l a m i n A e s ou H From a renovated gas station to a state-of-the-art shelter,
Vicki Davis has spent her career connecting people and pets. Story by Emily Bertram / Photography by Joel Butkowski, BDI Photography
“T
o know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded.” This Ralph Waldo Emerson quote hangs on the office wall of Vicki Davis, executive director of the Tri-County Humane Society for the past 38 years. To say she has touched the lives of others – two-legged and four – is a massive understatement. By staying true to her beliefs and relentlessly pursuing growth, she has saved and continues to save lives every day. Davis grew up just outside of St. Cloud in Cable. She remembers spending many summers
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at her grandparents’ farm just down the road. “That’s where the horses were, so of course that was the popular place,” Davis said. She attended Tech High School, during
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95%
The placement rate of animals from the Tri-County Humane Society in 2021. It was 79% in 2013.
which time she started working for Dayton’s (now Macy’s). After graduation, she entered their management program and worked for Dayton’s for seven years. In 1984, after a brief hiatus from retail, she realized it was time to start looking for a new job. “So I started looking at the want ads and there was a shelter manager position for the Tri-County Humane Society,” Davis said. “I had never envisioned a job working with animals, because jobs like that are few and far between so I thought, what are the odds?” After learning that there were no benefits and the pay rate was