Late last week, Weber County sent out a press release noting that it has hired Siri Main as the director of Weber County Animal Services with an emphasis on enhancing community involvement and enriching animal care. Main was hired in June.

In the release, Main said her love of helping animals goes back a long way.

“I fell in love with animals while volunteering as a child with my father at our local shelter,” she said. “When I grew up, I knew I wanted to go into the industry as a nonprofit animal shelter developer, working with national partners to gain a no-kill status. My family recently moved to Utah because my husband serves in the military. I’m excited for this new opportunity to explore the community and serve the animals and residents.”

The release adds that there are plans to enhance the new “Doggie Daycation” program, which currently allows residents to pick an adoptable dog and take them home for a day. Plans are to extend this to cats as well.

“Essentially, the goal is to provide and promote the animals’ psychological and physiological well-being while they are at the shelter by encouraging natural behaviors and improving their quality of life,” Main said in the release.

The release also details the changes the shelter has made when dealing with volunteers.

“To improve policies and procedures, WCAS has implemented a new, more efficient and straightforward volunteer application process,” the release said. “Individuals interested in volunteering must come to the animal shelter to fill out a paper application. Every Monday, the past week’s applications are reviewed by the development team that will, shortly after, contact each applicant individually.”

It’s noted that volunteers are critical for the shelter’s operation.

“Volunteers play an integral role in helping ensure operations at WCAS are running smoothly,” the release said. “They help with a variety of tasks in caring for the animals at the shelter, especially cleaning (laundry, dishes, sweeping, scrubbing and organizing). Other tasks include taking animals to and from appointments.”

Main’s hiring comes just a few months after the shelter entered into a partnership with the nonprofit Best Friends Animal Society.

Weber County Public Relations Manager Jessika Clark told the Standard-Examiner in March that the partnership was about boosting the capabilities of WCAS.

“The main purpose of the partnership is to improve efficiency and disease prevention at the animal shelter while also prioritizing the safety of our staff and animals,” she said. “The animal shelter has always been in contact with Best Friends Animal Society because the animal shelter is currently a no-kill animal shelter. Best Friends reached out to the animal shelter because they have more resources than us and they’re able to help with overcrowding and things like that.”

For more on WCAS, visit https://webercountyutah.gov/Animal_Shelter/.