MISSION

The mission of Rusk County Pets Alive is to encourage a progressive community that sets the standard for rural areas on no-kill sheltering, educates pet owners on the care of animals, and transports shelter animals to partner rescues nationwide.

Lisa Waugh and Kelli Ballenger

Co-Founders

After meeting and discovering they both had the same vision and hopes for the community animals, Lisa and Kelli joined forces in 2018 to birth Rusk County Pets Alive. With the vision of increasing the live release rate of the animals coming through the shelter and turning the community into an example for other small rural communities they quickly began working with local leaders. Utilizing the methods from Maddie’s Fund, American Pets Alive, and many other resources and wonderful volunteers, they have currently built sustainable programs for the following:

Cat program with options for house cats, barn cats, porch cats.
Dog program that partners with other rescues for placement.
Transport program utilizing the organizations van to transport animals to safety.
Education program to help spread healthy animal welfare skills to young citizens.
Microchip program for community citizens.
Rusk County Animal Outreach Spay and Neuter surgery program.
• Rusk County Second Chance Initiative Prison Dog Program (partnership with Management and Training Corporation, County Rusk County Commissioners Court, Henderson Animal Center)

 

Lisa Waugh

Lisa Waugh is the co-founder of Rusk County Pets Alive!. She is a life-long resident of Henderson Texas with an all-consuming love for animals that led to helping with transports for years. In 2018 Lisa connected with Kelli Ballenger after the situation at the local shelter continued to become more dire. Together they chose to develop an organization based on the lifesaving practices of American Pets Alive & Maddie’s Lifesaving Academy to target the animals on the euthanasia list at the shelter. Lisa focuses on the Rusk County Pets Alive cat programs including a Barn Cat program, TNR, and a Ringworm medical ward. She also oversees social media for the organization.

 

Kelli Ballenger

Kelli Ballenger is Co-Founder of Rusk County Pets Alive!. After living in Austin, Texas for 27 years, she moved to Henderson, Texas to help with her family. Living in one of the nation’s largest no-kill cities and then moving to a community with a 70% kill rate in their shelter was a shock. With no local dog parks and very little consciousness of animal welfare, Kelli started petitioning for change and found a group of like-minded people. A community dog park has now been built and has added a wonderful space for humans and their dogs to gather. In addition, she also co-founded Rusk County Pets Alive! and is implementing data driven programs and practices from Maddie’s Lifesaving Academy to bring change and increase live release rates in local shelter. With Kelli’s experience from leadership roles in her career and in business she is able to combine those skills with the knowledge from Maddie’s Academy to bring a unique approach to building a sustainable organization to help change the culture and better the future for the animals.

Things we do

Things we do not do

  1. Take in strays from city or county citizens.

  2. Assist with medical needs for public animals or stray animals.

  3. Pick up stray animals in city or county.

  4. Take in public owner surrender animals.

  5. Trap animals.

  1. Take dogs and cats directly from the Henderson Animal Center.

  2. Provide community microchip events for citizens.

  3. Provide Spay and Neuter surgeries through Rusk County Animal Outreach for animals at Animal Center

  4. Provide educational talks to schools, churches, and organizations on healthy animal welfare practices.

  5. Partner with Management and Training Corporation, Rusk County Commission Court, Henderson Animal Center on Rusk County Second Chance Initiative Prison Dog Program.

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