Stephens County Humane Society advocates for the animals

September 09

18:30 2024

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Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series by the Breckenridge Texan on the animal problems in Breckenridge and Stephens County, Texas. Additional articles are linked at the end of this story.

By Tony Pilkington and Carla McKeown/Breckenridge Texan

In Breckenridge and Stephens County, there are three main entities that deal with the community’s domestic animal problem: the City of Breckenridge and Stephens County government agencies and the Stephens County Humane Society.

The City enforces the city ordinances, such as the law that requires dogs to be on a leash when they are not in a fenced yard in the city limits, and currently maintains the local animal shelter, where impounded dogs are kept. The City also assists the County officials with some animal situations outside the city limits. The Stephens County Sheriff’s Office responds to most calls regarding animal situations outside the city limits, picking up stray or problematic dogs, confiscating abused animals, etc.

However, the local Humane Society is a different type of organization. It is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to helping the animals in the community. The volunteers help rescue dogs and cats, and occasionally other types of animals, such as horses, and help find homes for them.

According to Kathy O’Shields, president of the Stephens County Humane Society, the organization was originally started by Ruth Hilgenberg, but after her death in 1987, it faded away. Then in 1997, O’Shields said, a group of people who wanted to get it going again hired an attorney and reorganized it using the same tax ID from the old Humane Society organization.

“Our goals were to better the lives of the animals in this community,” she said. “We believe we are all God’s creatures. And then we wanted to…implement some guidelines for people and to help people with their animals and to resolve issues within this community.”

O’Shields also said the Humane Society members consider themselves the voice for the animals. “The animals cannot speak for themselves, so we are their voice,” she said.

The Humane Society has always operated through donations. O’Shields said they have had donations from all over the country to help sustain them. Additionally, she said, Stephens County has given them money in the past because, unlike the City of Breckenridge, the County doesn’t have a shelter and has often depended on the Humane Society to help house any animals they pick up on animal calls. Recently, the County has been working more closely with the City on animal control.

Humane Society’s Goals and Mission

According to the SCHS’s Facebook page, the organization’s goals are to:

Reduce the number of homeless animals within Stephens County;
Eliminate the suffering of animals from mistreatment or abuse;
Find permanent homes for animals in need;
Foster a culture of loving animal ownership;
Expand awareness and increase affordable sterilization programs.

The group’s mission is to “save every precious life we can.”

Building the Animal Shelter

According to the SCHS website, the original Stephens County Animal Shelter was built in 1975 under the guidance of Ruth Hilgenberg, then-president of the local Humane Society.

After the Humane Society was reorganized in 1997 by O’Shields and Mona Lasater, they led an effort to build a new animal shelter. O’Shields said they looked at a lot of shelters during the planning and it took a couple of years to plan and raise the money to build the shelter. She said it cost roughly $65,000 to build. The City of Breckenridge and Stephens County each gave $10,000 to the project, and Humane Society raised the rest of the money.

The Breckenridge Animal Shelter is located at 601 N. Dubois St. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

In addition to the monetary donations, there were also a lot of other types of donations, such as labor. For example, O’Shields said, the organization paid for the materials and the air conditioning in the shelter, but a local air conditioning company donated the labor to install it.

“So there were a lot of donations that weren’t monetary,” she said. “We raised…enough to do the $65,000 cost of the shelter, but that didn’t include the … donations of labor and stuff like that.”

Once the shelter was completed, the Humane Society gave the building, located at 601 N. Dubois St., to the City of Breckenridge. It was called the Stephens County Animal Shelter, at that time.

When it was completed in 2003, the new shelter had 20 kennels, a cat room with 16 cages, a puppy room with 12 cages, and an isolation room, according to the SCHS website. In 2012, a large outside area was fenced in to provide a place for the dogs to exercise, play, and meet potential families for adoption.

Ever since the shelter was turned over to the City of Breckenridge, the City has been in charge of operating it, O’Shields said. Although, at times, the Humane Society has helped find homes for the animals in the shelter, the organization has never been in charge of the shelter.

O’Shields said the shelter has been operated by different City departments over the years, including the parks department, the fire department and, currently, the police department.

When the shelter became a City-owned facility, the City paid for the utilities and the employees to operate it. However, O’Shields said, the Humane Society has often furnished a lot of the food for the animals. “One year we had a huge food drive and got trailerfuls of food for the shelter,” she said.

Additionally, she said, if anything special came up, the Humane Society paid for it. She said that at one time they probably put between $60-65,000 a year into the shelter.

“We paid (for) all vetting on all the animals that came into the shelter. Any sick animals that came in, anything like that, we covered it,” she said. “Animals were spayed, neutered. Any animals that were heart-worm positive, we treated them, paid for that.”

The organization also paid for transportation to get the dogs out of Breckenridge to other places where they could be adopted. “Basically, outside of the employees and the utilities of the shelter, the Humane Society paid for it,” she said.

Animal Shelter Closure

Kathy O’Shields, president of the Stephens County Humane Society, speaks to the Breckenridge City Commission at a special meeting in May 2020. After that meeting, the City commissioners voted to close the animal shelter and two other departments due to financial constraints. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Although the SCHS has never been in charge of the local animal shelter, in 2020, the shelter was shut down by the City of Breckenridge and the Humane Society took possession of all of the animals that had been housed there.

In 2020, following a packed public hearing at the National Theatre on May 26, the Breckenridge City Commissioners voted to close the animal shelter and lay off all of the animal control officers. They also voted to shut down the City’s Senior Center and close the City’s swimming pool.

