A Veterinarian’s Calling: Rescue in Action

What is your role at Saving Grace?

I am the resident veterinarian at Saving Grace. My primary role is performing spay and neuter surgeries and other necessary procedures, including cherry eye surgeries, enucleations, mass removals, amputations, and wound repairs. I evaluate and treat animals with medical issues, examine dogs before adoption, and answer questions from fosters and caretakers.

I also routinely take fourth-year veterinary students for two-week rotations. The goal is to make them better surgeons and to encourage them, once they are out in the real world, to think about shelters and communities that lack access to veterinary care.

What shaped your path into this kind of work?

For the first 10 years of my career, I was a mixed animal veterinarian working with large animals and horses. One of my instructors from veterinary school started a nonprofit that took me to Appalachia, northern Guatemala, Alaska, and Native American reservations in the western U.S. Those experiences led to work in Nicaragua, the Philippines, and Puerto Rico.

We worked on dogs, cats, horses, pigs, goats. Whatever we could do for whoever needed it. It was pure, necessary work done with wonderful people, both those I worked with and the local communities. That instructor had a huge influence on me.

Before vet school, I worked for a summer at an animal shelter next to a maximum-security prison in Charleston, South Carolina. I worked in the ER and the euthanasia room. On average, I euthanized 20 animals a day because there was not enough space or staff to care for healthy animals, let alone those with medical needs. The experience still keeps me up at night if I think about it too long.

My boss there was an Animal Control Officer who took a liking to me. She told me I reminded her of a veterinarian in town and said I should go work for him. She literally sent me away from that shelter with a tear in her eye. She changed my life. That encouragement led me to reapply to veterinary school. I got in the next year.

What moments stay with you now?

A year or two ago, we were doing spay and neuter surgeries for Saving Grace at a shelter in an underserved area. The Animal Control Officer, a big guy with a mustache and a pistol on his hip, told me that during the pandemic they had reduced their euthanasia rate to 80 percent, which felt like progress. Now it was back up to 95 percent.

It made my eyes well up. I asked how he and his staff dealt with that. He said, in a thick country accent, “Well, we switch people out so we don’t have the same person doing all the euthanizing, and we talk.”

That stayed with me.

Why does this work matter to you?

Dogs are grounding for me. They do not have ulterior motives. They want a meal, a safe place to sleep, and to please you. They are not responsible for their circumstances, and they generally deserve better.

Every shelter in the Carolinas is overwhelmed. Encouraging future veterinarians to help underserved communities matters deeply to me. Helping shelter dogs get adopted matters just as much. That is what we do at Saving Grace.

Rescue in Action

Dr. Eric’s work reflects the heart of Saving Grace’s mission. Through skilled surgery, mentorship, and a deep respect for both animals and people, he helps ensure that dogs with medical needs are given real chances, not written off as impossible. Rescue is never the work of one person. It is a team effort, built on trust, expertise, and compassion, and Dr. Eric is an essential part of making that possible.

Be part of rescue in action. Adopt. Foster. Volunteer. Give.