New animal control officers set goals

Kaitlyne Reeves and Elizabeth Emmert are Blytheville’s two new Animal Control officers. Reeves has been at the department for four months while Emmert has only been there for one week. As new officers Reeves and Emmert have two main goals for the department: get the stray animals off of the city streets and get more animals adopted into good homes.

Both Emmert and Reeves have previous experience with animals, having both previously worked at BR Cato Veterinary Clinic. Emmert has also spent the last five years as a dispatch officer in the Blytheville Police Department.

“Our job description is to make sure every call is answered as far as strays, getting viscous animals off the streets, dog bites, abuse, writing people citations, court, warnings for people who don’t know how to take care of their animals properly,” Reeves said.

One thing that Reeves and Emmert feel most people in Blytheville aren’t aware of are laws concerning spaying and neutering of animals. In Blytheville, you must have your animals spayed or neutered.

Currently, the department is nearly at capacity for its animals, but neither Reeves nor Emmert have received the necessary training to euthanize animals or work the tranquilizer gun that is often used to aid in the capture of animals. While this has made capturing the animals more difficult, it has also made euthanizations drop tremendously as the officers have only taken animals to be euthanized whenever it was absolutely necessary.

“I would like to get something put out to where people will come out and adopt our dogs and we hate to see them put down. It’s very inhumane. It would be great to get people out there to look at the dogs and maybe even walk them just to get them out instead of having to euthanize them,” Reeves said.

“They all have their own little personalities, and it is really hard to decide which ones you have to put down,” Emmert said.

Reeves said that it can be difficult, particularly when dealing with the public. Some get upset whenever one won’t euthanize and others get incensed when one does. She said that it can sometimes feel like a war to keep people happy. The goal is to have more adoptions, fewer euthanizations and get strays off the street.

Reeves also said that citizens need to understand when they do not have the means to own an animal. She stated that the department sees a lot of animal surrenders.

“It’s all so heartbreaking to see people surrender them to because the dog doesn’t understand,” Emmert said.

“If you are going to adopt, adopt for life,” Reeves said.

Reeves and Emmert would like to get more involved in parades and events to promote the animals and get them adopted.

“We are thinking about when we have parades getting some of the dogs and letting kids walk them, obviously ones that we know are not aggressive at all, and throwing some doggy treats out from the truck…it would be cool to throw dog treats to the dogs...by the end of this year we want to try to get all the strays off the street,” Reeves said.

To adopt an animal at the shelter, a fee of $69 must be paid to the department. The fee will also pay for the animal to be neutered/spayed and receive a vaccination for rabies. Both of these are required for animals within the city.

The department also has a foster program where an owner can take an animal home for two weeks. If they believe that the animal is right for them they can then choose to pay the fee and adopt the animal.

Reeves also regularly updates the Animal Control Facebook page that can be used as a point of contact, as well as a method to show the public the animals inside the facility.

Reeves and Emmert are currently planning an event for the spring where the dogs can be seen in a more public light with the hope of generating more adoptions. No date is currently set at this time.

gwilliams@blythevillecourier.com