Humane Society of Southeast Missouri celebrates 40th anniversary

When the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri began in 1976, Gynel Nickell was director and sheltered dozens of animals in her own home. That was before the purchase of the current facility near Route W in Cape Girardeau in 1978.

As the first director, Nickell nurtured the society through its early years and set standards for animal welfare in the area.

The society’s current director, Tracy Poston, was nurturing a similar goodwill environment Saturday afternoon as the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri celebrated its 40th anniversary, providing cake, cookies and cocoa to visitors. It also offered a discounted adoption rate of $40 for most animals.

Some attendees came to make donations, such as 10-year-old Lindsey Ringstaff, who made a Christmas donation of animal supplies and $15 of her money to the organization.

Others, such as the Stephens family, came with hopes for adoption.

Jason and Jessica Stephens finalized plans to adopt Max, a mix that included pit bull, who will help their 5-year-old daughter, Mercy, with her vision disability.

“[Mercy] has a hard time seeing in her lower field of vision, so Max is being trained specially for her to be a helper dog,” Jason Stephens said. “Obviously, he’ll be a family dog for everybody, so it’ll bring a lot of fun for the family, but it also brings some help for her.”

The family has been working with the program to acquire a service dog since September. Mercy said the wait was “pretty long,” but tolerable, thanks to her family dog, Ozzie.

Mercy plans to teach Max how to play fetch once he completes the Pups for Parole program.

Eight animals were adopted in the opening hours of the event, with two of the dogs testing as heartworm positive.

Debbie Etherton adopted one of the heartworm-positive dogs as a Christmas surprise for her daughter, Haleigh Givens.

Givens said she is drawn to animals that appear less likely to be adopted, and the dog appealed to her on a previous visit.

Grant funding helps secure treatments for dogs that may be less desirable because of medical conditions, helping with medical costs for those who adopt.

Givens’ dog was one of the society’s older residents, according to Humane Society employee Kenny Steakman, who expected the animal’s ailment to hinder its chances at adoption.

“He’ll still have the heartworms for the rest of his life, but he’ll be OK,” Steakman said. “She’s basically saving this dog’s life.”

“Treatments can cost around $400 to $500, so people are kind of wary of the cost,” director of development Jennifer Sokolowski said. “As soon as they hear that, the dog usually gets put back.”

Lately, that has not been the case for the local organization.

According to Sokolowski, three or four of its longest residents have been adopted this holiday season, including one adoptee who had been there for six months.

“We’ve gone from having really high euthanasia rates in years past to now we can call ourselves no-kill with dogs,” Poston said.

Adoption rates have steadily increased since the society’s inception. Among the 3,150 animals received last year, 1,542 animals were adopted, 592 went to rescue, and 321 animals were returned to their owners.

Poston said she believes the society’s success has been a product of hard work and concern.

“We work really, really hard to do what we do on a limited budget, and we all are here for the right reasons,” she said. “We just care about the animals.”

bmatthews@semissourian.com

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