Litter and litters, Rogers makes animals’ lives better
Hometown Hero Shelly Rogers is a champion of all furry creatures.
Rogers and her husband have fostered 120 dogs through the Chico Animal Shelter since 2012. Rogers started a nonprofit in 2017 called Friends of the Chico Animal Shelter to raise money for the shelter’s medical funds and other shelter needs. FOCAS has raised thousands of dollars to help shelter animals. The Rogers have also fostered around 60 kittens since 2013.
Rogers is the board president and works hard trying to raise money and bring awareness to the shelter. She was unemployed when she started volunteering at the Chico Animal Shelter.
“I had just left a job I was unhappy at and started volunteering at the shelter,” Rogers said. “I asked them to give me clerical work. I didn’t want to work with animals. A staff member said you should foster a dog and I said I would give it a try.”
Rogers’ first dog was a Labrador.
“I adopted a senior yellow lab who had lumps and bumps and he got adopted two weeks later,” she said. “It was very fast.”
Rogers’ fostering helps to get the animals adopted quickly.
“A big obstacle to fostering is you think you want to keep the animal and not want to give it up,” Rogers said. “I have found that although that is difficult, it got easier over the years. There is something within me to take a dog in, love it, and pass it on to its forever home.”
The Rogers themselves own two cats.
Rogers is taking care of Shelly right now, a terrier mix puppy. Shelly is eight months old and weighs eight pounds.
“She’s a doll,” Shelly Rogers
said.
Those interested in fostering can fill out an online adoption form on the Chico Animal Shelter website. Once the application is filled out the app is sent to Rogers and she sets up a time to have an interested potential owner meet the dog.
“Fostering has increased my love of animals,” Rogers said. “Animals have such a capacity for forgiveness. Some of the dogs I foster have not had the greatest life, but once they get to my house, they become a
dog again and learn how to love humans again.”
Rogers said she is more of a dog person but also loves fostering kittens.
“Nothing is as cute as a kitten,” she said.
Rogers said the shortest amount of time she has fostered an animal is eight days. She had one animal for seven months,
“I ask the shelter for dogs who are more difficult to adopt,” she said. “Often they are seniors and unsocialized and scared of humans.”
She sometimes takes in
dogs who are in “fospice” or end of life.
“They might have only six months to live,” she said. “They have a good quality of life and live with us until the end.”
Rogers said when she brought home her first foster animal it was a surprise to her husband.
“He was OK with it and has gotten hooked on it too,” she said. “I told him it was our temporary dog, and I hoped for the best.”
Among her many talents, Rogers also picks up litter with a group of people, which she started doing in 2015.
“It’s so rewarding picking up litter,” she said. “I do it on my own too. It’s a slippery slope because you start seeing trash everywhere and want to pick it up.”
Rogers documents her litter pick ups on Instagram.
“It’s so impactful when I post photos on Instagram,” she said. “I post before and after photos. I encourage others to come out. Someone will come out and say I love doing this and they get hooked.”
Rogers said her goal is to bring awareness to the Chico Animal Shelter.
“They are the municipal shelter run by the city. It used to be called the pound and was a scary place. The shelter has done a 180. They take the highest care of animals and have (the) highest integrity. It’s kind of overlooked,” she said.
Rogers deeply admires what the Chico Animal Shelter does.
“I see the miracles they are working with animals,” she said. “It’s the reason I got into this. They are amazing.”
Rogers said she wondered why her husband was asking her about all of the organizations she worked with, and she had an inkling she might be nominated for Hometown Heroes.
She also works with an organization called and volunteers with Bidwell Wildlife Rehabilitation.
“I’m so lucky to be able to do this,” she said.
She takes in all manner of birds and mammals and is the mammal intake volunteer.
“I’m the first stop for mammals,” she said. “I have 200 wildlife babies come through my house.”
She assesses them and passes them on to another volunteer and is also on the board of Bidwell Wildlife Rehabilitation.
Rogers grew up in Santa Rosa. She moved to Chico to attend Chico State in 1991 and never left.
“I encourage people to get involved,” Rogers said. “When I fostered my first dog in 2012, that led me down the road to get involved with animal welfare. There is so much work to do out there. Take that first step and contact who you want to volunteer with. It could change your life.”
Rogers’ husband, Eric Rogers, nominated her for Hometown Heroes.
“He’s my biggest champion and supporter,” Rogers said. “I couldn’t do it without him. He puts up with a lot.”
Rogers is thrilled to be a part of the heroes who were nominated.
“I’m honored to be a part of this group,” she said.