COLUMNS
January 23, 2010 I've been involved with animal welfare for more than thirty years now.
I started out volunteering to help with adoptions at a local mall.
Before long I found myself involved in other projects.
I was elected to the board of directors of a humane society.
Then someone invited me to do a daily radio spot about pets. (Imagine that!)
Over the years I've been involved with several different animal welfare organizations.
Along the way I found a handful of people who had been working at it longer, who knew more, and who were willing to teach me so that I could become more effective in helping animals.
This week, I lost one of those special mentors.
My first impression of Bill Hurt Smith was that he really enjoyed meeting and getting to know people.
He was an imposing man who could be intimidating just because of his size. But he had a soft heart when it came to animals.
In the early 1970s Bill led a group that founded the Tuscaloosa County Humane Society, and served as its director for several years.
The American Humane Association liked his ideas and hired him to work for them.
Then he moved over to the Humane Society of the United States, where he started their Animal Control Academy.
It was the first professional certified training program for animal control officers in the country.
He treated his students with dignity and taught them to have understanding and compassion in their approach to a very difficult job.
Over the years we talked; he listened, he asked questions, he consulted – any animal welfare issue I was facing, he was there to help me work through it.
When I might be carried away on the emotion of the moment, Bill would look at it from a practical standpoint and guide me to find a workable solution.
With his passing, I have lost a friend and an advisor.
But because of the passion and commitment with which he lived his life and which he instilled in his students and shared with his friends, the legacy of Bill Hurt Smith is the chorus of voices today who continue to speak for those who cannot speak for themselves, when we're all speaking of pets.
© Copyright 2012, APR - ALABAMA PUBLIC RADIO
