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(Presented
to her at the National Animal Control Conference May 31st in Cincinnati,
Ohio)
From
Wellesley Animal Control Officer Sue Webb
swebb@wellesleyma.gov
7881-235-8460
It
is a pleasure for Wellesley Animal Control Officer Sue Webb to announce
that Carolyn (Lyn ) Woodhead has been selected as the recipient
of the 2006 National Animal Control Association
Dianne Lane Memorial Award for Outstanding Volunteer Services. She
was chosen from nominations from across the United States and selected
as the one that met the highest standards for an animal control
agency volunteer.
Carolyn
(Lyn) Woodhead is a Natick, Mass. Resident and a retired Wellesley
elementary school teacher. When she was teaching she would invite
animal control into her classroom each year as part of her regular
curriculum. Once she retired she continued her connection to helping
the animals by volunteering with Stray Pets in Need of Mass. Inc.(SPIN),
a group specifically set up to help animal control and provide care
of strays beyond the funds provided by town government.
She
helped revamp our volunteer program and organized the transition
shelter, the supplies and procedures. She took over the task to
coordinate volunteer shifts and filling in for direct care shifts
if someone cancelled. She would train new volunteers who came to
provide direct care of the cats (being the main species of unclaimed
animals). She would work several shifts with them until they felt
confident to work with other volunteers.
She
has served on the board of directors of SPIN as Vice President and
continues as an advisory member. Lyn has chaired fundraising events
such as our annual spring fling auction. She has been a leader of
volunteers working on fundraising activities. Each fall she spends
a weekend teaching new volunteers how to make boxwood trees which
are then sold at our Home 4 the Holidays event. She helps out at
many educational events such as our low cost micro-chipping clinics.
The more pets chipped the fewer end up at animal control. She supervises
volunteers and ensures that everything runs smoothly at the events.
Besides
doing routine care of the cats Lynn has learned to administer routine
medications. She is diligent to be sure volunteers give the medications
properly and that the treatments are recorded on the records.
Lynn
has also become involved in SMART - State of Mass. Animal Response
Team and the pet friendly sheltering sub group.
With
not enough hours in a day for animal control to complete tasks I
can call on Lyn to help with shuttling strays back and forth to
veterinary clinics for treatments or spay/neuter surgery.
On
short notice when animal control could not make a presentation at
an elementary school she has stepped up to help out to be sure the
children did not miss an opportunity to learn about humane treatment
of animals.
Being
a one person department, not wanting to euthanize strays, I rely
on volunteers to come in to help care for the animals. Lyn will
come in on short notice to fill in a shift that needs covering.
Even when recovering from surgery she has come in to clean and care
for the upper level caged cats and supervising someone to do the
bottom cages since it was too painful for her to kneel.
When
I have been deployed through VMAT-1 to respond to NYC 2001 and Katrina
2005 I only had a short time to implement my own pet emergency plan.
I was able to make a call and know Lyn would work to coordinate
with other volunteers so that the strays I left behind would continue
to be cared for, receive treatments and go up for adoption when
ready. It is a big relief off my shoulders when away to know the
animals left at home are also being cared for properly.
Our
animal control program would not be as effective without volunteers
and especially without a special leader and dedicated volunteer
like Lyn.
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SPIN
wrote a grant to petfinder.com and received the generator for use
in setting up an emergency shelter for pets.
Help
needed at SPIN's NEW Transition Home - just off Rt. 9 at the Wellesley/Natick
town line.
.jpg)
Adeline's
other cat activities include TNR, which is the trapping, neutering
and eventual return or release of the cat to its environment as
long as it is hospitable with feeders and monitors who are the look-out
for new additions to the colony or cats who may show signs of illness.
The left ear is usually tipped, that is, a small piece is cut off
at the tip. It is the universal sign of a cat that has already been
neutered to ensure no duplication of efforts and expense.
