Following the closure of the Dent County Animal Welfare Society (DCAWS) in September 2024, after 34 years of service, multiple volunteer groups have emerged to address animal welfare needs in the area. While Advocates for Animals, a subcommittee, has formed to tackle the stray cat crisis, a separate volunteer organization called Friends of Salem Animal Shelter has formed to support dogs at the city shelter through fostering, training, and networking with rescues across the Midwest to ensure dogs are able to find loving homes.
Friends of Salem Animal Shelter features the contributions of many volunteers, including Holly Theede, Pamella Russell, Jan White, and Melveen Stevenson, among others. The group of volunteers is unaffiliated with the City of Salem or Salem Police Department, only volunteering to support the needs of the animals at the shelter.
About a year ago, Melveen found a homeless dog running in the streets. She posted photos and a video of the pup on a Salem Neighbor-to-Neighbor group on Facebook. Holly was impressed with the quality of the posts and reached out to Melveen, asking if she may be interested in contributing her social networking skills to the Salem Animal Shelter—to help spark interest in available pets. That’s how Melveen became the hands at the keyboard and camera behind the “Friends of Salem Animal Shelter” Facebook page.
Meanwhile, Pamella Russell got into fostering when a neighbor moved and left behind six dogs, including four puppies. Unfortunately, the shelter had no room for the dogs, but Pam felt responsible and cared for them. Not too long after, Holly helped Pam build fencing for the rapidly growing puppies and assisted in funding the dogs’ spays and neuters. The two reached out to Camp Companion, a foster organization based in Minnesota, and Pushin’ Another Waggin’ to Safety (PAWS,) a rescue dog transportation service, to get the puppies homed. After, Pam was officially invested in the work of Friends of Salem Animal Shelter.
The group's formation was organic, driven by immediate need rather than planning. What united them was not just their love of animals, but their willingness to take on the exhausting work of rescue and volunteering. Holly, Pam, Melveen, and Jan all work to ensure the dogs are well-socialized and trained and more adoptable than ever.
As soon as a dog is ready to be adopted, Melveen snaps a photo and posts to social media to let the community know, while Holly, Pam, and Jan work to get to know the dog’s personality and behaviors.
The group routinely takes dogs up to adoption events at PetSmart, as well as to the dog park in Rolla. In addition, they train dogs with the teachings of dog trainer Cesar Millan in mind to ensure they’re as adoptable as possible and have the best possible chance at their forever home. Both Holly and Pam assist in fostering dogs—not only does fostering keep the capacity of the shelter low, it helps provide the volunteers a better idea of what kind of environment the dog is best suited for.
“Somebody will often come up and say, ‘Well, I don’t know what I can do.’ It’s like, I don’t know either—let’s figure it out together,” shared Melveen, encouraging community participation. “There’s always something that somebody can do to help.”
The volunteers even just encourage keeping an eye out for missing dog signs or posts on social media and letting neighbors, who may be older or less online, know about them. Even just offering to assist friends or family get veterinary care for their own animals would help.
In addition to helping the dogs in the shelter, volunteers want to help find good homes for dogs and have been working to communicate with other city shelters to ensure that if someone comes looking for a particular breed, they can find one for you. It may not be in Salem, but there may be one in Steelville or Rolla. Some people may even come looking for purebreds—right now, there’s a pure bred German Shepard at the shelter, said Melveen.
Similar to the Advocates for Animals subcommittee, a major focus of Friends of Salem Animal Shelter’s work is promoting spay and neuter services to reduce the overpopulation in the area.
Volunteers regularly refer people to low-cost options available to them, such as Carol House Quick Fix Pet Clinic in Rolla. Carol House offers income-based discount programs for spay and neuters for dogs, cats, and even rabbits.
For more information on services offered, visit the Carol House Quick Fix Pet Clinic website at https://stlspayneuter.org/rolla/ or call the clinic in Rolla at 573-465-3099.
In addition, direct donations to veterinary clinics can help subsidize these procedures for pet owners in need. Volunteers encourage donating directly to veterinary clinics and specifying that the donation is for the spay or neuter of an animal.
“The goal is that all the dogs that come to the shelter are altered before they leave,” shared Holly.
Pushin’ Another Waggin’ to Safety
“I like to foster the dogs for at least a week before they travel to a rescue up north, so that I know they’re safe with other dogs and cats,” shared Holly, referring to PAWS.
Holly and Pam travel every other Saturday to St. Louis for PAWS, a volunteer transport team dedicated to helping animals from crowded shelters of Missouri and Arkansas reach rescues in the north, where the demand for adoptable pets is higher. The program is well-coordinated, shared Holly.
“Every other Saturday, myself and Pam, we have worked to transport from Rolla to St. Louis dogs from this area,” reported Holly. “Every other Saturday, at least 70 dogs go from St. Louis to the rescues up north—out of Missouri.”
One of the dogs from the Dent County area that Holly and Pam transported was just adopted recently from a rescue in Chicago, Illinois. That’s quite the trip.
Community members interested in volunteering can reach out through the Friends of Salem Animal Shelter Facebook page located at https://www.facebook.com/p/Friends-of-Salem-Animal-Shelter-MO-61571378722122 or by searching “Friends of Salem Animal Shelter” on Facebook. Volunteer opportunities range from walking or socializing dogs to providing transportation, donating supplies, or contributing funds for veterinary care. The group welcomes various forms of support—whatever someone may be capable of.
