| Southold Animal Shelter News |
From The Traveler Watchman 11/6/03  Gillian Wood Pultz The snake catcher leaned in and lowered a gloved hand ever so slowly toward the fat midsection of the barely visible snake that was tucked into the slate surrounding a carp-filled pond. The woman leaned forward with the snake catcher, their heads not more than a foot apart. With lightning speed, the snake catcher grabbed the reptile. The woman let out a blood-curdling shriek. The startled snake catcher jumped, and the thrashing four-foot reptile was suddenly airborne. It came down with a splash and immediately scurried back to its shelter in the slate pile. The snake catcher, somewhat shaken, calmly turned to the woman and said, “I'm afraid you'll have to wait inside the house, ma'am.” The woman left. Within five minutes the carp thief was secure inside the snake bag, and the snake catcher was on her way. Gillian Wood Pultz’s striking blue eyes sparkle as she laughingly recalled the story. And it's only one of several unique events that demand the expertise, sensitivity and composure that her job requires. Gillian is the director of the North Fork; Animal Welfare League (NFAWL), and she takes her job very seriously. As overseer of the care for 30 to 60 canines and felines and one huge pot bellied pig named Fifi, Gillian knows every animal by name. “Every cage, kennel, litter box, cat cage, food and water bowl is scrubbed bleached daily and every blanket is washed and dried,” boasted Gillian. “One half to two thirds of each day is cleaning and maintenance. The remainder is socialization.” And there is plenty of socialization going on. Jack Dempsey, a three-legged cat who resembles the fighter himself after a bad 15 rounds, was brought in seven years ago by a Police officer. Jack refused to hang out with the other resident cats, and has been the “office cat” ever since. His ears are tattered, and his face has a boxed-in look. A few years back, he was diagnosed with bone cancer, and the volunteers got together and paid to amputate his leg. He later had a nasty bout with diabetes and recovered. Now he's developed salivary cancer, but isn't showing symptoms, and so continues 10 meet and greet visitors. In technical terms, the NFAWL is contracted with the Town of Southold, which pays them to provide animal control for the town. Animal control, which is regulated by New York State, includes picking up and caring for stray dogs, licensing dogs and making sure they are rabies vaccinated. In short, Gillian's job is to see that the shelter enforces New York State animal control laws. A typical day usually doesn't involve trapping four-foot snakes, but could very possibly involve cleaning out kennels. “I started from the bottom in this business,” said Gillian, “so if we're short staffed on a day, I have no problem going out and pitching in.” From the age of five, Gillian wanted to be a veterinarian. “When I moved to Greenport in 1986, I spent a day observing surgery at a local vet, and found out immediately that it wasn't for me,” she said. That didn't stop her from pursuing a career in animal care. Gillian is a civil service Animal Control Officer (placed first on the test) and is very well versed in New York State's Agricultural and Markets Law. When she assumed the job of director, she had definite goals and aspirations. A strong advocate of early spaying/neutering, the procedure that used to take place when the animals were six months old, NFAWL animals are “fixed” at 10 weeks. This practice goes a long way toward solving the universal shelter problem: too many animals and not enough homes. “I think it's extremely important to build coalitions. We can't solve this problem in a vacuum. Everybody has to work together - and we have a wonderful community. People will adopt a dog that has cancer, or a leukemia positive cat. Everybody should be very proud of what happens. We have a zero euthanasia rate for adoptive animals. We never euthanize an animal for space, we will find homes for them.” Gillian works closely with other protective organizations such as SAVES, a cat organization working out of Greenport, and RSVP, a Riverhead based rescue group. With these and other organizations involved in the spay/neuter program, fewer animals are coming into the shelter and more homes are always being found. Off-site adoptions are another way to find homes. “We bring the animals to where the people are,” Gillian said. “For example, we go monthly to the new PETCO in Riverhead. Our trained personnel will bring maybe four dogs and a bunch of kittens. You now have about two hundred people approaching those dogs and kittens. We'll take animals to local libraries. We were at the Greenport Maritime Festival. Anybody that wants to host us, we’ll go” Gillian is proud of the Internet website that her kennel manager maintains: www.petfinder.org/shelters/NY204.html, where pictures and descriptions of every adoptable animal can be found. Is she a dog or a cat person? “Both,” said Gillian. “We have four of each,” She added that she's very lucky that husband David loves animals as much as she does. “I know that whoever I bring home from here to foster won't come back. I'll tell David not to name it, because as soon as there's a name to it, I know it's not walking out the door.” During her tenure as director, Gillian has provided shelter for snakes, parrots, runaway horses, a two and a half foot barking deer (who wandered off from Punkinville on the North Road), and an African bushbaby lemur. She recalls a construction worker who called from a scaffold insisting that there was an alligator over his head. It turned out to be a four-foot iguana. Gillian Wood Pultz is an enterprising woman on a crusade. She is determined to do whatever it takes to ensure the welfare of animals, and has spearheaded countless innovative ideas to find adoptive homes for them. “We're willing to travel,” she said. “We'll do the adoptive study by telephone, mail and fax, and bring the animal to meet the people, at the ferry, in Connecticut or wherever.” There is an open-door policy in effect at the North Fork Animal Welfare League shelter. Visitors are welcome every Day from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. “We are the only business that would like to be out of business,” Gillian declared. “When we have worked good enough and hard enough so that there aren't anymore homeless animals, we've done our job.” Wouldn't that be wonderful! |