Let's Dish

Giving Animals a Voice with the Help of the Community: Kacy Hendricks

• Mayor Baine Brooks • Season 1 • Episode 5

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What happens when a moment of unexpected heroism leads to a lifelong mission of compassion? Join us for an inspiring conversation with Kacy Hendricks from Hopes Rescue and Recovery Angels, where we uncover the journey sparked by their Dalmatian, Hope. Casey shares how a chance encounter with a dog in distress became the foundation of a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing animals of all kinds, from dogs and cats to coyotes and raccoons. Equipped with innovative techniques like using liquid smoke to guide lost pets, Kacy gives us a glimpse into the unique challenges and victories that come with each rescue. This episode champions the spirit of volunteerism and the invaluable contributions of individuals like Miss Carrie Cessna, as well as the supportive community in Allen, Texas, that fuels their mission.

Discover the heartwarming story of a neighborhood united to save a lost dog and the pivotal role played by Hope's Rescue Angels. Hear how the dedication of neighbors helped turned a desperate situation into a triumphant rescue, highlighting the power of community collaboration and empathy. We also delve into the organization's commitment to public education on dog behavior and safety, emphasizing the importance of community support to sustain their life-saving work. Tune in to learn how you can be a part of this incredible movement and support Hope's Rescue Angels through their website and social media platforms.

Baine Brooks:

Welcome to Let's Dish. My name is Baine Brooks and I'm the mayor of the city of Allen, and I'm here today with Kacy Hendricks from Hopes Rescue and Recovery Angels. It's an animal rescue organization. It's exciting to have you here. I had the opportunity to see you work and what you do and I just want to hear your story. I mean, what motivated you to do what you do?

Kacy Hendricks:

Well, years ago I volunteered for another search and rescue nonprofit that the dog was in a car accident and nobody could find her for five, six days. The owners were in the hospital. The owners were in the hospital. I went out there and volunteered and within 33 minutes I found her. That feeling of being able to save an animal is I'm getting goosebumps just thinking about that. It was made national news she had a broken leg, had to have it amputated. But from there I was a board member for that rescue and over time I saw the need for more trapping specialists is kind of what people call us and I decided you know what? My little girl Hope, who is my Dalmatian. She's my 11-year-old Dalmatian. She gives me that hope every day and she saved me a long time ago and now we're helping save other dogs. Explain, how does your organization work so people will contact us through Facebook call. It's basically word of mouth. We do both lost pets and elusive strays to help those animals out that don't have a voice. We are their voice.

Baine Brooks:

So do you mainly just work with recapturing dogs, or are there other animals that you involve we?

Kacy Hendricks:

do cats as well. We've consulted for coyotes and bobcats as well. Bobcats are very difficult to capture because they want that live prey. Our equipment is designed for dogs and cats. We've done possums, we've done raccoons that were injured, but in that case we have to have a wildlife expert on hand because they would need to be sedated to get out of the trap. So that's very, very unusual. But we have done a koi dog, which is a hybrid of a coyote and dog. You don't want them crossbreeding like that because then it dilutes and then you also have those animals approaching humans and we don't want that.

Baine Brooks:

Oh wow. So you know, during the process I saw you using different tools, different pieces of food, your cage, but the one thing that I saw you use that was kind of interesting and it had an aggressive smell to it. It was a liquid product that you were just spraying everywhere. Yeah, what was that?

Kacy Hendricks:

That's liquid smoke. Okay, so it is a grilling tool. We buy it by the gallon. We can sprinkle it around the area around the food. What that does is helps lead them to the food of where we want them to go. They will follow that smell because it is a very strong smell. My kids, when I get home, even know what I've been doing because of that smell. But then that way we're not dropping food, because if we're making a line of food to the feeding station, once they get to the feeding station they're full and you have to worry about ants during the warmer months. So we use the liquid smoke.

Baine Brooks:

It was very interesting to watch. That draws them to it. You know I saw you had a helper with you. Yes, that happens. Used to work here at the City of Allen. Yes, tell me a little bit about her.

Kacy Hendricks:

Miss Carrie Cessna. She doesn't like the limelight, she likes to kind of be in the background of things, but she is my right and left hand and my right and left leg too, so she keeps an eye on me so I can keep an eye on the animals and make sure that they are safe. She knows exactly what to do, how I work, how I'm thinking, exactly what to do, how I work, how I'm thinking.

Baine Brooks:

But our volunteers here in Allen are incredible. You just spoke about Allen and what makes Allen a great place for your organization.

Kacy Hendricks:

We moved here probably about 11 years ago. I've just seen the community come together and the support, the Allen Animal Shelter, the staff there, are unmatched. Um, they truly are passionate about what they do. Um, if we do, they give us a call and say, hey, we've been trying to get this, this dog or cat. Um, we haven't been able to get them. Can you help? And I will pick up the phone anytime debbie gives me a call or any of the other ladies and gentlemen, and they are first priority. Alan helped build us. The community helped raise money to buy my very first trap.

Baine Brooks:

Oh, wow.

Kacy Hendricks:

And it was local neighbors just on next door Wasn't on Facebook, but it was on next door and people saw the need and how busy I was. You don't think you need us until you do.

Baine Brooks:

Yeah, I get it, so tell me a little bit about your organization in regards to how do you fund it.

Kacy Hendricks:

So we are a 501c3 non-profit. We operate solely on donations, grants. We have received a few grants that actually we had our my 2010 Honda Odyssey kind of died on us with 186,000 miles. It has saved a lot of lives, but this past June we had to make a change and finally got a truck to take all the traps and the equipment. And you saw my truck, it was very full.

