South Salt Lake Animal Services’ Kennel Technician, Rory Jenkins, introduces Elsa, one of the most beloved animals at the shelter. Jenkins said, “We’re all incredibly attached to her, and we want to do everything that we can for her to find a forever, forever home.”

Jenkins, who grew up in West Jordan, Utah, has been working at South Salt Lake Animal Services for two years now.

They explained, “Animals are my passions. They’ve always been my favorite thing. My whole life. I’m actually going to school to get a degree in zoology. My end career goal is wildlife biologist. Working here at the animal shelter has been great, especially because I get the best of both the vet world and the shelter world. It’s a great combo.”

This is now the third time that Jenkins has seen Elsa be brought to the shelter. They said, “Unfortunately, the first time was because she was just a little too aggressive, and her owners had fallen on hard times, and so obviously they couldn’t handle keeping her anymore. The second time she came back, it’s because the person we had adopted her out to had passed away.”

At first, Elsa’s third home was a perfect match. Jenkins said that Elsa has really improved since being with her last family. However, another incident happened and a family friend ended up getting bitten. Jenkins doesn’t want Elsa to get a bad rep, since everyone at the shelter knows how amazing of a dog she is. They explained that Elsa just needs a special home. Ideally, one with no kids and no other animals. 

One of Jenkin’s favorite parts of working at the shelter is finding their animals a permanent family. “It’s great getting to spend time with them, but the really rewarding part is seeing them go home to a forever home,” they said. 

Domestic Shorthair’s Finch and Fairy

If you’re looking to adopt, Jenkins suggests a few things: doing your research, coming in to meet the animals, and microchipping. 

Doing your research: “Animals are a lot more work than you’re expecting. I think a lot of people come to the shelter expecting the animals to have some amount of training already, but with as limited staff as we are, we don’t always have time to give them any amount of training. It comes with a lot of responsibility. Even the cats sometimes are a little difficult to work with at first, and I think a lot of times we get people who are a little more unprepared than they realized they were going to be,” Jenkins said. With a small staff of just five employees, planning to do as much training as you can after adoption is the safest route to take. 

Meet the animals: South Salt Lake Animal Services posts all of their new animals on their Instagram when they are ready for adoption. It’s a great spot to see who is initially there, but Jenkins still suggests coming in with an open mind. If you don’t follow them on social media, the shelter is still always supportive of anyone walking in without any prior knowledge of who they have. 

Microchipping: Jenkins explained that many of the animals they get in the shelter are strays. If you and your family want to make sure that you stay together, Jenkins said microchipping is one of the best ways to do that. You can get it done right at the shelter, or at most any veterinary clinics in town.