SUMMERDALE, Ala. — If you are thinking of an animal control officer or a shelter worker as an er, … crusty person who hates dogs and cats, visit the Baldwin County Animal Shelter.

What you will find is a combination of professional staff and dedicated volunteers who go the extra mile to make sure the four-footed creatures who share our homes and are in their care get a fair shake.

“We are not the bad guys. We take care of strays and unwanted pets. We work really hard to get animals adopted,” said Tiffany Long, the shelter’s operations manager.

The biggest problem the shelter faces, says Long, is overcrowding. On the day this reporter visited the shelter, there were 80 dogs and 70 cats in residence, well above the facilities’ official capacity.

“The shelter was built in the 1970s,” said Rachel Beck, a senior public health environmentalist with the Baldwin County Health Department. The Health Department took over the day-to-day management of the shelter in the late 1970s. According to Beck, the shelter has 60 dog kennels and about an equal number of cat kennels.

“The shelter is charged with taking strays off the street,” Beck said.

Beck has taken two “shelter cats” home herself.

“I have two brothers, Brutus and Domino, who come from the shelter,” said Beck. “My daughter brought home a stray cat herself.”

Beck says that as the population of Baldwin County has grown, the pet population has seen growth as well.

“The more people you have, the more pets you have,” said Beck.

That has put more stress on the shelter, and county hopes to build a new facility with space for more than 120 dog runs and a similar space for cats. The new shelter will be near the current one, but have room for a dog park.

But until that shelter is built, the staff will make do as best they can with the current facilities.

“The biggest thing, I would like people to think before they adopt an animal. Research the breed. Don’t impulse buy, and don’t adopt out of pity,” said Long. For example, labrador retreivers make cute puppies, Long explained, but they grow into large dogs with table-clearing tails. That can be a problem in a two-bedroom apartment.

All animals adopted from the shelter have been spayed/neutered and have had a microchip implanted, Beck says.

Every month, the shelter sponsors a rabies and microchipping clinic.

“It’s $10 per pet for the rabies shot,” Long said, “and it’s $10 per pet to have them microchipped.”

By Alabama law, and animal must be vaccinated against rabies, a fatal disease animals can transmit to humans, once the animal is 12 weeks old, and annually after that. A “microchip” is a tiny (about the size of a large grain of rice) tag implanted under the skin, usually between the shoulder blades, that emits a radio signal when a “reader” is passed over the chip. The signal, once descrambled, give the owner’s name and phone number so the pet and anxious owner can be quickly reunited.

Long says that every shelter and facility that helps stray animals has a microchip reader system.

“It never fails,” said Long, “your animal will run away when you are giving it a bath and have the collar off.”

The system works well, as long as owners make sure the microchipping company has their current contact information, Long stresses. The shelter give change of address/phone number forms out.

People can call 972-6834 for the latest information on rabies/microchipping clinics.

Sadly, sometimes euthanasia is the best solution for a stray.

“We are helping the community and animals,” Long said “Sometimes you need euthanasia.”

That’s not the first choice of shelter workers, who can’t help getting attached to their four-footed charges. There’s no set time limit on animals that come to the shelter.

Lost animals can be a particularly poignant situation.

“Call us, if your town does not have a shelter,” Beck says, adding that the towns of Daphne, Fairhope and Bay Minette have their own shelters or arrangements to care for stray pets.

Beck says, “Call us as soon as you realize your pet is missing. We can’t send ACOs out, but if your animal is here and you can describe him/her to us we can reunite you.”

The animal will have to have a rabies shot, and there is a $10 per day charge for boarding, but having Fido or Fluffy back in your arms is money well spent.