Against the odds: animal rescuer Karol Wilcox
In few fields will you find the devotion, dedication, and passion, that you’ll see observing the people in animal rescue. If you hang around a person who works animal rescue for any amount of time, you’ll soon determine they’re certainly a breed all their own.
Animal rescuers are die hard individuals that persevere at seemingly impossible tasks. They rise to the occasion and overcome great obstacles to achieve their goals.
For them, the hours are long and the work is hard and nasty. Many times the calls for help come long after regular business hours, during weekends and vacations, and even during inclement weather. They don’t question the circumstances, they just go.
There is no glamour or glory and the goal is simple; rescue animals and save them from their circumstance. Shelter them, feed them, mend them, and love them; and when all of that has been taken care of, they find that animal a real home.
Rescuers, they do it all without complaint.
They are a diverse group of people with the drive, will, and determination that will stagger the average person. They come from all walks of life, all races, and all economic levels. And together they form a cohesive force to provide animals with hope for a decent life. They are the type of people who can stare into the face their own mortality and say, “Not now, I have things to do,” and go on about their daily routines.
Some folks feel called to perform animal rescue and other times it’s something that seems to just fall into ones lap, and fits. For those up to the challenge it’s something that once they are into it, they may never get away from it. It simply becomes a way of life.
Karol Wilcox is one such person, and she’s one of those who found her calling, out of the blue, and seemingly overnight. And like all good rescuers she’s overcome circumstance that many folks would find impossible to battle.
In 2006 Karol worked an assistant newspaper editor and worked with numerous civic organizations. Through these avenues she met a board member of the Caruthersville Humane Society who invited Karol to attend board meetings held for the shelter.
After attending several meetings, and board members recognizing Karol’s potential, she was asked to preside as president for The Caruthersville Humane Society Board of Directors. The board voted on it, and Karol accepted.
Although a lifetime lover of animals, Karol never expected she would be in such a position. She wasn’t sure even at that point where it all might lead.
Shortly after taking the title of president, Karol received a call from county deputies who asked for her help. They had taken custody of two animals that were in very poor condition; Pit Bull dogs that were so thin and malnourished their ribs could be counted among open wounds on their bodies.
Karol met the deputies at the shelter, and there she stayed, nursing the dogs that were beyond any medical help; holding them, and showing them love and compassion as they both passed away in the night. It was then Karol knew she had found her calling as she vowed to stop the suffering of animals, with any means in her power.
Karol saw to it that the dog’s owners were charged and prosecuted for their crimes.
Working with Kyle Held, investigator for the ASPCA, Karol has been involved in dozens of rescues for domestic animals of almost every kind. She became the Chief Animal Investigative Officer for The Caruthersville Humane Society keeping a watchful eye on Caruthersville as well as Pemiscot County and surrounding areas. She’s brought charges against dozens of people who’ve committed crimes against animals, regardless of their rank in society. Not even city mayors are immune to her commitment to the animals.
The Caruthersville Humane Society handles approximately 300 animal cruelty/neglect complaints per year, all of which are led by Karol.
In Oct. 2010, Karol was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. The following month she underwent a radical mastectomy. Further treatments were delayed for almost three months due to serious infections and other complications from the surgery and the disease.
When treatments took place in early 2011 there came more complications. The cancer itself had brought out of remission a previous medical condition. And that condition came back with fury causing further delays, complication with treatment, and even more misery for Karol.
Spring 2011 came and rain poured down on the Midwest and caused catastrophic flooding in Missouri and other surrounding states. River towns were naturally hit the hardest as rivers and streams rose out of their banks driving people from their homes and off their land. Some had a few days warning but many did not, and they had to flee immediately with only what they could carry out with a few hours notice.
And along with all those people who suddenly found themselves homeless were their pets. And not just house pets like dogs and cats, but farm animals like horses, cows, turkeys, chickens, and rabbits. There were hundreds in the Caruthersville area alone, with no place to go.
But as soon as the water had begun to rise, and the river stage predictions started rolling in, Karol knew that Caruthersville and its residents, nestled right along side of the great Mississippi River, were in serious trouble. She knew people would be displaced and she was well aware that many had animals that would have no place to stay when their owners were forced out of their homes.
Supported by the efforts of the ASPCA, Caruthersville Humane Society launched one of the largest animal rescues on the books for Southern Missouri.
Over the next three months, the Caruthersville Humane Society and the ASPCA took in, sheltered, fed, vetted, vaccinated and cared for, over 600 animals. Pet owners who could return for their pets did so when they we able. For those pets whose owners could not return for them, there was a mega adoption event held at the shelter. Members of the community arrived in droves to support the event and show their love and compassion for animals; many of whom, adopted pets.
Each one of the flood animals were either reunited with their owners, or were found new homes in which to live out their days. Only two animals perished (due to illness) during the whole event, and not a single animal was lost.
And where was Karol Wilcox, President of the Board/ Chief Animal Investigative Officer, through all of this? Was she home resting and recovering during her treatment for cancer as instructed by her doctors? Was she licking her wounds and taking it easy as everyone suggested she should be?
Well of course not. She was right where, anyone who knows Karol, would expect to find her; right in the thick of it all.
She had enlisted the help of the APSCA as soon as the warning signs for the flood were apparent. She worked and assisted with every facet of the rescue and no one involved will deny her presence was a driving force behind the whole affair. Her determination and passion to work the rescue, despite the caner she was fighting, was an inspiration to all who know her, and even many who didn’t.
Since the flood, things have calmed from the chaos it was at the shelter during the early spring and summer months, and Karol is back to the “normal” business of being president of the board for the Caruthersville Humane Society and Chief Animal Investigative Officer. The word “normal” is used lightly because in the world of animal rescue things are anything but normal.
Karol continues, after extended and additional complications, to take treatments for her cancer. The drugs used in her treatment have done extensive damage to her heart and continue to escalate other health issues present. And although she must periodically stop the treatments to take care of complications, she hopes to be finished with them by the coming summer. She has good days and bad days, but she wakes up thankful for each and every one.
Also continuing are Karol’s efforts for animal welfare. Throughout everything she has endured over the past year, she’s not missed a single board meeting, function, or cruelty/neglect case that’s come before her. She continues to regularly work animal cruelty/neglect cases, even if against her doctor’s orders and her own good senses. She helps find homes for animals taken into the shelter and attends functions to promote the Caruthersville Humane Society. She worked a sizable rescue as recently as October of this year where 27 animals were saved from horrid conditions.
Karol sacrifices herself every day for her passion, and she does it all as a volunteer. She does not receive a single penny for her efforts; no monetary compensation of any kind.
If you ask Karol why she works so hard, and without any pay, she’d laugh at you and tell you it’s not about the money. It’s all about the animals.
It’s all about helping God’s creatures; those that cannot help themselves. It’s about stepping up and speaking for those who have no voice. It’s about justice. It’s about seeing an animal that comes in hopeless and broken and later watching it go into a loving home. It’s about seeing the look on people’s faces when they discover the pet they just can’t live without.
To put it simply, it’s about making a difference. And for Karol Wilcox, it’s what she says she knows she was put on this earth to do.
Article originally published on Examiner.com Dec. 23, 2011
Author copyright © Gila Todd
