Our Team of Volunteers
Katrina Karr
Founder & President
Katrina has had animals in her circle of friends all her life, growing up on a small farm. She remembers her sister giving her a black kitten for her 8th birthday, and she was sold on animal empathy.
In 2016, she helped track a lost german shepherd dog who had escaped into the Lynx Creek area. Three days of tracking, searching, and trying different traps (and finally one loaned from Prescott Valley Animal Control), brought success and indescribable joy in delivering a beloved pet back to an owner. She knew then that helping lost animals back into the fold, and having the right equipment to do so, were going to be part of her mission moving forward. Initially volunteering with other rescue groups honed her love for helping animals and her skills in bringing them back home.
Her most powerful stories are the most tragic, like Titan, near death, and no other rescue group could help him. She was part of the team to drive down to Tucson, rush him to a vet, wondering if he would make it through the night, and watching his lifeless body go into cluster seizures. The beautiful happy boy he is today, after months of intense medical treatments, is a testament to her determination.
Her heart for the "underdog", the animals who are frightened, lost, abandoned, left behind, knows no bounds and she will move heaven and earth to track them down and bring them to safety. In June of 2018, her dream of having her own search and tracking group was realized and in late 2019, she incorporated and added the ever-important foster/adopt to her services so the strays with nowhere to go, had a place to heal too.
She is also proud of her human family consisting of 4 kids and 16 beautiful grandbabies. How lucky they are to have a mentor to teach them the importance of making this world a better place.
Judy (Jen) Eastman
Director/Trapping
Judy got involved in trapping and rescue when a neighbor put out a Nextdoor call for help looking for a dog that had been hit by a car in town. For some reason, she just said to herself that she needed to help. She just happened to drive down the right street at the right time and there he was…the dog! The dog’s owner was so happy and the dog was so happy to see him that she felt elated!
On her way home, she got a call from a woman who said, “Hi, I’m Katrina and I run a rescue and we could really use help. Would you be willing to help us?” Of course, she said yes and she has never looked back.
Mackenzie Dell
Rescue and Foster Team
Since Mackenzie was a child she would look into an animals eyes especially dogs and she met a friend, she felt understood and she saw a soul just like her own. She realized that animals do speak but only to those of us who know how to listen. Since then she’s been searching for the knowledge and skills to become a translator for canine and animal communication so she could return that deep level of understanding she felt as a child. Yavapai Humane Trappers has been a true calling for Mackenzie and has brought much purpose and fulfillment into her everyday life.
Pam Cirasole
Spay/Neuter Program
Pam Cirasole moved to Arizona 6 years ago from Washington state. She has been involved in Animal Shelters and Rescues all of her adult life. She is passionate about animal welfare and Volunteered for YHT just a few short months ago. Pam is managing the Spay and Neuter program for all of our animals which includes educating adopters about the health benefits and how to help limit the number of unwanted pets. Since retiring from AT&T Pam and her husband live in Chino Valley with their 7 adopted dogs.
Alyssa Upton
Search & Rescue/Trapping
Alyssa has been volunteering for almost a year as part of the Search and Rescue team and been part of many successful rescue missions. She owns 2 dogs of her own and has also started working with the foster team, currently on her third foster dog.
“I got involved because of my love for animals. I recognize my own love for my furbabies and know how I would feel if they were lost.”
When she isn’t searching for lost pets or training her foster dogs, she works as a nurse locally for 17 years. She has lived in Arizona for over 20 years and most of that time was in Prescott Valley and Dewey.
“Working with Yavapai Humane Trappers and Rescue has been one of the most rewarding experiences in my life. This team is the most dedicated and caring people I have met with the biggest hearts for these pets. I am proud to be a part of the rescue and plan to continue being a part of helping these loving animals to find their way home.”
Phil Lemon
Search & Rescue/Trapping
Phil started with YHT at the beginning of 2021. He is retired from the US Army and the USPS. He’s spent a lot of his professional life looking for things or connecting important personal items to people. He has been a pet sitter for about 3.5 years also. His daughter thought that was a great idea because she said he has always liked animals more than people! And, after a moment’s thought, he had to agree with her. He has found a fantastic group of people in this group that he is always amazed by, the dedication and determination these folks have is awesome! He owes a great deal to all who have taught him how to help in the rescues.
Jerry Harding
Search & Rescue/Trapping
Jerry has been doing animal rescues since 2017, he still remembers Katrina starting out with only one animal trap and he would have to keep his eyes on a lost dog for almost an hour before she arrived and we could trap it. Currently, a lot has changed and a lot more people are volunteering to rescue animals.
He’s been trained in using various types of traps and techniques. His specialty is in back-country animal rescues. Once in a while, he will transport dogs from Flagstaff to Prescott. It's always rewarding in finding a lost animal and returning it to its owner.
Before retiring he worked as an electronics technician for Long Beach Unified School District and worked on TVs, computers, Motorola radios, mountain top radio repeaters, TV transmitters, and fire alarm systems. In his last 3 years, he went to work for California State University, Los Angeles in charge of campus life safety and CERT certified. He still carries an advanced class amateur radio license.
His current hobbies are collecting classic cars and driving them.