Shelter Chief Looks to Make a Difference, Too

From The Aiken Standard

Submitted article

The most telling image of Bobby Arthurs, the chief enforcement officer at the Aiken County Animal Shelter, is of this big man in his gray uniform with a Chihuahua puppy cupped in his hands, held six feet in the air, up to his smiling face.

He's partial to Chihuahuas, a fact that might surprise some people in a man his size.

Arthurs has been a public servant his entire working life, beginning as a maintenance man for the South Carolina Department of Parks and Recreation in 1990.

A couple of years later, he was a park ranger at Aiken State Natural Area.
"I loved working there," he said, "The good part is you are always working with the public, but it was a different interaction, renting canoes and making campsite reservations."

In the fall of 2001, with a new commission as a constable, he came to the county as an animal control officer.

"I felt like I could do it, like I could make a difference in what the job entails ... helping animals."

At first, he felt like he had jumped the fence in his dealings with the public, and now he had to be the bad guy.

"But I soon learned I am not the bad guy; my job is to enforce the rules," he said.

Arthurs was asked in his interview how he felt about euthanizing animals.

"I said I could do it," he recalled, "And I felt like I gave an honest answer, too. But after I got here - and I was only witnessing it - it knocked the air out of me like someone kicked me in the gut."

He'd made a terrible mistake was his first thought, but then he went to training and learned.

"What kind of life can we give them here?" he said. "But, it's really hard to see the amount of animals coming through the door. This shelter was built to be maxed out at 100 dogs. That was 1990. Now, it's 2010, and sometimes we're holding 150 to 200 dogs and 40 to 50 cats. The overflow area - that's what we call it, overflow - is busting at the seams."

As chief the last three years, Arthurs has worked hard to make improvements.

The "Overflow Area" now sits atop a sealed cement slab that drains and can be disinfected to contain the spread of disease. A shed roof for shade was added last fall, and big fans move the air. Even so, he said, "These animals will be held for five days, and then we have to make a decision."

In late spring, when the shelter is overrun with newborn puppies and his vet tech's heart is breaking, the shelter puts out an appeal for foster homes.

"I want to foster," he said, "But I don't know if we'll get to do that again right now, because the last three we fostered, we adopted two."

FOTAS volunteers work with the Aiken County Animal Shelter, 411 Wire Road. For more information, e-mail info@fotasaiken.org or visit www.fotasaiken.org.