Angie Teems, Chairwoman of the Walker County Board of Commissioners, is pleased to announce Melissa Smith as the county’s new animal shelter director.

“Smith has an extensive background devoted to improving the lives of animals,” said Teems. “She brings a lot of energy and ideas, and I’m excited to support her vision to enhance animal welfare in Walker County.”

Smith was hired by Walker County in late 2024 after previously serving as the Executive Director for the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) in Bradley County, Tennessee. She has also held positions at McKamey Animal Center in Chattanooga, Atlanta Humane Society and the Oregon Humane Society (OHS).

“I got into animal welfare about 14 years ago because I wanted to feel like I was contributing and helping society,” said Smith. “I started volunteering at a shelter and really enjoyed it. So, I left my day job and took a position as an animal care technician at OHS cleaning, feeding and learning all of the protocols for taking care of cats and dogs using the five freedoms of animal welfare.”

Smith plans to launch a volunteer program at the Walker County Animal Shelter sometime in the next six months. She also aspires to create a daily enrichment program for the animals, so her staff can learn the behavior of each dog and cat in their care and share that information with prospective adopters.

In one of her first moves as shelter director, Smith created a partnership with Rehome by Adopt-a-Pet to reduce the number of unwanted animals entering the shelter. “This is a shelter diversion program that helps shelters from being overrun,” said Smith. “It gives the public the opportunity to have their pet listed on all of the major platforms used by shelters to find a potential adopter and connect owners of pets they are trying to rehome directly with another loving family.”

Shelter staff have been trained on the Rehome program and can walk residents through the process of listing their animal. Access to Rehome is available on the shelter page at walkercountyga.gov. If a resident successfully rehomes their pet through the county’s portal, the rehoming fee is donated to the shelter.