Newly hired Tucker County Animal Shelter Director Bailey Stanton provided her list of goals to the County Commission at the recent meeting.
Stanton began her work at the shelter on April 16. With experience in management, graphic design, and public relations, she is currently taking classes for animal shelter management. Stanton is originally from Chantilly, Virginia. “I have spent most of my weekends in Tucker County, for as long as I can remember,” Stanton said.
Stanton presented her list of priorities to the Commission. One priority is to digitize the shelter’s records. “We have all paper records, and as a result it’s hard to get grants if you don’t have consistent records,” Stanton said. The shelter already purchased software to digitize records for $325 a year.
Community involvement is another priority for the shelter. “We would like to be involved in as many community events as we can,” Stanton said.
The animal shelter is holding a logo contest for elementary through high school students in the county. “Our image is important when it comes to events throughout the county where we can raise money,” Stanton said. Logos must include a depiction of a cat and a dog and “Tucker County Animal Shelter.”
The shelter is in the process of applying for a number of grants, including the Animal Rescue Aid Grant for toys and beds, the 1-800-PetMeds grant request for medication, and the Banfield Foundation Pet Advocacy grant.
The shelter wants to host a spring cleanup with involvement from youth programs in the area. Improving the structure is also on the priority list. Building a shelter above the dog run is one such improvement.
Along with these goals, reducing the number of feral cats in the county is still a high priority. The shelter currently houses 35 adult cats and six litters of kittens. There are also two litters in foster care.
There is one dog currently at the shelter. “We try to transport them out of the shelter as soon as possible,” Stanton said. Animal shelters in suburban areas that do not receive a high influx of animals will often take dogs from rural areas. Unfortunately, transporting cats is not as common.