Baine Brooks:

Very full.

Kacy Hendricks:

And it stays that way, typically because I can get a call. We can get a call at any time.

Baine Brooks:

So when you're capturing a dog, you want him to run for a little bit and get tired. I mean explain to me.

Kacy Hendricks:

We want to back off and watch them. We do have equipment such as night vision, thermal. We have live cameras and those live cameras are cellular, so that's another expense that we have. We also have a storage unit that we have to house all of our traps, because we have just the regular box traps, but then we have traps anywhere from 10 by 12, 4 foot high all the way up to 10 by 10, 6 foot high. So we've got custom-made trigger systems so I can press a button and the door will close. I can be half a mile away. So a friend of mine who runs Dalmatian Rescue of Colorado her husband is an electrical engineer and has customized our equipment for us.

Baine Brooks:

Well, I saw, one of the first things that you did was putting up a camera in the tree. So can you, how do you, how do you, I mean explain that?

Kacy Hendricks:

I have an app it's Reolink, and it is a live camera. I can remote in and pan it from side to side, up and down, so I can see. I can follow the dog and see where they're going, where they came from. We just purchased a new one that actually follows the moving object by itself, so I don't have to pan. But it is also about three to four times larger than the camera that you saw.

Baine Brooks:

You know, I saw you luring that dog in, but you had another dog with you.

Kacy Hendricks:

Yes.

Baine Brooks:

Explain the process.

Kacy Hendricks:

So that was Camper. Camper was a stray herself out at Camp Lake, levon, hence the name Camper. She is 25% lab Alaska, malamute and great pyrenees. She's got a couple other things uh breeds in her, but she loves going out searching with me.

Kacy Hendricks:

Um, she has a very calm demeanor very calm and she is stuck by my side and when I tell her, you know, give her the command. She also knows hand signals. I wanted to test with Lily, the Sheltie that you guys were trying to get, if they would be okay together, if they would be okay together. And I saw that change when I approached her and Camper came up and you could just see that sense of, oh, another dog. And that bond between dogs is much stronger, much greater than it is with human and dog. So oftentimes I will use them as what we call a magnet dog and help calm the other dog so we can approach them. Camper and I led her over to the trap and just sat there calmly and let her dance around. And you got to see that little dance around us trying to discover what was going on. And she probably smelled the liquid smoke too.

Baine Brooks:

Yeah, I saw your dog just real calm walking, just calm walking, and then she is it a she Uh-huh. She went over to the cage, kind of close to the cage, and just sat and watched you do your thing. One of the most impressive things I saw, though, was you got in the cage with Lily. Uh-huh, tell me that approach.

Kacy Hendricks:

I needed to calm her down, check her out, make sure that she was okay, because if we needed to make that decision to rush her to the emergency room, we could. I spent some time with her in there because she did have one of those briar barbs on her and I was trying to cut that out before we got her out of there. And I was trying to cut that out before we got her out of there, so nobody would get hurt if you know when we're trying to put her into a kennel. But she was very calm. Not every dog's going to be that way.

Baine Brooks:

Yeah, because I'm like she's getting into a cage with a dog that she doesn't know and this dog has been running for two days. The dog ran for two days. I saw the dog run and the dog was fast and you get in a cage with a dog that you don't know and the dog was just so receptive to what you were doing.

Kacy Hendricks:

Dogs can tell if you are nervous or not. They can sense your heartbeat and if it goes up, mine goes down. When I'm with a dog, a lot of people's hearts will race. Mine calms, I get focused and know exactly what I need to do and watch their behavior. Are the ears back? Are they forward? Are they looking at me whale-eyed? Those are things that we commonly look at. You'll also notice that we sat there just for a little bit, with it closed, to give her decompression time. That, okay, we're not going to hurt her decompression time. That, okay, we're not going to hurt her. And having camper there was also calming for her. Nothing was happening to camper.

Baine Brooks:

So therefore she was going to be okay. You know, um, through the process, the the, my neighbor, my neighbor who was involved with their dog, the Vogels just a sense of relief when you got the dog, I mean because she was feeling so bad. They just rescued the dog and they were taking it out of the car and the dog just shot off and lisa felt so bad, she was just, and her husband finally came out because I think he was working at the time and he goes.

Baine Brooks:

You need a hug and he just loved on his wife and and it was just a great, a great moment to be there and be a part of that. But just what you and your partner, what y'all did, really brought a sense of just love. I mean, they were just. Everybody was on the same team. We all were looking for this dog, but the dog, you just did a great job. So, with that said, as we close, what do you want Allen, the folks at Allen, to really really know about your organization?

Kacy Hendricks:

That we're here to help educate about dog behavior, about how to help secure your pet. People don't know about us unless they need us.

Baine Brooks:

So how do people find you?

Kacy Hendricks:

We have a website, wwwhopesrescueangelsorg. We also have our Facebook page and Instagram page. They can also contact me. My cell phone number is listed on our website.

Baine Brooks:

Well, we love your story. Thank you for taking the time to come just share about your organization, and I would just encourage all those especially here in Allen and those who get a chance to see this support your organization, Write a check, because it's a nonprofit and the work that you do is really, really good and I had a chance to see it firsthand. So thank you very much for being a part of this today.

Kacy Hendricks:

It was a pleasure. Thank you for inviting us and telling our story. Thank you for inviting us and telling our story and some of the amazing things that we get to see and be a part of.

Baine Brooks:

Well, thank you very much, Thank you.