PORT ANGELES — Spenser McGinty says she fell into animal welfare.
“I was working full-time, putting my former partner through school and wanted something to do when they weren’t home so I ended up fostering sick animals,” McGinty said. “My first was an underweight cat with kidney failure. We gave her a loving home for two or three months until she passed, and I just fell in love with having tiny animals to take care of.”
McGinty is the new executive director for the Olympic Peninsula Humane Society. Her first day was July 7.
“It’s been really good, honestly,” she said. “The employees and volunteers are so dedicated to the animals and everyone receiving better care. With me coming from a larger department and a larger city, I had been in the trenches that they’re in now.”
McGinty has 10 years of experience in animal welfare. She fostered animals for three years for the Humane Society of Utah before working for that organization for seven years.
“I was looking for a director position and applying for organizations that could broaden my horizons with animal welfare and I ended up getting an interview up here and fell in love with the community and how dedicated everyone is with OPHS,” she said. “I worked in human medicine before then but ended up falling in love with animal welfare. I transferred in over 12,000 animals. It was lots of hands-on animal stuff, and then I went into the behavioral side of animal sheltering and ended up doing behavioral trainings and moved my way up through animal welfare leadership and then ended up here.”
Since she started at OPHS, McGinty has changed a couple of cleaning protocols and increased staff training, she said.
“We’re training the employees and volunteers on animal handling and body language and standards of procedure across the board when it comes to husbandry and animal handling and behavioral recognition,” McGinty said.
The community will have an opportunity to meet McGinty next week. OPHS will host a barbecue celebration from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 7 at 2nd Chance Ranch, 135 Dun Rollin Lane, Port Angeles. No ticket is needed, but donations are welcome, according to a press release. There also will be a 50/50 raffle (must be present to win).
“The owner of the 2nd Chance Ranch, Larry Edson, is our gracious host, providing food and drink to support OPHS,” according to the press release. “He is proud to open the gardens once again to help animals in need of a second chance at a happy life.”
McGinty said she’s looking forward to the barbecue.
“I’ve been exploring the community and getting to know people, and I’m excited to meet more people who are interested in animal welfare and see how we can get them involved,” she said.
OPHS currently has space available but is scheduling out intakes with dogs while the cats area is pretty full, McGinty said.
There are no adoption events planned in the near future, but the organization has a table at Music in the Park on Tuesdays that features pictures and biographies of the animals available for adoption.
McGinty said people can schedule a meet-and-greet with dogs or come by to visit with the cats.
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Reporter Emily Hanson can be reached by email at emily.hanson@peninsuladailynews.com.
