Ozark Profile : Local veterinarian sees chance to make a difference
Posted on Monday, October 2, 2006
As the new in-house
veterinarian for
Fayetteville Animal Services, Amy Kasprisin is right in her element - shelter medicine, something that is clearly close to her heart.
The reason she enjoys shelter medicine, she said, is that she takes care of the animals "nobody else wants."
She said taking care of these animals is probably equal parts sadness and joy.
Being on "the front lines"in shelter medicine, she said, provides an opportunity to try to change the culture.
She believes in getting out in the community and making people understand what is going on in the shelter, to make it part of the community.
The shelter is needed because of the community, she said.
"My interest right now is to try to bring that message to the community," she said.
She has been on the job for about two weeks and has been going pretty much non-stop.
"It has been crazy. It really has," she said. "It's been really busy and a lot of fun and there is a lot of work to do."
She takes care of the sick or injured animals that come in as strays and the animals involved in the adoption process. She also spays and neuters the animals before adoption and conducts rabies observations.
Prior to taking this job, Kasprisin worked in Austin, Texas, for the City of Austin Animal Shelter and a nonprofit group called the Animal Trustees of Austin, where she developed the first wellness clinic for preventive care of dogs and cats in Austin and the first spay / neuter clinic in that city.
She worked there for about 10 years.
Her experience also includes a one-year stint with the Peace Corps working as a veterinarian in Morocco, mainly treating mother and baby sheep and goats that were cared for by the nomadic women.
While people took advantage of the free service to help their animals, it only went so far, with folk remedies still a big part of treating animals. Dogs were primarily used for guard duties and not seen as companions.
She was going to extend her stay in the Peace Corps but said she had to stay in the United States because of a family crisis.
She earned her undergraduate degree in animal science and her doctorate of veterinary medicine from the University of Georgia. She lived with her family in Atlanta for several years.
She completed veterinary internships at the Hopi Indian Reservation in Arizona, and Central Farm in Belize, Central America, and has also worked for the Atlanta Humane Society.
While she enjoyed her work in Austin, she said, she actively sought a new locale in which to practice shelter medicine.
She perused the Association of Shelter Veterinarians Web site and found the Fayetteville position.
She said she was attracted to the area because of the trees, mountains and rural flavor. Her husband had visited Devil's Den before they were married and so he was familiar with the area.
She had tired of the commute to Austin from Smithville, Texas, and also lamented the development going on all around Austin, other reasons to move.
She applied and visited the area.
"It's beautiful. It really is. It's gorgeous," she said. "It's just the kind of environment I am looking for. This is a great city to be in because it's still small. You can be out in the country within 30 minutes. " Responsible animal
' guardianship'Education, and spaying and neutering, Kasprisin said, are ways to work in the community to make a difference. And it is a multi-pronged approach. Low-cost spaying and neutering for indigent people who have animals, she said, will be continued at the shelter. "I do think it needs to be available," she said. She also believes in stressing responsible animal guardianship, a term she prefers to "ownership. "She went into veterinary medicine, she said, because of the bond between animals and humans. When it's good, she said, there is unconditional love.
"That's when it's good. There is the other side of the coin," she said.
Shelter medicine, she said, affords her the opportunity to do something about that side.
"If I do see cruelty or suffering, I can do something about it and I have the freedom to do it," she said.
She said she is amazed at the resiliency of animals.
"They teach me so much about life, and about death," she said.
She said their needs are really rather simple.
"I think all an animal needs is to be kept warm and to be fed and to be cared for when they're sick and to be loved," she said.
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