Columbia native Kim Kocher is joining the Helping Strays team as the organization’s new shelter manager.

A recent announcement shared by Helping Strays explains that Kocher has had extensive experience working with animals, including eight years working as a vet tech at Bellson Animal Hospital in Columbia.

Kocher’s experience also includes 22 years as a senior research technician at Washington University, where she led a research laboratory.

Helping Strays Executive Director Scott Spinner commended Kocher’s time working with animals.

“We’re super excited to have Kim,” Spinner said. “She applied for the position and when her resume came across, it definitely stood out. She’s got excellent experience certainly in the laboratory study in Wash U, has dedicated her life to contributing to the welfare of animals.”

Spinner also spoke to what precisely drew him and the rest of the hiring team to Kocher’s application, citing her leadership experience as particularly noteworthy.

“Her strengths are certainly the animal welfare experience,” Spinner said. “She’s led large teams, she’s really good at systems, training and development, and those were some of the key things that we were looking at as far as bringing her here.”

Kocher noted her time working with animals also includes several years spent as a groomer after she attended trade school.

She worked as an animal groomer while working toward her biology degree before serving as a vet tech in Columbia and finding herself at Washington University.

Kocher also spent some time doing parrot rescue amid her previous jobs.

Describing her interest in working with animals, Kocher said she’s had an interest for as long as she can remember.

“I’ve just always liked them from a little kid on,” Kocher said. “My mom said I used to be able to go out as a toddler and catch little wild animals and they didn’t mind, and I just started getting an interest in doing stuff with dogs and cats.”

Kocher also said she looks forward to her position at Helping Strays. With her prior jobs, her main focus was on helping animals while also getting enough money to sustain herself and getting closer to her long-time goal of working at a local shelter.

“I was just ready for a change in career mid-life,” Kocher said. “This was what I was hoping would happen when I first started out working with animals in Monroe County, so this just seemed like a step in the right direction.”

Kocher said her current goal is to get more exposure for the shelter while also providing greater accessibility to the animals for the public.

She mentioned the possibility of hosting open houses on certain days where folks might be able to come in and see the animals as opposed to making a specific appointment.

For more information on Helping Strays, visit helpingstrays.org or call the shelter at 618-939-7389.