This year's kitten season at the Humane Educational Society of Chattanooga will have extra staffing help.
Thanks to an increase in funding from Hamilton County government, animal protection services hours will be extended to 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day. The increase in hours is needed, animal protection officer Thomas Thacker said, as calls usually slow up around 7 p.m. each day. After normal business hours, officers only respond to emergency situations such as if an animal is injured, sick or aggressive, he said.
Also, the number of full-time officers will double from two to four.
Animal patrol officer Sam D'Amato wears a badge at the Humane Educational Society on Friday, Sept. 4, 2015, in Chattanooga, Tenn. After an increase to the organization's budget, they are increasing the hours and availability of animal control services."This will make it a lot better," said Thacker, who's been an officer for about five years.
Officers now will have more time to respond to non-emergency calls for animal pickups, officials said. Plus, the increase in officers will mean the two officers won't be worked as hard and won't be on call as much. The new system will have officers work four 10-hour shifts, giving them an extra day off. The Humane Society still will have two officers on the road most days, and three on Mondays and Wednesdays.
During non-business hours, an officer is always on call. On Sunday, Aug. 30, for instance, there were five emergency calls that came into the office that an officer on call had to respond to.
"That could be one person's entire day if they were on the clock," said employee Danielle Austin. "So the fact that it was an after-hours thing goes to show that we need to be out there."
Kitten season happens in the spring, then it typically lulls over the summer - but not this summer, an officer said - and picks back up again in the fall. The rise in staffing isn't because of the influx of cats into the facility, but it does help, workers said.
The Humane Society's adoption hours will remain the same - Monday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Thursday hours extended to 6 p.m. Also, the adoption center is open the first Sunday every month from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The center now has more than 500 animals.
Officer Sam D'Amato admitted the ideal number of officers would be six. But the department is still grateful for the increase in funding.
"That way we get a little more time off," D'Amato said. "And not being on call every other week. It's pretty stressful to get up at 3 a.m. and have to get up [again] at 8 [a.m.]."
Contact staff writer Evan Hoopfer at ehoopfer@timesfreepress.com, @EvanHoopfer on Twitter or 423-757-6731.