Though the official opening of the Washington Parish Animal Shelter won’t be until Thursday, Aug. 8, at 10 a.m., Washington Parish President Richard N. Thomas Jr. held a ribbon cutting and a tour of the facility on Wednesday, July 24. Local elected officials were given an opportunity to tour the facility and meet the new Animal Shelter Manager Kelsey Knight.

“After many hours of reviewing resumes, interviews and testing; Kelsey Knight stood out as the best applicant for the Manager of the Washington Parish Animal Shelter,” Thomas said. “We look forward to the great things that she will accomplish as manager and the volunteers who will work with her to fulfill the needs of the animal population in Washington Parish.”

Knight said she is excited for the opportunity to provide shelter for the parish’s animals in need of a good home.

“Before even opening the shelter, we have already succeeded in starting adoption weekends and our first public program will be Aug. 10 at Tractor supply, where we hope the public will have a greater chance of seeing our animals and adopting from the shelter their new best friend,” she said. “I am also hoping to work with more of our parish businesses for special events (such as picture days, training days, and basic health and safety classes).

“Our animals are important assets to our community, and we are hoping to educate our parish and as to how our animals are beneficial to our community. We hope to offer more services as we grow and expand.”

Thomas would also like to take this opportunity to thank his staff for all the hard work and the tireless hours spent in the planning and building of the Washington Parish Animal Shelter.

During Wednesday’s ribbon cutting, Knight presented and read the Washington Parish Animal Shelter Mission Statement. It states:

“To promote a higher quality of life for our citizens and animals through education, advocacy and services. Saving homeless animals is not our only mission, but to help and protect the health of our community and the health of our wildlife population. New education programs will be offered from the Washington Parish Animal Shelter into our communities and schools promoting healthy practices and providing benefits to our community through low cost spay and neuter programs, vaccinations programs, micro-chip services and other programs. Volunteer programs will be a key factor to the success of such programs and currently there are many people in our community interested in participating at the shelter to promote good training behavior and knowledge on methods to better care for animals as well as procedures on vetting animals properly.”