Shawver closing out 40 years of animal control service News Staff Fri, 08/16/2024 - 9:46 am
(THOMAS WALLNER | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Animal Control Officer Kim Shawver poses in front of her patrol vehicle. Shawver will be closing out 40 years of service in the position when she retires Thursday, Aug. 29. 
(ARCHIVE PHOTO | THE GRAHAM LEADER) Animal Control Officer Kim Shawver looks over a blind pug that showed up at a Graham Police Department officer’s door on Fairview Street in August 2016. Shawver will be closing out 40 years of service in the position when she retires Thursday, Aug. 29.
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Thomas Wallner editor@grahamleader.com
Few can claim to have close to 40 years of dedicated service to a profession, but that’s exactly what Kim Shawver has done for the city of Graham in her role as animal control officer.
Shawver will be retiring from her long-standing position Thursday, Aug. 29. It was in 1984 at the age of 22 that Shawver was working for the Gateway Inn cleaning hotel rooms that she got the call to apply for the animal control officer position.
A pit bull was left in one of the hotel rooms and was let out by accident. Shawver contacted the city’s animal control officer to assist with catching the animal.
“They sent me the dog catcher and he told us that if we could catch the dog, he would take it out to the landfill and shoot it. I thought, ‘I don't know how animal control works, but I know that's not how it works,’” she said.
She visited City Manager Larry Fields and inquired about a job opening for the position and was informed the position was open. She filled out an application and visited City Hall frequently to see the status of her application.
“I was in there every other day for two weeks, and finally (Fields) told his secretary, ‘I don't care where you put her, just put her somewhere. Get her out of my office.’ So he sent me over to the police department, they threw me a set of keys and said, ‘We don't know what you do, but just do it.’ I said, ‘Okay,’ and it started right there in August of ‘84,” she said.
She started out working on Second Street near where the 1921 Young County Jail is located and around 2000 she moved with the police department to the current location at 903 Loving Hwy.
Racoons, dogs, cats and possums are among some of the animals that Shawver has dealt with during her time in the role.
As someone who does wildlife rehabilitation, she said her favorite animal calls are the ones dealing with raccoons.
“We've rehabbed probably 300 raccoons, getting them when their eyes are still closed, and then we send them off to another rehab after they get up and on their feet really well. But that's always been the most fun, that and fawns,” Shawver said.
One of the strangest calls she said she received was in the late 1980s when a report was made of a bobcat stalking children in the neighborhood of Hillcrest Drive.
“The bobcat was sitting there stalking the kids, fixing to go over there. Well I noticed that she had a harness on that was broken in the middle, which tells me she was somebody's pet,” she said. “C.H. Blackmon was the officer, and he was one of my favorites. ...I told him, 'If I miss this thing with the catch pole, go ahead and shoot it.' ...I was fixing to put the loop around this bobcat's neck... it kind of got scared and it kind of crouched down and as it jumped at me, I caught it on the catch pole and put it in a pet taxi and took it home with me and called for a rehab to come get it.”
While Shawver considers her job to be the best in the world, she said for the last few years she has intended to retire. It wasn’t until last year that she decided to finally pass the torch.
“The heat has actually gotten to where it gets to me a lot more than what it used to, but I've (also) got grandchildren everywhere right now,” she said. “My family really needs the help babysitting, going to school, stuff like that.”
Michael Watts will take over as the animal protection officer and will serve a dual role as a code enforcement officer.
Shawver said she has always challenged the town to put her out of a job through being more responsible with animals and promoting spaying and neutering and she said she has essentially accomplished that goal.
“When I first started we were picking up no less than 200 animals a month. And out of those 200 animals, probably 197 or 195 were euthanized, and it's not like that anymore. So that's a huge change there,” she said. “We use Facebook a lot with the Texas animal control page. ...Somebody's dog can be running loose, and then they'll post it on the Facebook page and then before I can get up there the owners already claimed it. So that kind of keeps them out of the shelter.”
The animal control officer said in the last two months the department has only taken an estimated six animals to the Humane Society of Young County.
“We haven't had a vicious animal call in a long time, but I'm trying to walk Mike through what can happen (and) what to do if this happens,” she said. “If you know me at all, you know I put most of the animals in the back seat of my dog wagon. That works out pretty good. You can open up your truck door and they just hop right in, even the vicious dogs.”
She wants pet owners to know that when they adopt an animal it can be a 15-year commitment.
The owners should make sure the animals are up to date on vaccinations, not running at large and are in a safe environment, such as not being outside a hot vehicle.
“That's a big problem. It hasn't been this year, which I'm really surprised but people know that if there's a dog in a hot car we're going to get it out by whatever measures necessary. ...(Mike) can actually stop people because he is a police officer,” Shawver said. “A lot of times people just don't know. I see people in $100,000 pickups that have their dog in the back seat, because that's their partner and they have to have that dog to work cattle or whatever.”
The animal control officer has always been an animal lover. She currently has five rescue dogs that range from a doberman to a dachshund mix. She said her wildlife rehabilitation work will continue after she retires.
“I have a couple of rescues that I'm going to transport for or foster. Right now I've got 11 kittens at my house and they won't go anywhere until they're all spayed or neutered and get their rabies vaccination. I've got four left that have to be fixed, and we're adopting them out constantly,” she said. “The part of not having the animals and not making a difference (in the community), that's probably going to be the hardest part right there (when I retire).”
After 40 years of service, she said the community and her family have always been there for her through thick and thin.
“I'd just like to thank the community for everything that they've done and helped me to do. My family's been very, very supportive,” she said. “I can remember having to pack up and put my kids in the vehicle at two o'clock in the morning because some officer just arrested somebody with a vicious dog in the vehicle. ...It can be something new every day. I may have 17 to 20 calls in a day, or I may only have one call in a day.”
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