News
The Little Shelter That Could
June 08, 2009, 12:50PM MT
By Cheri Moon
Against all odds, a Tennessee shelter is making a difference for animals—but needs your help
Against all odds, a Tennessee shelter is making a difference for animals—but needs your help
By Turner Houston, Best Friends Network Volunteer
This is the story of a small animal shelter in rural Tennessee, the Gibson County Humane Society. Their story is one that inspires admiration and gratitude for the unrelenting dedication of the six volunteer staff members to rescuing dogs and finding them good homes.
$100 and a Good Idea
The Gibson County Humane Society is located in Yorkville, in the hills of Tennessee, between Trenton, Rutherford, and Churchton. Deborah Lowrance, a former police investigator, made the decision to join together her life-long love and interest in animal welfare with her investigative skills to start an adoption shelter in Gibson county. “My whole life, I’d always had a love for animals,” said Lowrance. “When I retired, I looked around and saw there wasn’t an adoption-type shelter for dogs in my county. There was a kill shelter, but not a rescue shelter and I thought we needed one. So I borrowed $100 from my sister-in-law (now the Treasurer of the shelter) and became state chartered on January 31, 2007. We obtained our 501(c)(3) status in March 2007.”
From there, Lowrance, her sister-in-law, and other volunteers began to hold town meetings throughout the county to raise awareness of the new shelter and their mission. “We did a lot of ‘four-way stops,’” Lowrance said. “Those are meeting that we’d hold wherever two roads came together with four stop signs. Even if there wasn’t a real town at that location, we’d go meet people and talk to them about the shelter and try to raise donations to care for our animal residents.”
Rescue, No Matter What
The shelter takes in any animal that needs rescuing, no matter what its condition. The Gibson County Humane Society has rescued dogs from abuse situations, from outright animal abandonment, from puppy mill rescues, and surrenders due to medical conditions.
“We don’t turn away any animal,” said Lowrance. “In fact, at one time, we had 17 pit bulls that we took in from abuse situations. And we adopted them all out to wonderful families who passed our background checks. It’s very important that we be very thorough with our placements because there are a lot of pit bull fight rings in this county.”
Since January 31, 2007—a mere twenty-eight months ago—the Gibson-County Humane Society has had 1,186 dogs from cruelty cases pass through the shelter on their way to adoptive homes. “We work hard to find the right home for every animal we have,” Lowrance said.
“We don’t get paid in money, but we do get paid well whenever we make the perfect match between a homeless pet and an adoptive family.” Lowrance stays in touch with the adopted pets she has placed, getting emails and phone calls from the new pet owners, and sometimes going to visit the animals in their forever homes.
Wycheck and Ryan Get Second Chances
Lawrence loves all of the animals she rescues, but some particularly stand out in her mind. The very first dog she rescued was Wycheck, a border collie that came out of an abusive situation and required more medical attention than they could afford. So Lowrance and her husband drove Wycheck to Best Friends where Dr. Mike Dix was able to repair Wycheck’s broken body, and where National Geographic’s “Dogtown” featured his story, and fans could follow his recovery on the website. Wycheck has since been adopted and is living a wonderful life with James and Andrea in Chicago.
Wycheck is a loving boy.
Another dog who remains in Lowrance’s heart and mind is Ryan, a dog that had been abandoned on a dirt cul-de-sac in the Tennessee woods. The local police had called Lowrance one evening after hours when animal control wasn’t available, and asked her to get the dog, transport him to the vet and have him euthanized. When Lowrance got to the cul-de-sac, she found Ryan lying in the dirt, immobile, looking at her with “a lost look that made me think he’d given up. He couldn’t move, so I carried him to my car and drove him to the vet who said he just wasn’t an adoptable dog—he was too far gone. But something about him made me not want to give up on him, so I took him home.”
Lowrance spent a month massaging and gently exercising Ryan’s legs, trying to get him to move both legs by himself. She also pulled buckshot pellets out of his ears and realized he’d been shot. “Ryan’s a miracle dog. After a month, he was able to stand up and he slowly began walking again. We realized he’s blind, but nothing stops this dog. He follows me everywhere, goes up and down stairs, goes anywhere he wants to. I wish we could afford to get his eyesight worked on—we know he’s blind in one eye, but the other eye looks like it should be fine, but it isn‘t.” Ryan was once placed in a home, but the resident dog at that home couldn’t adjust to another dog, so Lowrance has taken him back and will have him be her assistant at the shelter. “He’s going to be our forever dog,” she says.
Right now, Lowrance and her supportive husband have 10 adult dogs and 16 puppies at their home. The Gibson-County Humane Society has about 30 resident puppies and 30-40 adult dogs. “If it weren’t for my husband—his financial and emotional support—I don’t think we could do this,” said Lowrance when asked how she keeps the shelter operational.
Shelter Operates Without Any Government Funding
“This is not a wealthy community and we don’t get any local support—or any city, county, or state funding at all. I’m not going to say it’s easy, but with the help of organizations like Best Friends who have helped us so many times with funding issues, we’ve gotten a building that we’ve been renovating—very slowly, but steadily, with the help of our Assistant Director, Arlinda Statton , her family and volunteers.
We have the privacy fencing up and the kennels are pretty much complete by now. We don’t have any A/C for the animals, but we did put good insulation in and we keep doors and windows open and there is good ventilation. I’m not sure how we’re going to be able to afford A/C… and the front of the building isn’t finished. Or the offices—we don’t have any walls set up yet. But I’m determined to open the shelter on June 8. In fact, I just got our new phone number today. It’s going to happen,” Lowrance said emphatically.
The work that the Gibson County Humane Society does, day in, day out, all year long isn’t possible unless supporters donate funds to help them keep going. “Best Friends has helped us many times, putting us in touch with donors. And the six of us are going to do some fund-raising to try to help complete the shelter, but that’s not scheduled until July,” said Lowrance when asked how she keeps the shelter going. “We could use some help, but we’re not slowing down in the meantime,” she said with determination and optimism.
How you can help The Gibson County Humane Society:
• DONATE whatever you can via the DONATE button on the at shelter’s website.
• Click on the Animal Rescue Site’s Shelter Challenge page to move the Gibson County Humane Society higher in the rankings, giving them a chance to win a $20,000 grant! You can vote every day and every vote will help them move closer to winning a financial grant that will enable them to do the desperately-needed work they do for animals in Tennessee.
Main stock photo by Clay Myers, Best Friends photographer
Photo of Wycheck courtesy of Deborah Lowrance
Posted by Cheri Moon, Best Friends network editor