Woodford Humane Society switches to appt. only adoptions due to staffing shortage

Oleson says donations and volunteers are also needed, as the Humane Society works to build its staff back up

VERSAILLES, Ky. (WTVQ) – Typically at the Woodford Humane Society, you can walk in and take a look at the animals available for adoption, no appointment necessary. But, now due to a staffing shortage, that’s changing.

“It’s just not easy to hire right now, we’re really hoping that the pendulum will swing back over on this and you know part of it too is it’s a hard job” said Beth Oleson, Marketing Director for Woodford Humane Society.

Oleson says the ratio of staff to animals is overwhelming, with only 4 full time front end staff, and 4 part time animal care providers, caring for 100 to 200 animals on any given day.

“Your heart has to be in it no matter what position you’re working at at a humane society. You have to have that extra bit of desire to be with the animals and to do that work and that I think makes it a little bit tougher for us to find folks that are going to stick around” said Oleson.

So to help with possible burnout of current staff, the Humane Society is switching over to adoptions by appointment only.

Though it will slow down the adoption process, only allowing 5 appointments a day, Oleson says its whats necessary to keep operations going, especially as animal intake increases.

“It’s been an extremely busy summer as far as animals coming in, we’ve had tons of cats and kittens, and we’ve hit a point where we are just more full on dogs than we have been in several years.”

Appointments can be made by phone starting at noon each day.

Oleson says donations and volunteers are also needed, as the Humane Society works to build its staff back up.

“We are certainly hoping this is not a long term thing” added Oleson.

If you are interested in working at the Woodford Humane Society, you can contact them at 859.873.5491.

If you are looking to volunteer you can follow the link here.