Meet Arlene Ehrlich, an Account Tech III at the Seattle Animal Shelter who has a 20-year history with the shelter. With a tenure starting as a volunteer in 1998, Arlene has dedicated decades to the animals. Next time you’re at the shelter, say hi to her at the Licensing office.
Time and roles with SAS:
I started working at SAS in 2006, but I started volunteering here in 1998; I think I was one of the first 10 volunteers! I started out on the digital team (not sure if it was even considered a team yet), and then was a matchmaker and dog walker. After taking some kittens home to foster, I became the first official foster cat team leader. What was supposed to be a temporary assignment of getting the foster cat program up and running ended up lasting a couple of years. Coincidentally, Sandy Hansen, who just retired from SAS, was also a volunteer at the time and became my co-team leader. At some point I started fostering dogs. I took home a sweet little pit bull puppy to foster, fell in love and subsequently adopted her. She changed my life because I also fell in love with the breed. I became more and more involved with pit bull rescue and advocacy. I fostered for other local rescue organizations and volunteered for Pit Bull Rescue Central. I screened adoption applicants, served on a committee that granted money to low income folks for veterinary care, and served on their board as treasurer. After a little hiatus I came back to SAS and case managed the SAS foster pit bulls and fostered a few more SAS dogs myself. In 2006 there was an opening in the licensing department at SAS and the timing was right. It seemed like the perfect combination of my accounting skills and passion for animals. I fortunately got the job and have been there ever since.
Path that got you to animal welfare work:
I’ve always been a big animal lover, especially dogs. I actually have some old school work where I drew a map of the dog boarding kennel I hoped to open someday. I also remember being the one that trained one of our family dogs, a rescued German shepherd named Penny. I live very close to the shelter and decided to stop by and visit and became very interested in volunteering. After several unsuccessful attempts to contact someone about becoming a volunteer, I decided to stop by again. This time I was asked if I could start volunteering right there on the spot! I helped photograph some animals for the website and the rest is history.
A typical day:
My typical day involves a variety of tasks, which is one of the things I really like about it. The licensing office handles all of the financial transactions involving the shelter. If it has anything to do with money, it’s processed in our office, including all of the licensing payments that we receive, whether it be via the mail, online, other city offices, or one of our many other sales partners. I also process all of the bills we receive for payment. The mornings before we open are quiet and a good time to focus on things that require uninterrupted attention. Once the shelter opens at 1PM, the day is sometimes crazy busy as we also process all of the payments for adoptions and redemptions, and our phones often ring off the hook. We also frequently reunite pets with their owners when the only identification they’re wearing is their pet license. The finders call us to see if we can identify the pet.
Most rewarding part of job:
The most rewarding part of my job is seeing how excited people are when they’re adopting, or how thankful and relieved they are when they’re reunited with a lost pet. I love watching the adopters walk out of the building beaming as “new parents.”
Memorable animals:
It’s hard to say because each animal is special in its own way. One of the most memorable was Bessie, who my previous co-worker Suellen ended up adopting. She was an older pit bull that hung out in our office prior to being adopted. She had a lot of physical challenges, but she was the sweetest dog ever.
Personal Pets:
I have a cat named Rocket that I adopted in 2000 that just turned 18. I took him, his siblings and his mother home to foster during the time I was running the cat foster program. The others got adopted but he never left. He’s literally the best and sweetest cat ever!! My dog Mia who I took home to foster a year later and she just turned 17! They are both hard of hearing and a little senile and I’m cherishing every day I get to spend with them.
Favorite activities outside of SAS:
I love to travel, and planning the trips are almost as much fun as actually going on them! Warm weather beach vacations are probably my favorite, but I love big cities and history as well. My husband has a lot of relatives in Sweden so we try to do a “combo” trip to Sweden along with another destination in Europe. With my animals so elderly I haven’t been traveling much lately, but we operate a vacation rental, so I get to help other people with their trips instead.
Anything else you’d like to share?
I am so proud to work for an organization that keeps striving to improve the lives of the animals and community that we serve. I’ve seen so much change over the past 20 years that even when we have little setbacks or things seem to be changing slowly, I think about how far we’ve come. I would also like people to know that it’s important to license your pets! Not only does it keep our pets safer in the event they get lost, the licensing revenue also contributes to the daily operations of the shelter.