10/06/2026
TCAP will soon pass one million spay/neuter surgeries. Here’s their inspirational story: Stacey Schumacher (pictured) founded the Texas Coalition for Animal Protection in Denton in 2002, when she was 26, and still serves as executive director and board president. She grew up in Sulphur Springs, fostering shelter animals and, in high school, renting a van each month to haul pets to a low-cost clinic in Dallas. In the mid-1990s she ran a clinic in her hometown. After a human-resources job at Verizon, commuting from Denton to Irving, she left to start TCAP on a simple premise: shelters cannot adopt their way out of overpopulation. The fix is affordable spay/neuter and basic care, with no income test. From one Denton clinic, TCAP has grown to eight North Texas locations offering low-cost sterilization, vaccines, microchips, and dental care, plus free feral-cat surgeries. She calls the work what she was put here to do, and credits the staff for the scale. Her husband, Scott Schumacher, a fourth-generation Cooke County farmer and rancher, is the board treasurer. Mike Rowe has featured her work on his show and podcast. Thank you, Stacy. You have made our community better in many ways.
