New director at shelter 'perfect fit'

Thursday, April 5, 2012
Amber Husted, left, the new director at the McCook Humane Society, with Lorie Prestes, the former director, give some cuddle time to puppies at the shelter.

McCOOK, Nebraska -- The new director at the McCook Humane Society is a "perfect fit," according to somone who would know - the previous director.

"If I had to pass the baton on to anyone, it would be Amber," said Lorie Prestes.

Amber Husted took over in February at the Humane Society after Prestes resigned due to allergies.

Husted and Prestes had known each other before, when Husted was with the sheriff's department. They forged a friendship while going out on animal calls together and when Prestes resigned after six years with the shelter, Husted was the natural choice, Prestes said

"She's doing a great job," Prestes said, who is on the McCook Humane Society Board and still visits the shelter at least once a week. "I have full confidence in her, we're so much alike. The hardest thing she'll have to learn is how to deal with John Q. Public. I can't train her for that."

This means anything can happen when the door opens.

The job requires more than checking on the animals, administering medicine, cleaning the kennels and walking dogs. It means being pleasant and saying "No problem" to the person who keeps bringing in litters of puppies, when you'd rather wring their neck, Prestes said. And being diplomatic when you explain to someone who doesn't speak English that they must be able to understand what they are doing before they can adopt a pet.

Or coming to work and finding a dog tied up outside the front door, something that happened to Husted last week

"I call Lorie a lot," Husted said. "I'm still getting my feet wet here."

This isn't about a dream job you do for the big bucks, she conceded, but rather, about something bigger than that.

"I've always been an animal lover," she said, with two "kids" of her own, a Golden Retriever and yellow lab. "We have a great staff here who thinks the same way. It's all about the animals."

Her main focus now is to adopt dogs out in a timely fashion, keep the euthanisia rates down - and try not to bring home too many animals.

The remedy for that? A strict husband, Husted laughed.

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