Wednesday, January 26, 2000

As a direct outgrowth of a project by a UNCW Honors class focusing on "Issues in Animals in Society," the New Hanover County Animal Control Services (ACS) will be launching a focused volunteer program.

Animal Control Services will kick off the program and celebrate the completion of the volunteer manual at an open house from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday, January 29, at 220 Division Drive. The staff will be available to answer questions and provide tours of the facility. Refreshments will be provided. Media and public are invited to attend.

Dr. Robert Weedon, veterinarian and adjunct lecturer at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, along with three UNCW students, developed a volunteer manual for the New Hanover County Animal Control Services (ACS), in the fall of 1999. The manual was written with the intentions of generating more volunteers at ACS and to provide more structured guidelines for them to follow.

Volunteering at ACS is separated into four separate categories: Companion Animal Services, Adoption Counseling and Education, Community Outreach, and Administrative Aide. The manual goes into detailed description of each of these categories and the tasks required. After reading the manual, individuals can choose the task they feel appropriate for them. The report was part of a new class, "Issues in Animals in Society," formed with the intentions of dealing with one of the many issues facing animals in society today. The project with ACS deals with the issue of keeping abandoned animals alive and finding homes for them rather than euthanizing them. Dr. Weedon had previously taught an Honors Enrichment Seminar entitled "Animals in Society." The class visited ACS for a field experiment, and they were concerned about the lack of volunteers. During a discussion between Weedon and a few of the students, the idea for the volunteer manual for Animal Control was born, along with the new class.

"We are particularly grateful to this group of dedicated individuals because we believe the manual is a key to setting the volunteer program in motion. We could not have done this work without the help of the students and their resourceful instructor, Dr. Bob Weedon," said Jean McNeil, director of ACS.

For more information, please contact Dr. Bruce at 962-3374.