VOLUNTEERS are set to be welcomed back to the Glenfield Road Animal Shelter following the conclusion of a review by Wagga City Council into the program this week.
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Council moved to suspend the volunteer program at the troubled pound in May. The Glenfield Road Animal Shelter has been beset by problems this year, with a staff member incorrectly putting down a dog in May, followed shortly by a volunteer allegedly using social media inappropriately to find a home for an abandoned animal.
A council spokesman said it was council’s intent to reinstate volunteers at the pound as soon as possible, now the review as been completed.
“A number of applications were received and following a review of the applications received, a date for (the program) to commence is yet to be determined,” the spokesman said.
Following the social media incident, a group of three former volunteers have expressed their disappointment at council’s handling of the issue.
“We are asking council where they received this information? It portrays volunteers in a poor light,” the group wrote in an open letter.
“Volunteers found this article (regarding the suspension of the volunteer program due to the incident) particularly hurtful and distressing, as we have always tried to help the animals and rangers at Glenfield Road Animal Shelter.”
Council’s director of planning and regulatory services Andrew Crakanthorp met with the three volunteers who had expressed concerns in an attempt to assuage their concerns.
“The discussion included that it was never the intent of council to cast volunteers in a poor light,” the council spokesman said.
Mr Crakanthorp told the Advertiser in July he was aware pound volunteers were disappointed in council following the suspension of the program.
“They are all passionate people … some volunteers, as you could imagine, are disappointed,” Mr Crakanthorp said at the time.