by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Workspace: Animal Care and Protective Services
A new approach in a new building.
The City’s recently renamed Animal Care and Protective Services Division, previously called Animal Control, also unveiled a new headquarters Aug. 8 at 2020 Forest St. The new facility utilizes several concepts to make the division more efficient and save it some money on energy costs.
“We’ve about doubled the space we had at the building on McDuff (Avenue) and First Street,” said Scott Trebatoski, division chief. “The new layout utilizes more efficient practices and it also gives us more room to allow customers to interact with the pets.”
The new shelter covers about 42,000 square feet and the division has focused on making it customer friendly. As soon as customers walk in they can see an adoption room on either side of the lobby that is about the size of a small walk-in closet. Pets of the Week, both dogs and cats, are on display for people looking to give a pet a forever home.
There are also six “Get Acquainted” rooms, which are used to help not only the owner become familiar with the pet, but also another pet already at the home.
“Owners can introduce a potential adoptee to the pet they already have here so both pets are on neutral ground,” said Trebatoski. “This way there’s less chance of a bad experience that might happen if the new dog is brought home to another dog’s territory. There is less chance of a pet becoming aggressive due to defending his turf.”
The division also changed its process of adoption. Instead of matching a pet to an owner and then screening the pet for health problems, the center now pre-screens pets to make sure that customers can take home their pets the same day.
“Before, people would come in and we would explain about the necessary testing that would need to be done before we could release the dog,” said Trebatoski. “There was also the chance of matching someone with a pet and then finding out there was something medically wrong with it and having to explain that to the customer.”
Tough economic times force people to make difficult decisions some times and some people are realizing that they can’t afford to take care of an animal. The center also takes in abandoned pets and the building is laid out to keep them on a separate side of the building to make sure that newly adopted and newly abandoned dogs don’t interact.
There are also helpful features in other areas of the building, including the sally port at the receiving area. It’s a drive through garage that can fit up to two trucks. Once the trucks are in the sally port, the garage doors are closed at both ends to contain any escapees in a secured area.
The new location on Forest Street is not only secure, but also green.
The building is the City’s first new building to earn LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for its practices. There are few light switches in the building because the lights turn on when a person walks into the room and off when they leave. The building was also constructed on a former City ash site, which was reclaimed before the project began.
The center is open Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. and kennel viewing and adoption hours are from 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
356-2466