Once the animal shelter was closed and the employees were laid off, the Stephens County Humane Society took control of all of the animals at the shelter. They transferred all the animals out of the shelter, finding rescue homes for most of the animals, O’Shields said. The ones they couldn’t find homes for were placed in a local pet boarding facility. She said none of the animals were euthanized.

After the shelter was closed, any major animal control calls, like dog bites, were handled by the
Breckenridge Police Department. However, the BPD did not handle routine animal calls like the animal control officers had.

According to O’Shields, that’s when the animal control problems for Breckenridge started to spiral out of control. She said, while there have always been and likely always will be loose dogs, the situation got totally out of control after the shelter was closed.

The shelter was reopened partially for awhile and one person was hired as an animal control officer and to run the shelter. Although it was somewhat reopened, it was not handled in the same way it was handled before and the local animal ordinances were not enforced, O’Shields said.

Advocacy for the Animals

One of the roles that the SCHS plays in Breckenridge and Stephens County is as an advocate for the local animals. O’Shields and other members of the organization are not shy about speaking out on behalf of the animals, especially if they see a problem.

In January 2022, the Humane Society filed a formal complaint with the City after several malnourished dogs were found at the Breckenridge animal facility. The incident was investigated, and in October 2022, a former ACO pleaded guilty to the charge of Cruelty to Non-Livestock Animal, a class A misdemeanor. The defendant qualified for a Pre-Trial Diversion program and was put on probation for one year and ordered to pay a $500 fee, as well as $60 per month in probation fees and about $800 in restitution to the Humane Society.

Earlier this year, the Humane Society filed another complaint after City employees left a cat, which had previously been living in Breckenridge, at the remote City-owned property at Lake Daniel. The complaint requested that the police chief be reprimanded. The City maintains that the action was legal and did not take any action against the police chief.

At a Breckenridge City Commission meeting last month, several members of the SCHS spoke about the incident involving the cat at the lake and other things they see as ongoing problems with the overall animal control situation in Breckenridge. Click here to read more about that meeting.

Last week, O’Shields met with members of the City Commission and the Stephens County Commissioners Court in a joint workshop to discuss potential options for resolving some of those problems. One proposed scenario is for the Humane Society to take over the day-to-day operations of the animal shelter, while the City continues to provided enforcement of the animal-related ordinances. Both the City and the County would contribute financially to the running of the animal shelter. Click here to read more about that workshop.

Raising Funds

The Humane Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization and is funded through donations. They accept monetary donations, which may be made online via the SCHS’s PayPal account (click here) or their Venmo account (@StephensCountyHumaneSociety). Additionally, donations may be mailed in care of Kathy O’Shields at 606 W. Elm St., Breckenridge, Texas 76424.

Resale Shop

Volunteers Tena Houchin, left, and Sharon Wimberley, center, assist a customer at the Stephens County Humane Society’s Resale Shop on Saturday, Sept. 7. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

About 10 years ago, the SCHS opened a resale shop to help raise funds for the organization. Originally located across from the post office, in 2018 the thrift store was relocated to the Minnie L. (Sis) Clark Building at 210 N. Liveoak St. The building is owned by the City of Breckenridge, which allows the Humane Society to use the building.

The SCHS Resale Shop is open most Saturday’s from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This August, the shop was closed due to the heat. But, it is reopened now.

The shop accepts donations of gently used household items, books, toys, games, furniture and more. They do not accept clothing (there are other stores in town that accept used clothing). Donations may be taken to the shop on Saturday mornings, when the volunteers are there. Or, arrangements may be made for a volunteer to meet the donor at the shop at other times.

The organization also accepts donations of pet food, bedding, crates/carriers, pet toys, cat litter, and other animal supplies to be used for the dogs and cats that the SCHS is taking care of. To make a donation of pet supplies or to arrange to donate used items to the resale shop, call O’Shields at 254-559-2601.

The Stephens County Humane Society’s Resale Shop is located at 210 N. Liveoak St. It is open most Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/ Breckenridge Texan)

Annual Wags & Whiskers 5K and Fun Run

Every year since 2015, the SCHS has hosted the Wags and Whiskers 5K and Fun Run to raise funds.

This year, the event will take place Dec. 14 in the Breckenridge City Park.

The Breckenridge Texan will have details about registering for the 5K and Fun Run as soon as they are available.

Participants in the 2023 Wags and Whiskers 5K and Fun Run leave the starting gate in the fundraising event for the Stephens County Humane Society. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)

Other Fundraisers

Also in December, the organization will host a Santa photos fundraiser, where dogs and puppies can have their pictures taken with Santa.

In the past, the SCHS has had other types of fundraisers, including raffles for quilts and other donated items. Additionally, funds have been raised by kids who have held bake sales and others who requested donations to the Humane Society rather than birthday gifts.

Frequently, local obituaries include a request for donations to be made to the SCHS in lieu of flowers.

Volunteering

The Stephens County Humane Society has several opportunities for volunteers to assist with the organization. Direct help is often needed with fundraising and working at the thrift store.

Additionally, volunteers are needed to provide temporary foster homes for homeless pets. And, if the SCHS decides to take over the day-to-day operations of the local animal shelter, volunteers will likely be needed to help take care of the animals there.

For more information about joining the SCHS or volunteering to help, call O’Shields at 254-559-2601.

Cutline, top photo: Stephens County Humane Society President Kathy O’Shields, standing at the podium on the right, addresses the Breckenridge City Commission at its Aug. 6 meeting. Advocating for the animals in the community is one of the roles of the organization. (Photo by Tony Pilkington/Breckenridge Texan)