MACON, Ga. — At a press conference Monday, Bibb County Sheriff David Davis announced his agency would be taking over the operational aspects of Macon-Bibb Animal Welfare.
That means they will now oversee both the law enforcement and shelter operations of animal welfare.
"This is a new day, starting today through the sheriff's office ultimately, I'm in charge through the sheriff's office, Colonel Henderson Carswell will be in charge of the day-to-day operations of all of the animal welfare functions," Davis said.
Davis said, prior to the press conference, that all employees at his department and at animal welfare had a meeting to make sure everyone is on the same page.
He briefly touched on how his department ended up taking over operations, including poor Georgia Department of Agriculture inspections, as well as sanctions and the Macon-Bibb County government.
Macon-Bibb Animal Welfare is unable to take any animals until they pass the next state inspection, which impacts other nearby shelters and rescues like Critical Care for Animal Angels in Peach County.
"We were pulling in dogs, trying to make room for dogs so other cases we were working on in our county, Peach County, kinda got pushed back," Critical Care for Animal Angels President Regenia Brabham said.
She says the more support the shelter can get, the better.
"It does work in other communities, I think it can be made to work here, as long as everybody works together," Brabham said.
The sheriff’s office is now tasked with bringing the shelter up to Georgia Department of Agriculture compliance. Inmate work crews will also be helping them.
"We do run a jail for people so, we have the means. We have the support. We have inmate work crews that are coming out here," Davis said.
Davis says shelter staff have done a great job in getting the facility back on track to meeting requirements. They’ll then be filing documents to get the shelter reopened.
"It’s almost like a new shelter is opening," he said.
Davis also says no one would be losing their jobs – only the organizational structure is changing.
"We want people to understand it's going to take a little time to get to where we need to be, but we're dedicated to that purpose, and we're going to achieve that purpose," Davis said.
Davis says they have 30 days to pass the next inspection. He aims to have the shelter reopened by late January.
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