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Events

Our history:

The effort to provide shelter for abandoned pets in Madison County began in the late 1980s from a grassroots effort of several citizens who were concerned about stray dogs and cats in the county.
In 1997, the group registered as a non-profit 501(c)(3) corporation. In 1998, the county gave the MCPS permission to build a shelter on county-owned land south of the Recycling Center.
The shelter building became a reality because so many in Madison County, Arkansas, gave of their time, talent, and resources. Skilled craftsmen worked at cost or for free, many people donated money and materials, and many more put in hours of sweat.
 

We changed our name:

In the fall of 2014, the Madison County Pet Shelter, Inc. board voted to change the doing-business-as name to Paws and Claws Pet Shelter. Our DBA name is registered with the Arkansas Secretary of State. The board had two reasons for making this change:

1) To emphasize that the shelter is not a government entity: The pet shelter is a private non-profit 501(c)(3) tax exempt charity that relies on private donations to help homeless pets in Madison County, Arkansas.
 
2) To emphasize the change in management philosophy. The board rejected the conventional, nationwide shelter practice of killing pets to make room. Today, the Paws and Claws Pet Shelter staff finds loving homes for the nearly 500 pets we care for each year. The new name emphasizes the change.

Jim MacLean DVM, one of the founders of Madison County Pet Shelter, stepped off the board but
not away from the shelter.

After more than 30 years of involvement, Dr. Jim MacLean relinquished his position  Jan. 18, 2017, as a board member and past president for the local nonprofit charity, Paws and Claws Pet Shelter.
Until his retirement from veterinary medicine in 2016, Dr. MacLean cared for thousands of animals at Madison County Pet Shelter, DBA Paws and Claws Pet Shelter, between 2002 and 2016.
See the man in the background above? That's Jim MacLean in 1987, the glue that bound volunteers concerned about animal welfare together with the larger population in Madison County. His persistence as an advocate for the proper treatment of stray dogs and cats helped many county residents over the decades.

Dr. MacLean helped implement the move in 2014 from conventional shelter practices to the shelter's current practice of finding a home for all homeless pets in the shelter's care. His support was invaluable. His plans include continued volunteering with the shelter, but in a more relaxed way, interspersed with lots of gardening.  Everyone at Paws & Claws wishes him the very best in retirement!

Board Members
Spring 2019

President -- Alice Jackson
Vice-president -- Chris France DVM
Secretary -- Abby Burnett
Treasurer -- Megan Merriman
Member -- Carol Horton
Member -- Judy Goodwin
Member -- Jesse Burkes
Member -- Pam Montoya
Member -- Bonnie Rodgers
Member -- Open

Director -- Shonna Harvey