Page 52 - Spring 2022

s| ANIMALIA
‘Compassion’ is the middle name of shelter manager
Story by Morgan Phillips
The serenity of Oconee County Animal Services is broken only by the office cat, who meows a welcome to new visitors.
As Shelter Manager Crystal Berisko enters the main office, she has her hair pulled back and wears a pair of blue glasses that frame her face. She dons a black shirt tucked into greenish-gray cargo pants, and she walks with precision and determination, as if she’s trying to walk halfway around the world before lunchtime.
In her office, there are stacks of paperwork and classic rock playing in the background. The sounds of the barking dogs waft through her office like a perfume.
“It’s not a glamorous job all the time,” said Berisko. “We’ve got the good, the bad and the ugly.”
Berisko has always had animals in her life, but she went
Photos by Michael Prochaska
through two careers before working in animal control.
Out of high school, Berisko worked as an executive secretary for a telecommunications company and then started her own telecommunications business a few years later. After having two
children, Berisko delved into real estate.
“I didn’t particularly care for it,” Berisko said. “Then, I basically
just fell into animal services.”
Her first animal services job was working with animal control
in Palm Beach County, Florida. She got the job after helping an officer load a stray horse onto a trailer. Berisko was hired as a tethering officer to help enforce the “no tethering” law in south Florida.
Berisko came to Oconee County in 2007 and interviewed at Oconee Animal Services two months later. She was hired as a road officer and eventually transitioned into adoption/rescue coordinator. She’s been manager for the last three and a half years.
Berisko has seen almost all sides, situations and emotions that go on in animal shelters.
“Being a government agency, we see anything and everything,” she said. “We see the best obedient dog that somebody can no longer care for to the animal that was dumped on the side of the road and is almost lifeless. Then we have to bring it back to life.”
Berisko tries to show compassion no matter the situation.
“[The shelter] has helped me understand that everybody’s situation is different,” she said. “It’s helped me to be a better listener and [to be] compassionate toward anybody who could be going through something.
We have to show people compassion and let them know that we’ll do everything we possibly can do to get their animal adopted or into a rescue.”
Berisko believes its important not to judge when someone surrenders an animal.
The county animal shelter also houses cats, and some cats up for adoption are at PetsMart.
sMorgan Phillips is a news reporter for The Oconee Enterprise newspaper in Watkinsville, Ga. PAGE 50 | OCONEE THE MAGAZINE | SPRING 2022