"I was pretty naive," said the 34-year-old Ohio State University graduate, who observes her second anniversary on the job Wednesday. "When I accepted the job, people were saying, 'How are you going to handle it?' I was like, 'Ahh! Handle what?"'

She thought she would be in the post a year or two, get the operation whipped into shape and move on, she said.

She laughs to think how little she knew about what was ahead.

There have been gaffes.

"People said I needed a PR agent to begin with," she said. "Stupid things I said which were really stupid. I have an odd sense of humor. I really do."

And there have been animals killed by mistake, citations by the Georgia Department of Agriculture and people who have left the Animal Control Advisory Board saying they had seen nothing change and felt they were wasting their time.

"If it wasn't her idea, she wasn't going to do it," former board member Julie Tillery said.

Dr. Bragdon notes that before she took the directorship, she had never worked professionally with groups.

"And I made some mistakes and tried over and over to apologize," she said. "Now I'm trying to move forward."

Some things have changed at animal control since Dr. Bragdon's first day on the job.

The animals now receive shots, heartworm tests, de-worming, and flea and tick medicine, paid for with donations. The shelter's volunteer group, Augusta Animal Rescue Friends, or AARF, is active. It offers the shelter's animals for adoption at SuperPetz, and its foster program has about 70 animals that eventually can be adopted.

Employees have received some training, and the facility draws on Dr. Bragdon's veterinary skills.

No longer is action regarding cruelty cases delayed until a veterinarian can be called to attest that an animal is being abused. Dr. Bragdon is qualified to do that and is available 24 hours a day, she said.

But some things have not changed.

The long-promised shelter taxpayers approved about five years ago in a sales tax referendum is still on the drawing board, stalled by low bids that have come in over budget.

As a result, the animals and employees still suffer in the dilapidated, overcrowded, 30-year-old buildings off Tobacco Road. Thousands of animals are still being killed each year to make room for more. People drop them off in droves, sometimes leaving them tied to the front gates.

THE FACILITY AND its director are often the focus of controversy and targets of criticism.

Elaine van der Linden: Animal rescuer has been a sharp critic of Bonnie Bragdon. MICHAEL HOLAHAN/STAFF

In September, a study of the facility by the National Animal Control Association reported dozens of deficiencies and made recommendations for immediate and long-term improvement, such as placing more than one food bowl in cages with multiple dogs; halting the practice of allowing prison inmates to euthanize animals; identifying animals properly before killing them; and verifying that they are dead before disposing of them.

In February, the state halted operations at the shelter because euthanasia drugs were not properly recorded or locked up. A state inspector also found deficiencies in the facility's buildings.

In March, five members of the Animal Control Advisory Board, disturbed that Dr. Bragdon had not corrected the deficiencies cited in the report, wrote the five Augusta commissioners who had appointed them, asking them to hold her "fully accountable" for the recommendations.

Board members Jean Cooksey, Jodie Graham, Erika Mallard, Sallie Manning and Mrs. Tillery said they had offered solutions to many of the problems, made suggestions and volunteered their time and resources to improve the facility, all to no avail.

The board members received no response to their letter.

"Nothing had changed in 18 months. That's when we started thinking, do we need a vet or do we need a good manager?" Mrs. Tillery said. "I think we need a good manager. Anybody out there can look at an animal and tell if it's sick."

Mrs. Graham, a two-year member of the board, quit going to meetings.

"It's hard to fight, fight, fight to get things changed, and I've just backed away," she said.

LAST MONTH, the Georgia Department of Agriculture cited the facility for not providing water to puppies and not turning on fans in 96-degree heat.

"It's just frustrating that in the Department of Agriculture report we failed humane care," Dr. Bragdon said. "What does that really mean? When they say we failed humane care, for me, as an animal lover, that makes it sound like we're abusing and neglecting animals.

"Now, we did not provide adequate care, I agree. And I guess that could be considered neglect. It's just real hard when the majority of animals in the shelter have water and some of them didn't. It's just hard when people don't see the million things you do right every day and they only see the couple of hundred you do wrong."

One of Dr. Bragdon's harshest critics is Elaine van der Linden, the founder of Molly's Militia, an animal-rescue group.

"Yes, the building is horrible, and there is not much for any director to work with, but there is absolutely no excuse for the dog fights that I witness every time I am there," Mrs. van der Linden said. "Too many dogs are put in one kennel with one food bowl - which is ridiculous in almost anyone's mind.

