OWASSO, Okla. — More than a year after the Owasso Animal Shelter faced abuse allegations investigation, volunteers and rescue partners say the shelter has made significant progress.
While no criminal charges were filed, advocates say the shelter has since undergone major changes.
“We have seen an astounding amount of improvement with their live release rate, which is always our number one concern,” said Paige Bodden, board president for SPACAR Advocates of Oklahoma. “With the rate of euthanasia so high, we knew we could tackle that and make a difference. Easily is kind of a stretch, but it certainly has kept its no-kill status for the last year, so that’s huge.”
The Skiatook Paws and Claws Animal Rescue has partnered closely with the shelter over the past year, helping provide financial support for animals medical needs, behavioral evaluations and social media outreach aimed at increasing adoptions.
Shay Nash, an Owasso Animal Shelter volunteer, has helped train and coordinate new volunteers and foster families, while also raising awareness through her Facebook page, “Shay’s Pawtraits.” Nash balances her volunteer work with a full-time job.
Nash released a statement which reads:
My name is Shay. I’m just a normal person. I have a full time job. I have 2 dogs of my own. I work out a lot. And free time feels scarce.
But last year I saw an out cry for help at the Owasso Animal Shelter, and I felt compelled to see how I could help.
So I just started showing up, and kept showing up.
It slowly evolved and has grown into such a positive relationship.
I saw a need and decided I could fill it, and that’s when I started Shay’s Pawtraits,as a way to engage others to help also. It was definitely a slow start and I was the only active volunteer so it was overwhelming at times, but I dug in and just kept working at it in my free time.
And I’m so glad I did, because now it has grown so much and we have saved so many lives.
I absolutely could not have done any of it without SPACAR Animal Advocates of Oklahoma allowing me to utilize their rescue resources.
Paige and Amber are true hero’s.
In the last 14 months, with SPACAR's help, we have saved over 70 precious lives!
And we have been able to maintain a no kill status consistently, month after month.
My goals for the shelter is to continue to help them develop an organized volunteer program to allow the community to actively participate more. We are in the final stages of getting the official program launched, I will be putting out more information as everything gets finalized, and I have started an orientation for new volunteers recently that is going great.
Next step is, I would love to build a network of fosters in the Owasso community to help. Anyone interested can reach out to me, and I can help get them started.
And obviously, I would love to engage the Owasso community to actively adopt from their local shelter. Sadly, in the last year, very few adoptions have come from Owasso citizens. I have had more people drive from hours away than I have had local adoptions.
Lastly, I encourage people to follow my page, Shay’s Pawtraits, to stay up to date.
I do my best to put up to date information out about all of the available animals, and I do my best to know each animal personally to be able to answer any questions about them!”
Bodden said everyone involved shares the same mission.
“I do believe that everyone, everyone across the board’s goal is to get these dogs to safety and do whatever they can for them,” Bodden said.
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