City out to get pets adopted

Havelock Animal Control has two New Year’s resolutions: Increase the number of adopted pets and ensure every animal receives a rabies vaccination.

Beginning this year, all dogs and cats held at the city animal shelter will be shown on the city Web site for three business days. One animal each week will be featured on the site for an extended one-week period at www.havelocknc.us.

“We’re trying to find some good homes for the animals that are taken in,” said G. Wayne Cyrus, Havelock police chief. “Some of the animals we take in are strays and some are owner turn-ins where they realize they don’t want the pets or can’t maintain the pets.”

The police department, which operates animal control, will ask city commissioners to approve a $13.50 rabies vaccination charge for all dogs, cats, ferrets and miniature pigs adopted from the Havelock shelter.

Animals at least three months old would be vaccinated before their release from the shelter, and owners would be required to bring younger animals in for the shots when they reach three months of age.

“It’s going to be a little rocky at first, but we’ll get all the kinks worked out,” said Kimberly Van Houten, Havelock’s main animal control officer. “It’s required by the state that all animals over three months old get their rabies shots, and we just want to make sure of that.”

Van Houten, the former Kimberly Adams, returned to her animal control job last month after moving back from Texas. Lee Petrick, who left the city Public Services Department for the animal control position, recently resigned to work at Cherry Point.

Van Houten said she’s excited about publicizing the shelter’s pets on the city Web site. She said the first featured pets could be a trio of 8-week-old male tabby kittens.

“Having them on the Web site is going to get our adoptions up for sure,” she said.

The Havelock Animal Shelter, located on Governmental Ave. behind City Hall, can comfortably house eight large dogs and 12 cats at a time. Van Houten said animals picked up as strays account for about three-fourths of the shelter’s population.

Adoption fees are $20 for Havelock residents, which includes a $5 city animal licensing fee, $30 for non-residents and $15 for military members living aboard Cherry Point.

Cyrus explained that the military adoption fee doesn’t apply to service members who live in base housing such as Slocum Village, which is under Havelock’s police and animal control jurisdiction.

All animals taken to the city shelter are held for a minimum of three business days, which exclude weekends and holidays, before being euthanized at the Craven County shelter.

Havelock’s shelter is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week. Van Houten works weekdays and encourages anyone with questions or concerns to contact her.

“I just want everyone to know that I’m always here for them to talk to,” she said. “I encourage people to come talk to me and let me know how I’m doing and how I can do something better.”