"There are some dogs that don't get to eat all day because they are terrified to move toward the food bowl. If they try to eat, they are viciously attacked by another, stronger dog. This is animal cruelty at its worst."

Dr. Bragdon said there have been three food bowls in each cage for about a month.

MRS. VAN DER LINDEN'S group often takes dogs that have been attacked and injured in the kennels, nurses them to health and finds homes for them.

Until recently, when Dr. Bragdon, with advisory board members' support, revamped the guidelines, Mrs. van der Linden had been getting dogs for free.

Dr. Bragdon said if Mrs. van der Linden takes the most desirable dogs, ones the shelter has spent money on to get ready for adoption, its adoption rate will drop and it will lose money.

However, any animal slated for euthanasia will be transferred or adopted to any organization or individual at no charge, unless they are aggressive or dangerous, Dr. Bragdon said.

"Why not transfer these animals to rescue groups to save their lives instead of killing them?" Mrs. van der Linden asked.

Mrs. Tillery agrees.

"Elaine got dogs from the kill room," she said. "Let her have all the dogs she wants. ... I don't see anybody standing in line to get a dog from Richmond County Animal Control. This is not a money-making operation."

MRS. VAN DER LINDEN says her group will keep making efforts to aid animals.

"Our group is going to save as many animals as we possibly can from that torture chamber, no matter what the commissioners, Dr. Bragdon or the board does," she said. "Nothing could ever stop us from saving those animals because they are truly at the worst place any animal could end up."

Despite the complaints, others, including AARF board member Mitch Courson, say Dr. Bragdon is on the right track.

"Bonnie has really brought an awareness to people," Mr. Courson said. "People knew things were bad out here. She made them see how bad, but she's given them ways to make it better.

"She's pushing spay-neuter. She's pushing licensing. All of that raises awareness in the community. This is going to be a long process. This place didn't get like this overnight, and it's not going to get fixed overnight. That's why we're all here trying to help out."

A CONVERSATION WITH BONNIE BRAGDON

Richmond County Animal Control Director Bonnie Bragdon talks about her first two years on the job:

Q: What have the past two years as director been like?

A: It's been a very painful learning experience. But it's been a very good experience. I would not give this experience up for anything in the world.

Q: What was the biggest shock to you about being director?

A: I think that there are people out there that will work against you. I just didn't really understand what political meant. Now I do. So now when someone says, "That's a political issue," I know what it means.

Q: How many of the Augusta commissioners have visited the shelter since you've been here?

A: A lot, despite what everybody thinks. In my opinion, the commissioners are actually pretty supportive of me, and they know that the department needs to change. It's just that they are so overwhelmed by so many other pressing issues that we kind of get lost in the shuffle.

Q: What are the challenges of your job?

A: The problem with my business, which is very different than any department director, is it involves warm fuzzies. ... Say out of 500 animals we kill one by mistake. It's not acceptable, even though any job you do there are going to be mistakes and problems.

Q: What do you need to do your job better?

A: We need more personnel, and we need more trucks. We now have 16 people in the department. What we really need to do is expand our field services. I'm really trying to develop innovative ways to expand personnel without expanding salaries. Two ways we can do that is by increasing the number of inmate staff we have - a lot of people don't like that - and increasing the number of volunteers we have.

Q: Critics have said you lack management skill. Do you agree?

A: I think the reason that they feel that is because I have not been very good at communication. The problem is pretty complicated, and people don't sit down and really look at the entire problem to truly understand the problems and some of the management hurdles, when you think about us trying to track down 10,000 animals a year.

Quite frankly, when I came into the position I had no management training, and I've quite frankly learned a lot. And this job would challenge the best managers because we lack resources.

Q: How do you measure the shelter's performance?

A: The level of care we provide is a performance measure. We are sending out animals with far more preventive care than they've ever had. If you compare us with other agencies, we do a very good job. ... But if you walk through the kennels, it's just such a mess. We can't control the ventilation. It's almost impossible to control the temperature. It's really difficult to control the spread of disease. So even though we're vaccinating, it's not always doing a good job at preventing disease.

I think our volunteer program is a measure of our success. The amount of community outreach we do - I probably do at least one or two community-type presentations every month between neighborhood associations, civic organizations and schools.

Reach Sylvia Cooper at (706) 823-3228 or sylviaco@augustachronicle.com.