New LAPS Shelter director improving conditions for homeless animals

By Ernie Treviño

A chance visit by a Houston man and his daughter to the Laredo Animal Protective Society (LAPS) Shelter two years ago prompted two things -- the daughter wept over not finding a puppy to adopt and the father, Freddie Flores, made a mental note about the less than humane conditions of the shelter.

A move back to his hometown of Laredo prompted Flores ' second visit to the shelter and set the stage for his role as the new executive director of the LAPS shelter, a position he assumed May 26.

Though he has been on the job a little over a month, already there are visible changes and improvements at the shelter. He credits the City and the shelter's board members with the improvements.

“When I took over the job, the City had already started pouring the concrete in the dirt pens in the back. This will more than double our capacity,” Flores said. In addition to more space, the concrete eliminates the runoff that was spread to the common area when workers walked though urine and feces and carried it to other parts of the shelter on their shoes.

One board member, Yves Aigret, took it upon himself to redo the grooming room.

“There was a rusty tub in there held up by bricks,” said Flores . “The floor was rubber tile and was coming off. There were plumbing leaks in the wall. They fixed the plumbing leaks, installed a new floor and a new tub.”

According to Flores , board members Dora Fox, Jenny Reed, and Aigret implemented some of the changes, such as the use of a chlorinating machine to disinfect the dogs. “The three were here just about every day when the past director retired. Between them and Eric Ramos, assistant office manager, they kept it going till I came on board,” said Flores .

One of Flores ' new implementations is to assign a tracking number to each dog brought into the shelter. “Not only is each animal assigned a number, but it gets a tag attached to it. This serves as a way to identify and keep track of each animal,” said Flores .

“At the Pet Fest in June, each dog had a number,” he said. “We can't thank KGNS enough for all their support and help, not just for using their facilities, but they gave us all kinds of exposure for the whole week and a half prior to the event.”

The Pet Fest provided the public with an opportunity to adopt an animal or to get their pets vaccinated for $5. It was such a success that a much larger event is being planned for March 2006 when the weather is more agreeable. There's even the possibility of making it an annual event.

“We had 15 animals adopted that day. Dr. Sandra Leyendecker from Critter Care sponsored the rabies vaccinations and 223 dogs got vaccinated. Out of each $5 she collected, $4 was donated to the shelter,” said Flores .

“Dr. Leyendecker is going to get more involved and come out one Tuesday out of the month and do some training and counseling on what procedures to follow so that we can improve some of our procedures,” he added.

Another improvement that Flores has made is the addition of sidewalks between the kennels planned location and the rear of the facility.

“We also added an outdoor room next to the cat house and it will have a concrete floor so they won't be cooped up in cages and they can go outside,” said Flores . “We are also going to get uniforms for the office staff so that they will look more professional.”

Aside from physical improvements at the shelter, Flores arranged for the kennelman to attend a training class with Leyendecker on the correct way to handle the animals.

“We also had a training session here on the handling of animals that Rudy Gonzalez from the Animal Control Office conducted,” said Flores .

One of Flores ' ultimate goals is for no pet to leave the shelter without being spayed or neutered.

“Sometimes in the morning when we arrive at work we find a washtub with a litter of puppies or kittens that has been left here,” he said. “Sometimes both the mother and her litter are left here. In the winter time it's kind of a callous thing to do.”

At the present time, Flores said that free spay/neuter certificates are available to the public. The form is in both English and Spanish and is available at the shelter or any vet's office.

“Any vet can perform the spaying or neutering,” said Flores. “The program is funded by a grant from the Texas Department of State Health Services. But they need to be used by the end of September.”

Flores feels strongly that the community needs to get serious about spaying and neutering.

“If one female dog has a litter, she and her litter will have 67,000 dogs in a matter of six years,” said Flores. “The more spaying and neutering you do, the less euthanasia you will have to do because you have less animals.”

Flores pointed out that some people believe that spaying and neutering will harm the animals. “There were studies done in 1988 and again in 1993 on animals that had been spayed or neutered at an early age and there were no negative effects,” he said.

The most important thing to Flores right now is that somehow people have lost track of the animals as a primary concern.

“We need to educate elementary kids in responsible pet care,' he said. “They need to learn about hygiene, water and food, and that it's wrong to tie a pet up out in the sun. They need to be concerned about what kind of weather the pet is in.”

One bright spot for Flores is the many individuals who have helped the shelter.

“The City assumed the cost of all the concrete that has been poured. City manager Larry Dovalina, Dr. Gonzalez from the health department, John Orfila and J. J. Medina were all instrumental in doing as much as they did,” he said.

“We are also fortunate enough to get people to donate food to us on a regular basis. We get regular calls from Wal-Mart and Target when they have bags that are torn. Otherwise they would throw them away, so we are grateful. We send a truck right away to pick them up,” said Flores.

“Heatwave Berler was out in the sun for four hours during our Pet Fest and KGNS has been fantastic,” he said. “We appreciate them. Also, Dr. Leyendecker has been a very wonderful, hardworking person. She has been here for us.”

What brought Flores back to Laredo? “I was living in Houston and had no family there. I have three sisters here, so I thought it was time I came back to Laredo,” he said.

“What really brought me here to the shelter was that trip in 2003 with my daughter. I saw the conditions of the animal shelter. It had rained for two days and the dirt pens were filthy. We didn't adopt and my little girl left here crying because of the conditions the animals were living in,” he said.

“I talked to my niece, who at the time was a volunteer with the board, about what we had seen. Now she's a board member, and she told me there might be a job opening here as director. So I came to the shelter and started working last December,” said Flores. “I took course work and became certified as an euthanasia technician in February of this year. When this position came up, I applied for it.”

Flores is excited about the improvements at the shelter and what that means for the animals in his care.

“I want to turn this place around and reach the goals set by the board of directors. We need to modernize, do things more efficiently, plan better. People don't plan to fail; they fail to plan. I believe in planning and scheduling, doing things with enough time so everything will go smoothly and you get the results you wanted when you started the project,” he said.

“I take it personally, kind of an Asian philosophy. I think you lose face when you do something badly, but you gain face when you do something well. I don't want to lose face; I don't want this place to lose face anymore. We need to go forward; we need to be progressive in our thinking to achieve our goals,” Flores said.

LAPS Shelter Needs

• Funds for epoxy sealer for the concrete

• Cyclone fence to finish the kennels

• Barriers to separate individual kennels so dogs can't touch noses and diseases won't be spread

• Roof repairs to Puppy Palace, Valero kennels, and an area where there is a sink and washing trough that are falling apart

• Installation of a misting system

• A new euthanasia room, properly stocked and up-to-date in a different location than it is now

• Replace air conditioner in the office

LAPS Shelter Goals

• To better educate the public on being responsible pet owners

• More outreach to schools

• All pets leaving the shelter will be spayed or neutered

• Pay for the employees that is equitable to what city and county employees receive