PANAMA CITY — The Bay County Animal Services shelter has some new additions, and not just the furry, friendly kind.
Along with an extensive list of service and facility upgrades, a new face has filled the role of shelter director.
Paula Hunter, animal services director, started out working weekends as a shelter attendant while holding various government jobs. She eventually committed solely to animal services and worked her way up to shelter director in Brevard County.
“It just made me happy,” Hunter said. “I really felt like I was doing something worthwhile.”
Hunter’s hiring in Bay County coincides with the animal shelter’s implementing 37 changes a University of Florida study recommended.
Among the changes is a new intake area for strays or owner-surrendered animals and lower adoption fees: from $75 to $25.
“In the past, everybody adopting or dropping off animals went through the front door,” said county spokeswoman Valerie Sale. “That’s problematic because sick animals might interact with healthy animals and then everybody could get sick.”
All animals are now vaccinated on intake; no animal enters the kennel area without shots.
Livestock, such as horses, rabbits or chicken, now have outdoor pens near another addition, the “puppy play area.”
About $25,000 in donations paid for materials used in the shelter’s upgrades and were built with the help of volunteers from multiple county departments and inmate labor, according to Jamie Jones, general services director.
Jones said 83 Kuranda pet beds were donated to the shelter, along with additional barriers in the dog kennel area to blunt noise and cages to cover the kennels for Houdini-like escape artists.
“You’d be surprised; I’ve seen beagles come over the top,” he said. “If they weren’t great escape artists, they probably wouldn’t have gotten away from their owners.”
New volunteer policies also have been implemented since Hunter took the shelter’s helm. County documents indicate the shelter will feed animals the appropriate amount and type of food, the drug ketamine will be used during euthanasia to reduce stress and anxiety for animals and training for proper administration of the drug has been implemented to meet the UF study’s recommendations.
“I have experience in making drastic changes and implementing their recommendations,” Hunter said. “Change is hard, but you just have to put a structure in place and be consistent.”