Kayla Denney works as an animal control supervisor for Taft, Texas. Like many in her position, she works daily to manage the animal shelter and make sure that its operations run smoothly. When she first arrived at the shelter to start her duties, the shelter was in a sad shape. Due to her diligence and dedication, the shelter experienced a complete turnaround.

The shelter was in bad shape

According to officials who worked with the shelter before Denney’s arrival, the shelter had no presence on social media. Surprisingly, the shelter also did not have any volunteers who worked at the shelter and no support system.

“The shelter was a real mess,” John Cornish, the Taft chief of police, said in a video published by The Petco Foundation. “Every Wednesday was a kill day. It was horrible.”

Denney turns things around at the shelter

Without a Facebook page, Denney found it difficult to reach out for help with pet adoptions and to reduce the number of animals euthanized at the facility each week. But Denney was able to turn things around and only a year later had reduced the number of dogs or cats euthanized at the facility to zero. Best of all, she has been able to find them all forever homes.

Getting to work once she takes over

She did this by working to organize the shelter as soon as she took over. She was also able to set up a Facebook page for the organization where she reached out to people for donations. She also ordered needed supplies and was able to get volunteers to help out at the shelter.

“As of November 1st, we have saved 565 dogs and cats out of Taft,” Denney said in a KZTV interview.

Receiving The Petco Foundation Unsung Hero Award

For her efforts, Denny was awarded $35,000 after she completed the monumental task of reducing the shelter’s kill rate to zero percent. Members of the local police department and the community are thankful for Denney and all she has done for the animals in the area.

“She goes out of her way to help the animals,” Cornish said in the video. “And anything she can do for them, she will find a way to get it done.”

How many animals are euthanized at shelters each year?

According to the Orvis News, 7.6 million pets enter animal shelters each year, over half of those, 3.9 million, are dogs. Out of those dogs, 1.2 million are euthanized, which comes out to around 30 percent. While this is a reduction from 64 percent in 1997, it is still too many.

What you can do to reduce this number

The easiest way to reduce the number of animals surrendered to shelters is for owners to make sure that they can afford a pet before adopting one. Potential pet owners should also make sure that they aren’t allergic to animals and whether or not the animals they want to adopt has any violent t4endencies.

Here is The Petco Foundation video of Denney’s work within the community and her devotion to the animals she takes care of.

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Source: The Petco Foundation