Published: May 17, 2008 12:08 am            

Man’s animal ‘adventure’ nets award of a lifetime

Cullman County Animal Control Director Tim McKoy recently received the honor of a lifetime for his 15 years of service.

“This has been more than a job to me,” McKoy said. “This has been an adventure.”

Members of the Alabama Animal Control Association voted last month to give McKoy their 2008 Lifetime Achievement Award.

“I was kind of shocked,” McKoy said. “I thought they were just pulling my chain when they told me about it. It’s one of those things you always hear of other people getting, but never think you’ll ever get yourself.”

The award was chosen based on animal abuse convictions, new program implementation, and shelter adoption success rates.

Office Manager Candie Horsley said McKoy has made numerous improvements at Cullman County Animal Control and more than deserves the award.

“He’s done lots and lots of great stuff since he’s been here,” she said.

With McKoy at the helm, Cullman County Animal Control has posted a 100 percent conviction rate for animal cruelty crimes.

The pet adoption rate at the Cullman County Animal Shelter has also greatly improved over the past few years. The shelter currently averages a 68 percent adoption rate for adoptable pets, which is well above the state average that normally hovers around 50 percent, said Horsley.

Listing pets on the Internet for adoption has also helped more pets find a home.

“It takes a lot of effort to be that successful,” McKoy said. “But we’d like to be even better.”

In addition to more adoptions, a new campaign launched in 2005 has seen spay and neuter compliance skyrocket among Cullman pet owners.

“We used to not take care of spaying and neutering when someone adopted a pet, and pretty soon that same person would be back in here to drop off some puppies,” Horsley said. “Now we take care of all that before an adoption and it has worked out really well.”

McKoy has also used his tenure at Cullman County Animal Control to help raise the bar for employee training and certification.

“The officers are all NACA (National Animal Control Association) certified and the shelter staff is also certified now,” Horsley said.

Under McKoy’s guidance, Cullman County Animal Control also offers continuing education classes for the community and occasionally goes into local schools to educate children on proper pet protocol.

McKoy said he would never have been able to win the award without the help of his quality staff at the shelter.

“We have the best staff in the state here,” he said.

Horsley said the honor means more to McKoy than he cares to admit.

“It means more to him than he lets on,” she said.

As far as the award plaque itself, McKoy said he plans to display it in his office.

“I’m just going to hang it up in here,” he said.

        

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