do the best we can with the cards we are dealt,” Mooneyham admitted. “We have a large turnover rate,” she continued, “that forces us to work harder and really forces us to work together to accomplish the tasks at hand. Something I think we continue to work towards is being fully staffed,” she explained. The employees at Animal Services are forced to wear many hats, and most of them are underpaid for doing so. “The starting salary for an animal control officer in DeKalb County is roughly $24,000 dollars,” Mooneyham noted.

Current Happenings

“There have been a lot of changes since I first came here in 2007. Most of the rescue groups [we're involved with] and those in the animal community will tell you that many aspects of the shelter, as a whole, have changed for the better,” Mooneyham claimed with pride.

In 2008, an Animal Cruelty Unit was created. Mooneyham explained:

“There were several officers at Animal Services who were certified cruelty investigators. However, when it came to enforcing the laws of the State of Georgia, their hands were tied; they had to reach out to the police for help with investigations, search warrants and making arrests. We now have certified police officers acting in the capacity of cruelty investigators. This unit is overseen by a DKPD sergeant. These officers work closely with the Animal Services officers, investigating animal cruelty cases and making misdemeanor and felony arrests. Prior to the inception of this unit, many of these cases were handled by citation and heard only in Recorders Court. Today, we have a good, working relationship with both the Dekalb County Solicitor's office and the Dekalb County District Attorney's office, actually prosecuting these cases and remanding these individuals to serve jail time.”

Goals

While becoming fully staffed, increasing adoptions and reducing animal cruelty cases are all priorities for Animal Services, Mooneyham if forward-looking and keeps additional goals in mind.

“We would all like to have a new shelter,” she cited. “Imagine a bright, clean environment where you could offer programs to the public. Summer camps for kids and field trips for schools during the school year to educate our young people [about] becoming responsible pet owners. A nice big fenced in area to get to know your new pet. If you needed to see if your existing pets would get along with a new pet, a place for them to get acquainted. Indoor / outdoor runs so the dogs could all get exercise. These are our ultimate [shelter] goals,” Mooneyham mused.

The main goal I heard reiterated throughout our communication, however, was improved public education. “Our greatest asset in combating animal cruelty and neglect is educating the public on animal welfare. So many people do not understand the issues that we face because the general public is not knowledgeable in our field. We have reached out to the school systems, we have become an integral part of Public Safety as they take their initiatives to the community and we have tried to become a more integral part of established residential communities,” Mooneyham said.

She told me of an email recently received from an emergency room staff member. She reported to Mooneyham the increase in dog bite victims the hospital was seeing. While Animal Services does reach out to local school systems – an educational program that includes information about protecting yourself during an animal attack – they do not currently have a program in place within the medical community. Mooneyham's developing vision is to see a partnership between local hospital staff and Animal Services created, wherein a continuing education program can be put in place.

In the three years that Mooneyham has held the director's position at Animal Services, it is clear the department has gotten back on the right track. Despite being hindered by a lack of staff, as well as an inferior budget and facilities, Mooneyham and her team continue to keep the ultimate goals in mind – aiding families in their efforts to locate and reclaim lost animals, protecting the public from the dangers of stray animals and doing all they can to find loving, caring homes for the animals in their care.