Our Board of Directors:
Ayres Memorial Animal Shelter's board members play an important part of keeping the shelter running as smoothly and with as much care for our animals as it does! Our members are constantly working to improve Ayres even more. Having a working board who truly supports the staff and volunteers is so important in having a good team to save as many animals as possible and provide them with the best quality of life and a loving environment while until they can find their forever homes!
2026 Officers:
Suzanne Stegich - President
Tara Hogan - Vice President
Dorothea VanValkenburgh - Recording Secretary
Melanie Shibley - Treasurer
Members:
Liz Wilson
Dale Folmsbee
Our Staff:
Ayres' day to day is run by an extremely devoted group of people who our animals know as their families and their hope! Our staff goes above and beyond to do everything in their power to provide our animals with commendable mental, physical and emotional support while they are in our care.
Manager:
Marissa Christman
Staff:
Heidi Folts
Ashton Giordano
Melissa Moak
Rebecka Angus
Doug Ayres Jr's Mission Statement
Ayres Memorial Animal Shelter is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt, privately funded public service organization, with educational implications, and dedicated to humane treatment of all animals.
We consider service to animals our top priority. We offer a haven to stray, unwanted, unidentified, and lost animals brought in by the Dog Control Officers of the towns and municipalities in western Montgomery County with which the Shelter has contracts. In addition, privately owned animals are accepted from individuals when space is available.
Dogs and cats are kept until suitable homes are found. We set no time limit on how long we will care for any adoptable animal. We are very flexible with this regard.
We release animals in our care only to responsible owners.
The animal shelter is not a boarding kennel.
We do not euthanize animals for their owners; this is the responsibility of the owner and his/her veterinarian.
We do not "pick up" dogs and cats. It is the duty of the Dog Control Officer to answer calls on lost, strayed or unidentified animals.
We are not a branch of the Montgomery County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and therefore do not answer calls on animal abuse, neglect, cruelty, etc directly. Instead we advise the caller to contact an appropriate law enforcement agency such as the New York State Police, the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office, the local police department, or the Montgomery County SPCA.
We make every effort to return lost dogs and cats to owners.
We have a lost dog/cat service. If your animal is missing, notify us immediately, giving the shelter Manager the circumstance, description of the animal, our name and telephone number. The Manager will have practical suggestions for you to follow, will post the information you have provided on the Shelter bulletin board, and will watch for the appearance of the lost animal as a new entrant at the shelter and notify you if it appears.
We work in close harmony with town and village governments, recommending to the Town particularly the necessity of bringing all Town dog census lists up to date so that all owners are accounted for and so that revenues from dog licensing may be applied to Dog Control Officer salaries; contact charges from the Animal Shelter; and temporary/emergency housing facilities for animals when delivery to the Shelter would be difficult.
We are not government funded. We depend on the public for financial donations as well as donations of dog and cat food, litter, bedding materials, pet toys, cleaning supplies, etc. Volunteers are always welcome and needed to groom and walk dogs, assist with normal chores , help with office records and fund raising, and much more.