Dog pound getting new look with new interim ACO
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

The tarps that covered the pound have been removed, which will allow for some of the upcoming renovations to the building as Interim Animal Control Officer Anne Eddy seeks donations for the work. JOURNAL PHOTO/CAITLYN KELLEHER

It has taken Anne Eddy months to clean out the small pound facility, to start gathering donations, and to work with Police Chief Loring Barrett to start to reorganize the Animal Control facility in Ashburnham.

Eddy is looking to do a lot with a little. Her first goal has been to clean and sanitize the pound facility, which is located on the same land as the town's transfer station on Route 12.

"It's never going to look like a beautiful shelter," Eddy said of the current building. "But you can make something of it."

Eddy was appointed to the position in January, after former Animal Control Officer Margaret Bennett left the position. Bennett had been on and off medical leave for six months, said Barrett.

Over the course of the last few months, Eddy has moved more than 25 bags of trash out of the facility, made calls to the Center for Disease Control to determine how to get rid of raccoon feces, and a series of other improvements.

The inside of the pound had to be cleaned with help from the Center for Disease Control because of the raccoons that had been living in the building. JOURNAL PHOTO/CAITLYN KELLEHER

"The tarps were on the building because the doggy doors were not keeping out the cold," she said.

Now she has donations for six doggy doors that are weatherproof, and a donation of new fencing for the outside area. She is looking for some help with the labor of installing the fence, as well as donations of money to help buy a new outdoor kennel for the dogs.

If a dog is picked up and not claimed by it's owner, the dog must stay in quarantine for 10 days, and then be spayed/neutered, brought up-to-date with its vaccines and also defleaed and dewormed before it can be adopted out.

Eddy plans to make sure the shelter is a no-kill facility unless an animal is extremely ill or is dangerously aggressive. She said the goal is to adopt out safe and healthy animals.

"We want to make sure they are safe," she said. "I'll work with them daily to make sure they are safe or at least as sure as you can be."

Eddy said she hopes to eliminate the perceptions of the evil dogcatcher and the dirt dog pound. She said her goal would be that an owner of a loose dog would be thankful their escaped pet was at the pound because it was safe.

Part of that plan includes painting the pens in the shelter because it is easier to clean and sanitize the painted wood if a dog chews threw it. The other goal would be to lay down pea stones in the outdoor play area because it is easier to clean.

"We have a wish list into the town," she said, but knows there are limited budgets and hopes most of the work can be accomplished with donations.

"People want to help, they just don't know how," she said.

Eddy also wants to get the community more involved so she would like to set up a volunteer dog-walking group to help with dogs that are waiting for adoption.

"When their minds are good their bodies stay healthy," she said.

Barrett said another goal would be to have an area where they can keep cats because right now the shelter is only set up to handle dogs.

"It's so stressful for a cat to be kept in a cage, and with a dog barking that would just be inhumane," Eddy said.

Eddy is serving the town of Ashburnham for 15 hours a week, but is on-call for residents with concerns or with reports of loose dogs 24-7. She encourages people to call the police department's non-emergency line, (978) 827-4413, to report their concerns.

"Please call, because the worst part of my job is to take that metal shovel and scrape the animal off the road. I'd much rather pick up a loose dog," Eddy said.

Eddy is also a certified by the state in wildlife rehabilitation, so she will respond

NEWS to the calls for wildlife issues as well.

Eddy is also the founder of Ahimsa Haven, an animal-rescue group based in Winchendon. She left her formal position with that group earlier this year because she said it had grown more into a business then she was interested in handling.

She is now also serving as a parttime ACO in Winchendon and working to develop Emma's Hope, a new animal rescue organization. She said no matter how groups are in a given area they will still be turning away animals.