Our Story

Parker Paws was founded in 2007 by Barbara Pursley as a volunteer group at the Weatherford Parker County Animal Shelter. In 2012, we went out on our own as an independent animal rescue to expand our ability to save more lives across North Texas.  

2012 – 2023: Operating as a foster-based rescue without an animal housing facility, Parker Paws rescued 3,525 pets. Our primary focus was owner surrenders (75% of intake) offering the community an alternative to the shelter and helping to reduce shelter overcrowding. Our intake was limited by available resources – funds and foster homes. Our foster pets were spayed/neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped prior to adoption. Many pets only needed the basics, e.g., age-appropriate vetting, including wormer, vaccines (including rabies), microchip, spay/neuter, and start them on heartworm and flea prevention.  Others came to us injured and in need of major medical care. During this time in our history, we prided ourselves in adopting 3,086 fully vetted, family-friendly pets that did well in diverse homes.

2019-2022: We partnered with area vet clinics providing 67 low-cost microchips to community pet owners to help reunite pets with owners more quickly and reduce shelter overcrowding.

We cannot adopt our way out of a pet overpopulation problem.

We must fix it! Please spay and neuter.

– Author Unknown

Realizing that rescue is just a Band-Aid that doesn’t address the root of the problem, we expanded our services to include community outreach programs to help reduce shelter overcrowding and companion pet overpopulation.

2020: The Spay Neuter Incentive Program (SNIP) was born to help our overwhelmed shelter and community in a different way. By partnering with area vet clinics, we are able to offer low/no-cost spay and neuters to pet owners who cannot otherwise afford it for their pets. Every pet spayed equals 15 possible offspring per year not being born!

2020-2024: Parker Paws made a significant impact in our community by providing 1,247 low/no-cost spay and neuter surgeries to pet owners needing financial assistance. We also partnered with the Weatherford Shelter to sponsor 4 Whiskers Wednesdays (2023-2024) which resulted in 411 spay/neuters for community cats.

December 2023: We closed our foster program 2022 and partnered with Allie’s Haven Animal Rescue in 2023, transferring our remaining foster pet and foster homes to them. This allowed our fosters an opportunity to get back to doing what they are passionate about, saving lives and finding pets forever families! With that partnership, Allie’s Haven also agreed to accept adoption returns, giving previous adopters an alternative to surrendering their pets to a shelter.

August 2024: Retirement, resignations and relocation, left us unsuccessful in filling key leadership positions such as President, Vice President, and various other roles since 2022. After 17 years of dedicated service to the animals and families in our community, the board made the difficult decision to cease operations and endow other animal welfare organizations with funds to continue our mission and serve our community. This decision was not made lightly, and it came after extensive deliberation and consideration of our current volunteer resources and the sustainability of our programs.

October 2024: Parker Paws accepted our final SNIP applications and scheduled surgeries into early November. The remaining 79 pets on the waitlist were issued pre-paid vouchers to honor our commitment to approved applicants for our SNIP program.

December 31, 2024: As Parker Paws closes our doors, we are incredibly proud of the work we have accomplished together and the positive impact we made in our community. We are deeply grateful for the unwavering support from our volunteers, donors, adopters, and community partners as we evolved over the years from a shelter volunteer group to an independent animal rescue then to an animal welfare group concentrating solely on spay and neuter for our community’s owned pets as we place a greater emphasis on helping to prevent unwanted litters. Your generosity and dedication made it possible for us to make a difference in the lives of so many pets!

Our legacy will live on with the help of 3 organizations: Allie’s Haven Animal Rescue, C.A.R.E. and Weatherford Whiskers who received SNIP Grant money from Parker Paws to help them assume the work we have been doing with SNIP through their own spay/neuter programs beginning 1/1/2025.

We hope you will extend the same generous support to these organizations that you’ve so kindly given us over the years. Together, let’s continue to serve our community and make strides in reducing pet overpopulation and continue Parker Paws’ legacy!

Thank you for being a part of our journey!

Parker Paws Board of Directors