TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Hernando Today

Pet Friendly

ADVERTISEMENT

By TONY MARRERO, Hernando Today

Published: December 22, 2007

BROOKSVILLE - Not long after Liana Teague started her job at Hernando County Animal Services, a few kittens arrived at the shelter.

They were sick and not the ideal candidates for adoption, but a family came in and asked to take the animals home.

Teague, who at that time worked as a dispatcher and administrative assistant and didn't yet know she'd found herself a career, pressed to allow the animals to be adopted. Her reluctant coworkers relented.

A while later, letters arrived along with photos of the same kittens, though now they were cats - and they were clearly fat and happy.

"I just had a feeling it would be a good home for them," Teague recalls.

It was one of many formative moments for Teague, a native of West Palm Beach and a graduate of Springstead High School.

She joined the department in 1993. Now, at 33, she's the director.
Teague remembers the doubt she had to overcome to apply for the position after former director Jim Varn retired at animal services in 2004.

"I thought, I can do a lot of good in that job, so I decided to go for it," recalled Teague, who had already begun to pursue her bachelor's degree in business administration and stepped up the pace when she decided to apply for the job. Teague has seen many animals matched with good homes. A bulletin board in the shelter's foyer is a testament to some of the more recent happy endings.

A "diamond in the rough" is what Frank McDowell recalled thinking about Teague when he first met her 10 years ago.

McDowell said some wondered whether he was making the right move to tap Teague to take Varn's place.

"She was young, she still had a lot to learn, but I knew she had what it would take to do the job," McDowell said.

It takes a special person to run a department that is so often emotionally charged, McDowell said.

"There hasn't been anything that's come up that she couldn't conquer," McDowell said.

During Teague's tenure, the department has grown with the county. It now has 17 employees and a budget of some $1.2 million.
Teague and her staff helped with the design for the animal services headquarters on Oliver Street. When the hurricanes blew through in 2004, Teague spent the night at the shelter and helped take animals from frantic owners.

She would later help convince a skeptical school board to establish the county's first pet-friendly hurricane shelter at Parrott Middle School, something that might not have happened without Teague, said Joanne Schoch, director of the Humane Society of the Nature Coast.

"Liana was just so thorough and effective in answering the school board's concerns," Schoch recalled.

During Tuesday's county commission meeting, Schoch presented Teague with the 2007 Judy Schwartz Humanitarian Award. Schwartz was a much-beloved wildlife advocate from Brooksville, who was killed in a traffic accident in January 2006.

The award was established after her death to honor animal advocates who have made particular strides in the year leading up to its presentation. A committee of community leaders makes the selection.

"I think Liana shares Judy's selflessness and passion," Schoch said. "Everything she does in her position, the welfare of animals is paramount."
Teague extends that passion to her personal time, Schoch said. She is a founding member of the Coalition for Animal Welfare, which recently wrapped up its Pit Snip effort to spay and neuter pit bulls.

The job is often difficult, Teague admits.

The cases of animal abuse and neglect are heart-wrenching. She spends one day a month in court, and said she never stops wondering how people can treat animals that way.

"I don't think there's ever an answer for that," she said.

The department recently made its own adoption: A Shepherd-mix named Seth who had come in with a broken leg due to an enraged owner. Seth will now be featured in a media campaign to educate residents about the animal abuse. The number of animals euthanized for lack of space is also growing along with the county, she said.

Animal services has a rebate program to spay and neuter animals and has taken a proactive approach to get the message out. Teague works aggressively with local no-kill shelters to find homes for animals that might otherwise be put down.

"It's definitely helping, but we have a lot of work to do," she said.

In 2005, Teague received the Supervisor of the Year Award from the Florida Animal Control Association.

It meant even more, she said, because employees had to nominate her for it.

Kennel supervisor Cathy Evans has watched Teague grow. Evans said Teague's management style helped "make the department a team" and her skills as an ambassador have elevated animal services in the eyes of residents.

"We need to be a positive force, not a negative one, and I think she provides that," Evans said.
Teague and her husband Frank live in Brooksville with two dogs and three cats, and recently got news of another addition to the family: They're expecting a baby in June.

While many animal services clients - like the owners of those kittens Teague won't forget - send letters and photos to show how their pets are growing, others go a step further and visit.

It's part of what keeps Teague going, she said.

"It makes you feel so good," she said, "that they thought enough of their experience here to come back."

Reporter Tony Marrero can be reached at 352-544-5286 or lmarrero@hernandotoday.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT