Farewell reception Friday for adopted ‘alumni’ pets

Friday afternoon Fayette County Animal Control Director Miguel Abi-hassan is hoping to say goodbye to many of the animal shelter’s adopted alumni as he also says goodbye to the community.

Abi-hassan has resigned from his position and will become the director of animal welfare initiatives and outreach for the Atlanta Humane Society. He hopes a reception Friday from 3-6 p.m. at the animal shelter will also serve as an introduction to interim Animal Control Director Fred Sisson, who as shelter manager has served as Abi-hassan’s “right hand man.”

Abi-hassan also wants to invite prospective adopters to the reception Friday, as the shelter is currently full and has many pets that need loving homes. Perhaps because of the economy, the shelter has had an increase in the amount of pure-bred dogs that go unclaimed by their owners, Abi-hassan said.

By state law, abandoned pets become the county’s responsibility after six days pass with the pets not being claimed. The shelter’s current average length of stay for animals is nine days.

Under Abi-hassan’s direction the past five years, the shelter has dramatically improved its adoption rate to 81 percent, among the highest in the state. Abi-hassan said in large part the improvement was due to a focus on enhancing the health of the animals “because no one wants to adopt a sick pet,” he said.

The shelter added more skylights to let more light and UV rays in, allowing animals to be more comfortable and also improve their health. The shelter also addressed disease issues by putting in a new flooring designed to avoid the spread of diseases.

And now each adopted pet leaves with an embedded microchip that not only helps reunify them with their owners if they become lost, it also contains pertinent medical information about the pet, Abi-hassan said. Microchips are still to this day helping reunify lost pets who were separated from their families during Hurricane Katrina, he added.

Each adopted pet comes to its new home along with an educational movie underwritten by Publix supermarket in an effort to help the new owner or owners adjust to their new pet.

The shelter is also undertaking efforts to identify specific behavioral problems with each of its boarders so shelter officers can prepare a family or individual with literature explaining how to deal with those issues, Abi-hassan said. The behavioral issues run the gamut from food aggression to separation anxiety, he explained.

Armed with that knowledge, the shelter also works with people whose pets have developed problems to the point they feel they need to turn the animal over to the shelter. In his eyes, there’s no need for a family to give up their 11-year-old dog, for example, when the challenges can be rectified by education.

Abi-hassan is quick to compliment his staff, who not only adopted and followed new policies but also developed the ideas for many of the improvements. He is very confident that they will continue to not only maintain those improvements but also develop others to enhance the shelter’s mission.

“I have an amazing staff here,” Abi-hassan said.

Abi-hassan said he is looking forward to his new role with the Atlanta Humane Society in which he hopes to encourage stronger animal cruelty laws being enacted at the state level.