Dean Vickers
Director of Animal Welfare Studies and Education
Instilled with the belief that everyone should give back, Dean Vickers has spent a majority of his career in advocacy. He has worked with disenfranchised youth and at-risk teens as well as homeless and inner-city adults. He worked to facilitate citizen involvement in government decision-making and recommended initiatives to city and government institutions affecting neighborhood living conditions. Although still very civic minded, when he was hired as a community relations director for a humane society in Dayton, Ohio, he shifted gears and became an advocate for animal welfare.
In 2005, Dean volunteered for two weeks for The Humane Society of The United States and worked on the rescue efforts in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. At that time, he was working as a planner with the City of Columbus and was accustomed to working with geographical information systems. With military training as a survival and decontamination instructor, as well as training in pet first aid and large animal handling experience, his skills were utilized in the disaster region. Shortly after Katrina, he was hired as the Ohio State Director for The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). In that role, he continued his hands on approach to assist with animal abuse and neglect cases, as well as assisting with rescue during natural disastersî º the Cedar Rapids, Iowa floods, Hurricane Ike and man- made disastersî º animal hoarding, and large scale animal abuse cases. He has also worked with law enforcement on several dog and cock fighting raids. Dean also spent several years advocating to strengthen animal welfare laws at the Ohio statehouse both with HSUS and as an independent consultant.
Dean has conducted trainings, written articles and given speeches on animal welfare, rescue and advocacy issues throughout the United States for diverse audiences, including: National Animal Control Association, Midwest Veterinary Conference, National Animal Care Expo, National Conference for Animals in Disasters and numerous smaller venues.
He continues his ‘hands-on’ approach and worked in the summer of 2010 with Sumter DART (Disaster Animal Rescue Team) on bird rescue, transport and release after the BP oil spill. Most recently, he worked with the Discovery channel and will appear in an episode of “Wild Animal Repo” with Scott Lope.
Dean is a graduate from The Ohio State University with a degree in History and Political Science. As an avid Elvis fan, it was only a matter of time before he moved to Tennessee. He lives in Knoxville with his 3 rescue dogs, Annikka, J’Maul and Isabella.