Lori Blatter has been at the Jefferson City Animal Shelter for only three weeks, but already she’s feeling at home.
As the manager of Jefferson City Animal Control, Blatter runs the day-to-day operations of the shelter, working with shelter veterinarian Dr. Jessica Thiele and Sam Reeves, who supervises the animal control officers.
While Blatter has always had a love for animals and has even raised and shown horses, she didn’t work with them professionally until now. After her children were grown, she started her career working for the State Emergency Management Association, first as a HAZMAT training coordinator and later in state floodplain management.
She said she loved working at SEMA, and she was even named Missouri Department of Public Safety Employee of the Month in September, along with coworker Linda Olsen, for their work during the historic flooding this spring.
But she knew her goal was to be a manager, so she earned her bachelor’s degree in business management from Western Governors University while she was working at SEMA. Then she found the Jefferson City Animal Shelter.
“I just happened to be sitting at my computer one day and Indeed popped up, and the manager for the Jefferson City Animal Shelter appeared, and I can’t explain it. I just knew that was what I wanted to do,” Blatter said.
She applied and was chosen for the job, and now almost a month later, she’s working to bring improvements and expansions to the animal shelter — and she’s loving it.
“I’m in heaven. It’s the only way I can describe it,” Blatter said. “This is not coming to work for me. This is where I’m supposed to be.”
Part of what makes her job great is the team of other employees she’s working with.
“These guys work themselves to death — staying late, coming early, coming in on call — and just working with that team and having that camaraderie all towards that same goal,” Blatter said of her team. “I mean, how could you ask for anything more?”
Working with the employees and the volunteer group Friends of the Jefferson City Animal Shelter, Blatter has already started implementing some new ideas.
They are working to change a “catch-all” room in the shelter into a visiting room for dogs, where people interested in adopting or visiting a dog can sit and spend time with them, outside of the caged environment, to get a better feel for the dog and let them relax.
Right now, the room is in progress, but Blatter is excited for the possibility.
She has also started using the shelter’s Facebook page to post “Lori’s Dog of the Week.” She will choose a dog that could use some attention, feature it in the post and let it spend some time hanging out in her office to get away from the cages.
“It’s as much for me. It’s kind of nice to bring a puppy in the office,” Blatter said. “But it just felt like a way to bring them out of the environment in there and allow the public to interact with them in a more positive way.”
Last week, 2-year-old mixed-breed Happy was featured. He’s still available for adoption, but Blatter was able to get the word out about him online.
She also hopes to expand an existing program for the dogs, which provides them with extra enrichment during their time at the shelter, like peanut butter-filled toys. Using donations from the Lauren Lockwood Donation Fund, the shelter purchased a freezer to be able to store more of the toys and Blatter plans to create a chart to keep track of the dogs’ enrichment.
“It just makes their lives better while they’re here with us,” Blatter said.
Later this month, she will test for her state certification to become an animal control officer. She’s also spent some time riding around with an ACO to learn the issues facing the community and its animals.
Overall, Blatter said, she’s been blessed with the opportunity to work for Jefferson City Animal Control.
“I don’t know how anybody could be so lucky, to be here with these people and these volunteers and doing such an important thing for the community,” she said.