Anderson shares his love for animals

LAKE CITY — Since he was a little boy, Dr. Morris Anderson said he has had a special place in his heart for animals.

“Picking tobacco and cotton filled my heart with grief,” Anderson jokingly said to members of the Lake City Rotary Club this past Friday.

Anderson is a retired veterinarian and serves on Florence County Council.

Anderson said he milked cows during his younger days, but didn’t enjoy picking cotton.

He said he knew then that he didn’t want to become a farmer. One day, he said, one of the cows he used to milk became ill, and a local veterinarian made the cow better again. He knew from that day that he wanted to become a veterinarian, he said.

Anderson aid he practiced as a veterinarian for 40 years and had great employees. One employee was called “Boot.” He said he told “Boot” that he didn’t need a name like that, so he renamed him “Dr. Smith.” He said “Dr. Smith” worked for him for about 30 years.

After two years of retirement, Anderson ran for a seat on Florence County Council. He said the next issue was telling his wife Ann. He jokingly told the Rotarians that his wife said, “I’m not going to leave you, but I’m not helping either.”

Anderson said he went into a local animal care facility and saw how the animal cages were stacked on top of each other. He said he wanted to “just weep.”

“Those animals haven’t done anything wrong,” he said.

Anderson said he proposed to Florence County council a new facility to better house animals.

Herbie Christmas of Florence County Environmental Services, who also spoke at the meeting, said some of the animal issues of Florence County are lack of basic animal care, animal cruelty/neglect, the need for a spay-and-neuter clinic, yearly increases in requests for services from county residents, and the animal control facility.

According to his PowerPoint presentation, council approved a new animal control ordinance in July 2008. The new animal facility was completed in spring 2009.
At this coming Friday’s Rotary meeting, the speaker will be Clyde Nance of Circle Park Behavioral Health Services.