Monday, August 10, 2015
Officer Rene Segraves Speaks To Rotary Club
By: Neal Beard
The Lawrenceburg Police Department’s Animal Control Officer, Rene Segraves, recently took time out of a hectic schedule to share her story and update us on changes to the “dog pound”. She is a very good speaker with a commanding voice. She talked fast, like a Northerner from Florida, and loud. Not so much because it was her nature—which it is—but because she had so much that she wanted to share. Officer Segraves is obviously passionate about her work.
She brought two guests with her to the meeting: Kyle Brewer, a Lawrenceburg Animal Shelter volunteer, and Ben. Ben is a medium-sized black dog from the shelter that was unable to get a bark in edgewise. Rene was animated and her voice carried so well that she didn’t need a microphone—she could have been a drill instructor in another life.
As I sat there listening to her presentation, I couldn’t help but think that here was a story with an even better back-story waiting to be told. So, after the meeting, I checked Rene out on the web and then I called her to ask her a few questions.
After learning that she was born in Norfolk, Virginia, I asked her if she was a “Navy Brat”. She laughed and said, “Yes I am! My dad was a Personnelman Chief in the Navy. I’m so proud of him.” I’m sure he’s proud of her too; she has a Chief Petty Officer’s demeanor. I was impressed and I think you will be too. Here is her story:
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I was born during the time my dad was stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. As a kid, we travelled a lot. We lived for a while in North Africa and Spain and a few other foreign locations. I had a wonderful childhood.” Rene’s family eventually settled in Florida where she graduated from Lake Brantley High School in Altamonte Springs, about 13 miles north of Orlando.
Rene has some impressive credentials that include helping to train Tennessee Walking Horses, working for a time as a Veterinarian Technician, and even running her own pet shop. “I went to work for the Lake County Animal Services, in Leesburg, FL in 1991 and received training from both the State of Florida and FEMA,” she said. Officer Segraves is certified in several different areas, three of which are Emergency Animal First Responder, Emergency Command Center Coordinator for Animal Services and as Chemical Capture Officer where she is licensed on the Cap-Chur rifle and pistol. Her credentials are still active with FEMA and she remains on-call in case of a national emergency where animals are involved.
In 2010, Rene and her husband Chris and her two grandsons, Chad and Logan, 
decided it was time to move on. She turned in her retirement papers after 19 years of service and, along with her family, relocated to Summertown, Tennessee. “We wanted to have a small farm of our own and to raise and train horses,” she said. I asked her how many animals she owned. She laughed and said, “Well, we have four horses, a few cats, a Wolf-hybrid dog, and a bunch of other critters. I love animals. I always have. I’ve been working with animals for the last 40 years,” she said, and adding a touch of humor, “I started when I was two.”
“Tell me about your two guests that you brought with you to Rotary,” I continued.
“Kyle is one of our shelter’s community volunteers. He helps maintain the facilities and helps feed and care for the animals.” She also added that she has been blessed with a cadre of volunteers and supporters, just like Kyle, who have provided assistance in the day-to-day care of the animals and who have supplied funds and materials to improve the buildings and fences; donated labor and material for new construction; and have given food and medical supplies to care for the animals. “People have been so good to us,” she said. During our conversation, she dropped a few names of people and businesses that have been especially supportive of the shelter: Pat Brooks, Joe Burak, the late Mitzi Sweet, Judy Moore, Darren Goolsby, Doss Brothers Construction and Mike Evers at Ever’s Construction Company. “I have a list of all my volunteers and supporters on a plaque at the shelter,” said Segraves. “There are a lot of others that I haven’t mentioned.”
“During the program,” I continued, “You compared the number of dogs that were picked up and brought into the shelter the year before you started, to the number of dogs at the end of your first year as Animal Control Officer that were either picked up by their owner, adopted out, or euthanized; would you mind sharing those figures again?”
“Sure,” responded Seagraves. “In 2012, Animal Control picked up over 400 stray animals. Out of that number approximately 29 were either recovered by their owners or were adopted out. The remainder was euthanized. I just couldn’t do that; I couldn’t stand to see that many dogs abandoned and killed. I was determined to place as many dogs as I possibly could in a caring home. There had to be a better way. I worked really hard to reach out to people that first year and out of 429 dogs brought into the shelter, we adopted out 338, and had 37 recovered by their owners. That left 54 dogs that had to be put to sleep. Those 54 were made up of dogs with serious injuries or diseases and dogs that were overly aggressive or vicious such as fighters, bitters and dogs with obvious violent behaviors.”
“We are required by law, to keep any animal that we have picked up for at least five days. If it weren’t for all the help that we get from the public, we would be forced to put a lot of animals to sleep. It can cost a lot to feed a kennel full of animals, especially when you board them for longer periods of time.”
“How long will you keep an animal before you have to euthanize them.”
“I don’t set a time frame for that,” explained Segraves. “I give every dog that comes into the shelter an assigned number so that I can track them in the system, but more importantly, I give them a name just like I did with Ben. They are guest while they are here. I have one dog at the kennel that has been here for almost a year—no one wants to adopt him; his name is Camo. He’s a Pit Bull.”
“How do you feel about those animals that have to be euthanized?”
“I cry! Every time we have to put an animal to sleep, I cry through the whole ordeal,” replied Segraves with undisguised sadness. “It doesn’t matter if the dog is already on the verge of dying or if he or she is extremely violent; it hurts to have to take their life. It’s not their fault.”
“How did you feel about the success of your adoption efforts that first year?”
“Fantastic! I knew we could find homes for most of those animals and we did. We’ve had similar success every year that I have been there. It’s a lot of hard work and I couldn’t have done it without the help of a lot of caring people. You know, it takes more than just loving animals; you have to love people too and know something about them. You have to match the right pet to the right person or it won’t work. You have to be a people person,” stated Officer Segraves.
“What was the main message that you were hoping to convey to the club during your visit?”
“For years people used to think of the dog pound as a place where loose or stray animals were sent to be killed,” explained Segraves. “Chances were that if your dog had been picked up by Animal Control and it didn’t have on a collar so the officer would know who the owner was, then it might not be alive when you finally thought to check at the pound. It’s not that way anymore. We rarely ever put a dog to sleep. We feed and care for the animal as long as it takes for the owner to reclaim the pet or for us to find the animal a new home. I place a short column in the local newspapers with a list of dogs available for adoption and post individual photos of dogs on the https://www.petfinder.com and http://www.animalshelter.org websites. I try to be at the shelter during the day as much as possible and can be reached during working hours on my cell phone, which is 242-3511. I’m more than happy to try and reunite an owner and their pet or match a pet to a new owner. I want people to feel welcome when they visit the shelter.”
If your pet is missing, don’t give up hope; keep checking at the shelter.
There have been a lot of improvements to the shelter since I was last there in the late 1990s. It no longer looks like a miniature Auschwitz prison; it’s more like a pet kennel with individual holding pens, feeding and watering bowls, dog houses, and a fenced-in exercise area where the dogs can be turned out to play while their pens are being cleaned. My earlier visit there as a City Commissioner, left me feeling sick inside. I didn’t feel that way this time. Rene has made a huge difference.
If you can find the time, stop by and see the improvements that have been made to the shelter and meet Rene, who by the way, was named Animal Control Officer of the Year for 2014 by the Southeastern Animal Control Association. And while you are there, you might just find a FURever pet to carry home. Dogs can’t fix their own problems; only people who care can do that.
