“I’ve had four pit bulls. I’ve had several kittens. I’ve delivered their babies and taken care of them. I’ve had monitor lizards, birds. I’ve had carnivorous lizards and I now have a lhasa apso … That’s our baby now,” said the new director of the Madison-Oglethorpe Animal Shelter (MOAS).
Though her expertise centers on financial matters, being an animal lover is the sole reason Fleming is sitting at the MOAS director’s desk right now. She knows the animal shelter can be a place of refuge for those unwanted pets adopted into a second home. But it can also be a place of heartbreak for employees who must put down those animals who go unclaimed.
It’s Fleming’s ultimate goal to cut down on the heartbreak.
“I know we’re not a no-kill shelter, but I want it to be as close to a no-kill shelter as possible,” said the new director who has lived in Madison County for four years.
The shelter, which has served all of Madison County and Oglethrope County for the last five years, is currently filled to capacity with 230 animals under its roof.
Fleming’s plans for lightening that load include stepping-up fund-raising, increasing off-site adoptions (venturing into neighboring counties, too), featuring the shelter at more community festivals, further promoting MOAS’s spay and neuter clinic and trying to re-establish ties to animal rescue groups in the northern part of the country.
She also plans to host a concert “to get the public out to meet and greet some of the animals that are here.”
The key is continually spreading the word about these pets to get them out of the animal shelter and off the euthanasia table, she said.
“I lived here two years here and didn’t even know we had an animal shelter here — didn’t even know that animal control existed,” she said. “But I think that once the community is aware of this shelter, and what it is we’re here for, and why we’re wanting to try to help, I think it will increase in all of our areas.”
At the same time, Fleming is tasked with taking over a traditionally under-funded operation during a national economic downturn and soaring fuel prices.
“The economy is the worst thing that’s hitting us,” she said. “We’re having gas surcharges on everything we have here and that’s something that not only us, but any business, didn’t used to see a lot of. Now it’s just outrageous.”
Another issue facing the animal shelter is its ability to house dogs picked up by Madison County Animal Control.
Fleming said she couldn’t elaborate on the matter, but has met with animal control twice.
“I think there are tremendous benefits for both of us if we both work together,” she said. “I think it’s a very positive thing and I look forward to figuring out what it is we can do.
She noted that the budget and staff are limiting factors.
“My workers here work, it seems around the clock, and we just don’t have it in our budget,” she said. “But things can change. That’s my hope anyway.”
And it’s her hope to bring about other changes, as well.
Though she’s only been at the shelter for two weeks, she’s already witnessed the emotional toll the job can take on shelter workers. Fleming sees the tears in her employees’ eyes and knows a tough decision has just been made regarding a pet.
The new director is determined to limit those tough decisions.
“I’m not a vet tech like the last director; I’m not involved with animals’ care like the last director was,” she said. “But, hopefully, I can fulfill my goals with this shelter by financially providing — either means here, means off-site, means in other states with rescue groups — something to eliminate us having to euthanize.”
