Maury County Animal Services is a Volunteer-Driven Shelter

The story at Maury County Animal Services in Columbia Tennessee, just southwest of Nashville is volunteers. Led by their new director, Kim, who started out as a volunteer at MCAS herself, they have transformed the shelter. Kim has been the director for just a year, but she’s infused the shelter with a positive, can-do attitude and inspired all kinds of improvements.

“Everything was ‘No’ before,” Kim said. So, she was excited to take the director job and be able to say ‘Yes’ to the ideas that volunteers had. Ideas like adding more play yards, bringing in Dogs Playing for Life to train staff and volunteers to run playgroups, building 2 miles of trails, and getting all the dogs out for 3 or 4 walks a day.

There were so many changes since our last visit. The shelter is open seven days a week to give more people access to adopt or to look for a lost dog. It’s open 12-6 on weekdays and 12-5 on the weekends.

Unlike in 2022, new intakes are vaccinated and named, even though they are in stray hold kennels, they get time outside, just like everyone else, instead of being restricted to their tiny kennel space. If potential adopters don’t find a dog they like in the adoptable kennels, they can even walk through the Stray Hold area and apply for dogs held there.

The kennels were still in the midst of renovations when we visited in February of 2025. The new kennels will have room for raised beds, and the new drainage system won’t prohibit toys like the old one did. The new kennel area will have three large windows added to bring in natural light.

Kim says the county government is very supportive of the shelter. While we were there, the highway department was hard at work clearing the extensive, tall brush in the fields in front of the shelter so that it would be more visible from the road. There is no sign for the shelter along the road in front, so visibility matters. (Hopefully, a shelter sign is one of the changes coming.)

A recent study by Shelter Planners of America (funded by the county) revealed that the shelter should ideally have 108 kennels to serve its population. MCAS has 55. As a managed intake shelter, MCAS does not take many owner surrenders and refuses some Good Samaritan turn-ins.

They do offer resources. They refer people who need food and supplies to the Paw Pantry of Maury County and have a new grant from PEDIGREE Foundation that will fund hands-on help from trainers to work with people to help them learn to manage their dogs and hopefully keep them home. If the owners are determined to give up their animals, they encourage them to try to rehome their pet themselves, giving them the information for online services that help.

The shelter asks some Good Samaritans to consider allowing the dog to serve its stray hold with the finder and have them brought in for spay/neuter surgery and veterinary attention. If the finder ultimately chooses to adopt the dog, they pay a reduced adoption fee.

The newest project is a Rainbow Bridge being built as a place to honor any dogs the shelter isn’t able to save. The wiring on the sides of the bridge will be a place to hang collars. Although MCAS only euthanizes for behavior or medical reasons, the bridge honors those dogs and the people who would have saved them if they could.

The shelter was swarming with volunteers while we were there and two people stopped by to apply to volunteer. The shelter handled 2400 dogs last year, so there are plenty of dogs available for walks, playtime, or to hangout out with ‘courage builders’. Courage builders are older volunteers who aren’t physically able to walk dogs but who instead spend time with dogs, petting them, chatting, and simply giving them the human attention they need. Wheeling around the enrichment cart like the lunch lady, volunteers dole out kongs, lick pads, or bones soaked in broth.

It was Tuesday, so their shelter vet, Dr. Spidel, was busy performing spay and neuter surgeries. Dr. Spidel is a large animal vet but is enjoying practicing shelter medicine, and Kim appreciates the common sense attitude she brings to their work. Dr. Spidel is willing to try options other vets might not, saving the shelter money and saving lives in the process.

The shelter tests any questionably healthy puppies/dogs for parvo on intake rather than risk exposing their population. This is not a cheap practice, but Friends of MCAS pays for this, in addition to heartworm treatment and lots of other needs that the average municipal shelter cannot afford. “Instead of making a decision on a life, we fundraise to save the animal. Every decision we make is about the animals.”

When it comes to the shelter, if the idea helps the animals, Kim is willing to try it. Leadership makes all the difference. Maury County is lucky to have an open-minded, open-hearted leader at the helm of its shelter who is bringing the change it needs.

If you’d like to encourage this volunteer-driven shelter, you can shop their Amazon wishlist: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/H74CZ12Q0QOQ

Or you can donate through their Friends of group: https://www.friendsofmcas.com/copy-of-donate

Until each one has a home,

Cara

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Who Will Let the Dogs Out: Stories and Solutions for Shelters and Rescues was published in January of 2025. It is filled with stories and ideas to help everyone be part of the solution. You can buy a hardback or paperback copy for yourself and/or buy a copy for a shelter or rescue through our website. It is also available on Amazon in paperback and ebook. We are looking for opportunities to share a presentation of the ideas in the book and facilitate conversations about how we can work together to find solutions for our shelters. If you have a dog-hearted group that would like to connect, contact Cara@wwldo.org.

To see our Emmy-nominated, award-winning short documentary, Amber’s Halfway Home, click here.

For more information on any of our projects, to talk about rescue in your neck of the woods, or partner with us, please email cara@WWLDO.org.