Gene Baierschmidt had no experience working with animals when he took over as executive director of the Utah Humane Society in 1988.
Although he wasn’t raised with animals (his family couldn’t afford a dog), Baierschmidt had always loved them. At 38-years-old, he left his fundraising job at KUED to run what was then a 5,000-square-foot shelter in West Valley City.
At the time, things were pretty dismal for animals in Utah. Most people weren’t educated to spay and neuter their dogs and cats and during Baierschmidt’s first year as Humane Society director, the shelter received about 20,000 unwanted pets.