Kansas City Area Resident to Volunteer Time, Expertise, to Help Animals Displaced by Disasters

Karla Schulte of Shawnee Named EARS Regional Director

SACRAMENTO (August 22, 2008) – United Animal Nations (UAN) is pleased to welcome Karla Schulte of Shawnee, Kansas as a Regional Director with its Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS), which shelters and cares for animals displaced by natural disasters and other crises, such as criminal seizures and hoarding cases.

As an EARS Regional Director, a volunteer position, Schulte will monitor situations that may affect animals in Iowa, Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska; network with emergency management and animal control agencies in those states; and work with local authorities to operate temporary shelters for displaced animals as needed.

Schulte became an EARS volunteer in 2001. This summer, she spent two weeks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, leading a team of EARS volunteers at a temporary shelter for animal flood victims. In June 2007, she deployed with EARS to care for more than 100 animals displaced by the tornado that destroyed Greensburg, Kansas and trapped cats who had been living in the rubble for more than a month.

“Karla brings significant experience managing people and caring for animals to the EARS volunteer leadership team,” said UAN Director of Programs Karen Brown. “Just a few weeks after being named a Regional Director, she jumped in to manage more than one dozen EARS volunteers at a temporary shelter for animal flood victims in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.” 

Schulte is an administrative manager with Hallmark Cards, a volunteer and board member of the Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, and co-chair of the annual Dog N Jog fundraising race in Kansas City. 

“I have four pets of my own and they inspire me every day to help animals who are the unfortunate victims of disasters, cruelty and neglect,” Schulte said. “I am grateful for this opportunity to promote emergency preparedness in Kansas and surrounding states as a member of the EARS team.”

UAN has more than 4,000 EARS volunteers in the United States and Canada, including eight regional directors. Since 1987, UAN’s EARS volunteers have responded to more than 80 disasters, including a series of wildfires in Butte County, California in 2008; the Greensburg, Kansas tornado in 2007; a power outage in St. Louis in 2006 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Founded in 1987, United Animal Nations is North America ’s leading provider of emergency animal sheltering and disaster relief services and a key advocate for the critical needs of animals.

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