Stray Hearts executive director steps down to volunteer position
Challenges still ahead for the animal shelter
Donna Karr, the executive director of Stray Hearts Animal Shelter, recently announced she plans to step down before the end of the month into a volunteer role at the shelter.
Karr is proud of the accomplishments she and her staff have made during the two years she’s held her role at the shelter. However, she doesn’t shy away from pointing out the inadequacies of the facility and the challenges that still lay ahead for her successor, who is still to be named.
“This building was put up in ‘95,’96. It was poorly built. And if we ever get a new building, I want to be first in line with the wrecking ball. It’s been a nightmare,” said Karr.
Unlike some other animal shelters, she said Stray Hearts doesn’t have guillotine doors for dog kennels to help separate the dogs from each other. These doors operate on a cable and pulley system that can be easily opened or closed without having to go into each kennel space. Other shelters, she points out, have separate ventilation systems in each room to help prevent diseases from spreading. She said one of the rooms in the main building has had trouble staying heated for the past week.
“And so our plumber has been here every day trying to fix it. And it’s one of the rooms where we put the moms and babies. And so it’s really not safe when you have to move them to another space or put them out into foster care,” said Karr.
Karr hopes they can also improve the drainage system so that every kennel has its own drain to prevent disease.
Space has also been an issue, she said, explaining that there’s no office meeting space and clinic areas are too small.
But she said it has come time to retire from her paid role as executive director, and leave the many remaining needed improvements to someone new.
“I’m getting close to 70. I’m tired, had some health issues. So I need to take care of myself,” said Karr, speaking on her retirement.
As executive director Karr has done extensive donor outreach, manages social media and is involved with major financial planning decisions.
But even though Karr is retiring she’s staying on to help volunteer in areas she’s built expertise in. This includes managing issues with the facility, located on St. Francis Lane in Taos, fundraising and possibly participating as an advisor for upcoming contract renegotiations with the Town of Taos and Taos County. She said the town and county used to cover one-third of the shelter’s expenses, but that’s since dropped to around 17 percent.
“So we’ve had to raise some money in other ways, and that’s with fundraising, from donors and from grants. We have a grant writing team now that does really well. They brought in about $250,000 last year. And then the rest is just donations from people,” said Karr.
Everything from utilities, payroll, food and medical supply costs have all been raised, according to Karr. She said thankfully they have about 160 active volunteers and have 30 employees that are dedicated and loving toward the animals. They did have staffing issues all year in 2021, she noted, but now only have two open positions.
“Inflation has just hit us in every which way you can think of,” said Karr.
Stray Hearts serves all of Taos County and even takes some animals from Colfax County. The next nearest animal shelter is in Española.
According to Karr, Northern New Mexico has a large stray dog population. The week of Feb. 2, Stray Hearts reported an intake of 19 dogs alone.
The problem of feral and stray dogs was almost nonexistent in Boulder, Colorado, where she lived and volunteered at an animal shelter. Here, she believes the problem lies with people letting their dogs loose. Another problem she’s seen is a large population of animals that are unvaccinated, making them susceptible to diseases like parvo and distemper.
One of the biggest challenges for her is spay and neuter services. She said that she’d like to have an indoor space at the facility to have spay and neuter services but due to financial constraints they’re currently trying to invest in a van to spay and neuter in instead. If they
get the van, they could potentially travel to Questa, Peñasco and remote areas. Currently, she can’t find a veterinarian to help out with that, so the project has been put on hold.
Despite roadblocks and challenges, Karr believes they’ve made a lot of improvements to the shelter since her time as executive director: They opened the cat cafe and resale store, Stray Hearts ReTails, in El Prado (1204 Paseo del Pueblo Norte) to bring additional income; they’ve also implemented the Fear Free Shelters method, which is a behavioral technique used to desensitize shy or undersocialized dogs and help them easier to adopt.
Listening and communicating with the community is the biggest piece of advice that she’d stress to
her successor. Karr said the shelter has had many criticisms in years past but found that taking a more transparent approach has gone a long way with many residents. To address this, they’ve posted on social media more frequently, sent out a biweekly email blast to donors and supporters and post their stats with the Taos News.
“I heard people appreciate that. They recognize it’s different now than it used to be and they feel a little more confident because they know what’s going on,” said Karr.
Originally hailing from Chicago, this is the first time that Karr worked at a nonprofit organization. Previously she was a mechanical engineer based in Boulder. She left Boulder for Taos’s unique character, local arts and access to the outdoors.
Despite the stressful nature of managing stray, neglected and abused dogs and cats — Karr said it’s worth it whenever she sees animals who stayed at the shelter for years but ultimately find their “forever home.”
“This is the best job I’ve ever had in my life. It really is, in terms of how rewarding it is to see how much of a difference you can make in a community,” said Karr.
Karr is allergic to cats, but has adopted four older dogs from the shelter and has had 50 dogs in her lifetime. She said she wants to keep lowering the average stay of animals at Stray Hearts.
“So I’m not giving up. I just can’t keep doing it all day, every day,” said Karr.
Donna Karr’s last day as executive director is Feb. 28.