Dear Editor,
The zoonotic workshop held recently at CNCC and sponsored by the Rangely Animal Shelter was high in attendance and rated as an excellent class overall.
Thirty-seven people attended, many traveling long distances, coming in from Snowmass, Steamboat Springs, Craig and Meeker. It was good to see the representation from the Craig Police Department. It was also great to see several students attended from the CNCC horse management class. The Rangely local turnout was impressive, and it was good to see our neighbors from Dinosaur and Blue Mountain.
We want to thank Dr. Katie Steneroden from CSU, for having chosen Rangely for this class presentation. Thus, giving us the opportunity to enlighten others about zoonotic diseases, a much-unknown, overlooked and important subject.
Katie presented an excellent, informative class, which also included laughter and many smiles. The big comment left behind by many were, “I wish we’d had more time.” This says a lot for any instructor.
We thank James Stinson, CNCC general manager of Sodexo (Campus Services), for a great job arranging the food for the class. Coffee, tea, hot chocolate, water and pastries were offered before class and during break time. At lunch time, hot pizza, cold drinks and assorted cookies were served. Our compliments go out for the good food, and to Pauline Miller and David Brown for their (right on time) food setups and special food arrangements. And to Shirley Kell, who was our last-minute overall helper. We thank you for being there for us.
It’s these kind of folks who many times operate behind the scenes to make projects work, but are rarely seen or recognized. A special “thank you” goes out to you all.
Would also like to let the Craig people know we appreciated them taking the time after class to tour our shelter and visit with our shelter staff. It’s opportunities like this for other agencies to share their knowledge and expertise with others in their same fields.
The Rangely Animal Shelter thanks everyone for their attendance and all the help they received in putting this class together. We’re looking forward to a possible “repeat” for next year.
Rangely Animal Shelter staff
Dear Editor,
Kay Nickson, who is in charge of the local animal shelter, was recently instrumental in getting together a special occasion for Rangely. She did a great job of organizing all of the aspects of the gathering, which was a monumental task. Rangely was so lucky to be the host for the class, Zoonotic Disease Awareness, and Rangely is also so lucky to have such a caring person heading up the job of running the shelter here. She has a great group of aides who help her in the project including Fern Arnn, Heidi Emerson, Linda Farney, Jeanette Justus, Julie Lohr and Karen Stanley.
Rangely Animal Shelter has an awesome record of adopting out all of the healthy animals that have come to the shelter for the past four years. In that time, no healthy animals have had to be euthanized, but have all been placed in good homes … and not all in Rangely. They even transport them to other towns.
I have recently started volunteer work with the group and find the shelter above and beyond what you expect from such places. Any animal who winds up there has found a good place to be, and is very lucky. (The shelter could use your donation, too, as all of this extra care and concern sometimes costs more than the budget allows.)
The lecture was by Dr. Katie Steneroden from Colorado State University in Ft. Collins. She brought a presentation of Zoonotic Disease Awareness to a group of animal shelter workers and volunteers and other interested persons.
Several communities from around the area made up the group of around 35 people who studied the facts to make their shelters a better place. For those of you who are not aware of zoonotics, it is the study of diseases that animals can have that they can give to humans or that humans could give to their animals.
If you missed the lecture, you missed a chance to learn lots of important information that you could have used in your daily life with your pets and farm animals. You should go out and take a tour of the shelter if you have not been lately. Hope you can make the presentation next year!
Ann Adams
Rangely
