Quincy hires new shelter manager

QUINCY — Leticia Perez has always loved working with animals.

“I always feel like I’ve done something good,” said Perez, who has just been hired to manage the Quincy Animal Shelter. “Finding homes for animals, taking care of them, saving lives on a daily basis.”

The 26-year-old Perez, who will take up her new position on Jan. 1, has worked as an assistant at the animal shelter for the last two years. She takes up the position left by Rachel Lewis, who submitted her resignation a few weeks ago to take up another offer.

Perez, a native of Moses Lake, said she began volunteering as a veterinary assistant when she was 15 and for a time wanted to be a veterinarian herself. However, despite losing interest in veterinary studies, she continued assisting vets, eventually working for the Wenatchee Valley Humane Society as a kennel assistant before coming back to Quincy.

She said the greatest challenge she finds being at the Quincy Animal Shelter is seeing animals stay for a long time.

“This is a no-kill shelter, and it’s tough seeing some of these animals so sad and alone at the shelter,” she said.

A typical stay for a cat or a dog in the shelter is about two weeks, Perez said, though some of the pit bulls have been there as long as three months.

Perez said the shelter has adopted a fairly aggressive outreach strategy to make sure as many of their animals as possible are adopted, and people from as far away as Seattle or even Canada to adopt animals from the Quincy shelter.

“We’ve rehomed 744 animals so far this year,” she said.

However, Perez is also looking forward to organizing volunteers to provide extra care and attention to the animals that the shelter’s small staff cannot provide.

“This being a small town, I feel no one wants to come in, and the animals want attention,” she said.

Currently, the shelter houses nine dogs and 10 cats.

Quincy Police Chief Bob Heimbach, whose department oversees the Quincy Animal Shelter, said hiring Perez was an easy choice. She has the experience and ability needed to run the shelter, and it helps as well that she speaks Spanish.

“She’s bilingual, and that sends a great message to our community,” Heimbach said.

The Quincy City Council approved Perez’ hiring at its Tuesday evening meeting.