In the shadow of the Rocky Mountains in Central Eastern Colorado lies the small town of Canon City. Suffice it to say that even including the surrounding communities, the population isn’t enough to qualify as a (to borrow a baseball expression) "minor league town". That doesn’t stop Tom Cameron and his staff from running a major league operation at The Humane Society of Fremont County. We knew from our dealings with Fremont that they were conscientious and diligent in their work, yet when we arrived for a visit in mid July, our crew was pleasantly surprised by the quality and spotless cleanliness of the facility. Plenty of healthy looking dogs and cats in large, clean kennels, and features like contact rooms where potential pet owners can spend some time getting to know their new best friend are what you will find here.

LONG TERM SUCCESS The humane society was founded in 1950 by Ralph J. Wann, a Canon City businessman and animal lover, who paid for the construction of the original shelter. After finding neither the City of Canon City nor the County of Fremont interested in running the shelter, Mr. Wann set up a charitable foundation and donated his own stocks which to this day help to keep the shelter going. Walter Jenks, President of the Board of Directors for the shelter believes that "the trust and support of the citizens of all the surrounding communities" and "a close knit Board of Directors" have been major factors in the success of The Humane Society of Fremont County for the past 49 years. The shelter has also had contracts with several of the surrounding communities over the years.

You could say that the folks at Fremont are lucky to have a private foundation to provide support for their activities, but they are not just sitting back and watching the checks roll in. The staff has come up with a couple of creative ideas for fundraising, most notably their annual yard sale. Office Manager, Diana Warren, who has been with the humane society for ten years, describes it as the "Disneyland of yard sales". The community donates "thousands of items from clothing to computers, housewares to holiday decorations" according to Diana. A very successful Christmas food drive (which provides food for the pets for an average of 6 months!), and year-round collection of aluminum cans for recycling (organized by Juan Carlos Chavez) round out the fund-raising activities at Fremont.

LEADERSHIP

Tom Cameron started with the Humane Society of Fremont County in 1991 as a kennel attendant, and now manages the shelter. So does the captain of this tight ship have any advice or experiences to share with other humane societies? We talked to Cameron about what he feels is important in running a top-notch facility:

1. Always be true to yourself.
2. Careful selection of volunteers and staff.
3. Keep your community aware of what is going on in order to help slow down the overpopulation problem within it.
4. Try not to ‘save the world’ – you’ll definitely fail. But, know that through the work you do on a daily basis you have made a tremendous difference for the animals and the community.
5. Be sure that your agency and your local enforcement agencies (if you contract with them as an impound facility) are in sequence with each other.
6. Know that these are your animals and you have full authority to expect primary Vet care from potential adopters and a willingness to build a close bond with their newly adopted pet."

SUPPORT TEAM A staff that cares about what they are doing makes all the difference in any endeavor, and the staff at Fremont County shows that they care in everything that they do. The entire staff showed up for our visit (including those who had the day off), and we had a chance to ask them about their own pets. Tammy Cox, Feline Attendant, has two cats that she adopted from the shelter. Diana has adopted two dogs, Maggie and Weederman, and two cats, Tiger and Lerlene, all of which had behavioral problems when they arrived that were overcome in time.

The staff also had some thoughts to share on the role of humane societies in the community. Tammy believes: " The role of humane societies is to educate people that every animal needs a good home, and to be well cared for. We need to get the understanding that if everybody would spay or neuter their pets, the overabundance of pets would be reduced enough eventually that all pets could have a good home, eliminating the need for shelters, other than for lost animals, and completely eliminating the need for unnecessary euthanasia." A mission worth repeating, even among those who live it every day.