Opening brings new start for APS

Saturday will mark the opening of the Animal Protection Society's brand-new adoption center, almost six months after the group lost control of the Orange County Animal Shelter.

The opening, which will include tours of the facility and a demonstration of the group's dog training program, comes as a new beginning for APS.

For more than a year, the organization was embroiled in controversy concerning its management of the county's animal shelter.

Kay Flaminio, executive director of APS, said the adoption center is a breath of fresh air and a new start for the organization.

Flaminio said the center will serve a different purpose than the county animal shelter, focusing on providing an environment designed to produce desirable, adoptable animals.

"(The adoption center) is just like a home environment. We put the animals in rooms instead of cages, so they're less stressed out and happier," Flaminio said.

She said the center handpicks animals that have temperaments suitable for adoption. All animals will be spayed or neutered before adoption takes place.

"We'll be working to match the animals we have with the people who are coming in looking for pets," she said.

Flaminio also said the center will be working with the county animal shelter by taking a number of animals and preparing them for adoption.

"I feel like the Orange County Animal Shelter and the APS have a partnership that will only grow," Flaminio said. "We are all excited about the adoption center opening so that we can save more animals."

Joe Pulcinella, director of the county animal shelter, said the shelter is focusing on moving out of the stormy waters it has endured for the past two years.

"We're kind of getting past the rocky transitional period and getting into the point now where we can start working on the projects that are more forward-looking."

Pulcinella noted that there have been drop-offs in both the number of adoptions and the number of animals being brought to the shelter. He attributed the changes to confusion caused by the facility's recent troubles.

"My staff and I have had people ask when we're moving," he said.

"... A lot of the public is still very confused about what's going on with the county shelter. We're trying to get the word out that we're still open, and we're not going anywhere."

The Orange County Board of Commissioners is taking transitional steps toward placing animal services under one county-controlled department or bureau.

In April, the commissioners decided to remove APS from the position of shelter managers.

The commissioners made the decision after receiving recommendations from a special task force created to assess shelter problems, citing a lack of accountability and past problems as reasons for their decision not to recontract with APS.

The storm surrounding APS began more than two years ago, when critics Elliot Cramer and Judith Reitman filed a lawsuit accusing the group of withholding financial records and changing by-laws illegally. APS filed a countersuit charging Cramer and Reitman of libel, slander and defamation.

The legal battle concluded in July when APS officials withdrew their lawsuit.

Contact the City Editor at CITYDESK@UNC.EDU.