By By ANNA M. LEE Assistant Editor
The Brewton Animal Shelter has been operating from its location on Hwy. 31 since 1997, facilitating the adoption of about one homeless animal every day.
Animal Control Officers Robbie Crenshaw and Phillip Jackson care for about 15 to 20 cats, dogs and other animals at any given time at the shelter.
The animals are either captured by Crenshaw and Jackson or brought in when they are found by citizens.
In addition to the expected cats and dogs that animal control is called to capture, the officers have had to deal with ducks, raccoons, wild hogs, goats, chickens and snakes.
For each animal that comes into the shelter, paperwork is done and then they are bathed, given wormer, treated for fleas and fed and cared for.
Also, the shelter has a fenced area where the dogs can run and play.
For the first 10 days of its stay at the shelter, an animal's owner has the opportunity to come into the shelter and claim it. If an animal is not claimed in that 10-day period, the shelter starts making efforts to find it a home.
The shelter does several things to promote the adoption of animals housed there. For example, every Wednesday, The Brewton Standard publishes the Pet of the Week. Those animals are often adopted right away, Crenshaw said.
The shelter also posts fliers with photos at places like Walmart and Winn Dixie, hoping to attract people willing to adopt.
Community events also offer opportunities to find homes for many of the shelter's animals. They have taken animals to Brewton's Christmas parade, the Blueberry Festival, the Straw-berry Festival in Castleberry and to other events, and have seen great success with finding homes for the cats and dogs.
The Brewton Animal Shelter also uses other nearby shelters to trade animals that may have a better chance of adoption in a new area.
The only animals that are unadoptable are those with untreatable illnesses or injuries, Crenshaw said, or animals that are aggressive.
The Brewton Animal Shelter is open Monday through Friday and 8 to 12 on Saturday.
To adopt a pet, you must pay a $30 adoption fee which includes a rabies certificate so the new owner can take the animal for its required rabies vaccination at no additional charge.
The Brewton Animal Shelter is operated by the City of Brewton through the Brewton Police Department. It also serves the area by housing animals captured by East Brewton Animal Control and Escambia County Animal Control.