The Women of Animal Control

Kristy Tribble and Becky Perkins, both certified and deputized Animal Control O?cers hold the role of Director and Senior Animal Control O?cer respectively at Jasper County Animal Control (JCAC). When I arrived at JCAC, they were heading out to court in the lone JCAC truck to testify for one of their summons cases.

Inside JCAC I found Kennel Technician Ti?any Carnes. Quietly confident with a smile that makes her eyes crinkle, it is immediately apparent that Ti?any loves the animals at JCAC. Armed with the tools of her trade, a water hose, a shovel, a rake and a broom and a temperament perfect for the many personalities and needs of the rescued animals in her care, she begins her days by refilling the drinking water for the multitude of dogs and cats housed at JCAC.

Calling the dogs by name while she provides water for them, followed by spraying clean the kennels, changing out the outside blankets and delivering Parvo treatment to ward against Parvo, a highly contagious viral disease that attacks a dog’s immune and GI systems. On my visit Friday morning, March 17, the count under Ti?any’s care was 22 dogs and one lone cat. If a new animal arrives at JCAC, vaccines, wormer and flea medicine are also administered and added to the chores.

Ti?any can’t imagine working and living anywhere else, having worked with JCAC on and o? for almost seven years. Growing up in Shady Dale, she tried to leave but came back to her home in Jasper County and her job at JCAC.

“I just love the animals,” Carnes said, adding that she loves living in Jasper County with her husband and two children, a daughter and son ages 10 and 8. Family time kayaking on the Ocmulgee River, hunting and fishing and raising her many chickens make Ti?any happiest and always includes her constant companion, her JCAC rescued Bulldog puppy Roxie who goes to work with Ti?any every day. An unknown fact about Ti?any is an act of love and respect for other moms; she passes out flowers to as many mothers as she can on Mother’s Day.

“They are always talking to you,” she said of the dogs under her care. It’s true. The duration of my visit included a constant chorus of barking dogs complete with tenors, altos, sopranos and bass sung by the one Saint Bernard, the multitude of pit bulls, a couple of pointer types and the handful of mixed breeds. The lone cat, tentatively named Circle K, sat nonplussed in her cage listening to the dogs singing and watching the comings and goings of Ti?any.

Recently promoted from part time to full time, Ti?any surprised her boss Kristy with flowers for her birthday on this morning, quietly saying, “I love the people I work with.”

Kristy, the Director, is a self-proclaimed animal lover having always worked in animal rescue. Starting at JCAC working eight hours a week on weekends and with only 12 kennels on the floor, she gradually moved to full time becoming the director nine years ago. As of this May, Kristy will have worked at JCAC for 11 years, now watching over 45 kennels. “Seeing the animals come in emaciated and seeing their energy pick up as they gain weight and get better, and like yesterday, watching them get rescued, there’s nothing better,” said Kristy.

Originally from Dodge County, she moved to Jasper County as an adult with her two children, her daughter now 20 and her son now 22, moving here to be close to family already living in the area. She shares her home with Tulip, her sassy Corgi-Pomeranian mix rescue dog and her rescue Zoe, a black lab mix. Kristy likes to spend her time fishing at Jackson Lake and Charlie Elliott and grilling out dinners with her children. “I love it!” she exclaimed of her work in animal rescue and of her living in Jasper County only eight minutes away from work.

Becky Perkins, JCAC’s other deputized Animal Control O?cer, is mother to five children ages eight to 20 and includes two boys and three girls. After growing up around the world as the child of an Army dad, she landed in Shady Dale near family. She, too, has rescues—one dog and one cat. She’s been with JCAC for almost nine years, adding that when she first started working at JCAC after the birth of her youngest child, she thought it would be temporary. With a degree and background in business, she soon realized she loves working at JCAC.

Her life outside of JCAC is filled with children and their love for all things outdoors: archery, 4-H, BB guns and shotgun teams, soccer, and Cub Scouts and Boy Scout camping trips. Her 13-year old daughter volunteers with her to walk dogs and clean kennels and is the JCAC anointed “kid temperament test kid” to see which dogs do well with children and which ones need help being comfortable around children.

Becky’s one treat and escape from the daily caretaking of animals and children is to watch General Hospital for one hour every night. “I grew up watching it with my grandma,” she said, adding “I still call grandma every night to talk about General Hospital even though she lives in Illinois.”

Though they each have their individual titles and job duties, Becky points out and Ti?any and Kristy quickly agree that they each do all of the jobs and any work necessary with no regard to titles. Whoever arrives first in the mornings starts watering the dogs and cleaning kennels. They all respond to complaint calls of strays, noise complaints, animal abuse or neglect calls, dog bites and calls of missing pets. And they all specialize and love di?erent parts of the necessary work, ensuring all gets done.

Becky is the budget, o?ce paperwork and bookkeeping master. Kristy is the animal call expert (though she readily admits a fear of horses) and Ti?any excels at taking care of the animals, staying the most at JCAC and answering the phones. A good team, no doubt.

All ages, types and personalities of dogs and sometimes cats are represented at JCAC- light brown, dark brown, brindles and blues, quiet ones, vocal ones, shy ones and others who have lots to say. There’s Dixie, Coco and Cleo, Saint, Layla, Tori, Champ, Maple and Bonnie, Sammy and Tater and Mater (who is being treated for and is living with cancer). Handsome faces all of them, barking and jumping for attention or quietly watching your every movement, all the while declaring unconditional love, it is hard to leave without taking one of them home.

Though the JCAC does rescue the occasional chicken or duck, Pit Bulls make up the majority of the rescues at JCAC. Fortunately, most of the pit bulls are then sent to Pit Bull rescue organizations who in turn train them and take care of them and put them up for adoption. Cats, too, are shipped out to rescues, right now predominately to Newton County Rescue, who then takes care of them, neuters or spays them and adopts them out. Though our one vet in town, Dr. Jennifer Proctor, is helpful when needed, having the assistance of rescue groups helps ensure more animals are spayed and neutered, cared for and ultimately adopted.

Kristy tells me, “We are not a boarding facility. We try to keep a revolving door to help as many animals as possible. We respond to a lot of medical calls and running at large calls,” she added. They scan for chips, photograph and post pictures of stray dogs and wandering pets rescued by JCAC in hopes of reuniting a family pet with their loved ones or finding homes for a stray who deserves a family. After a five day stay at JCAC, the pets are available for rescue if no one has come forward to claim them.

It goes without saying the saddest days at JCAC are those rare times when an animal must be euthanized. A rare somber moment in my interview of JCAC sta?, the mood shifted quickly to sadness and eyes watered when they talked about the dogs who had to be euthanized, those too aggressive (almost always the fault of previous owners) or those too sick to recover.

JCAC sta? write tickets, respond to tra?c stops, car wrecks, domestic violence calls and any call for service provided by Jasper County emergency services that have animals present on the call. As Kristy says, “if the owner goes to jail, their pet goes to jail.” They serve tickets, testify in court, scan for chips in strays and take care of the daily needs of the animals in their care.

JCAC is open daily Monday- Friday from 8:30 a.m. -4:30 p.m. The sta? is on call for overnight and weekend emergency calls. Reach out to them at 706-468-0396. Volunteers are always needed.