Last year, Cody Brown started volunteering at Blue River Pet Rescue. He and his wife had owned rescues before, and after one of their dogs passed, they wanted a way to continue helping local animals.
Eventually, Brown was spending nearly every other day at the rescue, and as of January has been working as director. He is the only full-time employee, and he runs the rescue with the help of one part-time employee and a volunteer Board of Directors.
In 2012, Blue River Pet Rescue started as a foster system with no physical location, but by 2020 they were able to open their rescue center just off of Highway 15.
“We’ve gotten so much support from Seward and surrounding communities to be able to be one of very few private rescues in Nebraska that have a physical location. A lot of them are just completely foster reliant,” Brown said.
Blue River Pet Rescue has been able to house animals from around Seward County that otherwise might have gone to shelters in Lincoln or Omaha. Many of these shelters have to euthanize their rescues due to the sheer number of animals, but Blue River has been able to operate as a no-kill shelter.
They’ve also been able to help animals as far away as Oklahoma and Texas, states that often euthanize their many strays. Transportation for animals from outside the state is covered by the Beatrice Humane Society.
Blue River Pet Rescue has also been able to partner with Second Chance Pups, an organization that offers inmates at the Nebraska State Penitentiary the opportunity to train unadopted dogs. This not only helps inmates gain new skills and give back to society, but it makes sure dogs are well-trained and socialized before they’re adopted.
Last year, 153 cats and dogs were adopted from Blue River Pet Rescue, and over 50 have been adopted so far this year.
“My favorite part, hands down, is the update photos and videos we get from adopters,” Brown said. “We have animals that we’ve adopted out years ago that we still receive updates on.”
Besides part-time help and the Board of Directors, Brown relies on volunteers to keep Blue River running.
“We have a very strong group of Concordia students that volunteer during the school year, but when they go home, we’re definitely stretched a little bit more thin,” Brown said.
Volunteers can choose to focus on cats, dogs, or both, and they help with training, transportation, cleaning, feeding, watering and brushing. Animals also need to be socialized and ready to be part of a family, so volunteers can sign up just to play with the animals and take the dogs on walks.
“We’re always looking for good volunteers,” Brown said.
During Seward County Gives 2025, Blue River Pet Rescue raised over $7,000 toward a $12,000 goal to buy a fire and security alarm system for their facility. Having an alarm system in place would help keep the animals safe when Brown and his team aren’t able to be at the shelter.
Besides monetary donations, Blue River also accepts animal food, litter, toys and cleaning supplies. Brown recalled a recent moment when animal food was running low and he put out an announcement on Facebook—within two days, their stock room was so full of food they even had to give some away.
“We’re completely run based off of donations and volunteers, we get no government funding,” Brown said, “every little bit helps.”
For a fun and free way to support Blue River Pet Rescue, visit their Twitch channel at twitch.tv/blueriverpetrescue, where you can find a 24/7 livestream of their cat room. Once the channel reaches over 50 followers, they’ll be able to start monetizing it. If you’d like to donate, volunteer, foster, or adopt, visit blueriverpetrescue.org.
