After graduating from Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine two years ago, Dr. Edna May Meeker is making her mark on Southwest Florida. The New York native moved to Naples in 2021. When Hurricane Ian devastated her new home, she quickly signed up to volunteer with Humane Society Naples. She worked with the Naples and mobile vet clinic as they hustled to move more than 500 animals out-of-state to increase their chance of adoption and to make room for animals affected by the storm.
Four months later, Dr. May, as her team members lovingly call her, joined the shelter and Naples Coastal Animal Hospital as a part-time vet. She helps at the Humane Society twice a week running the mobile clinic, spends one Saturday a month at the shelter’s brick-and-mortar, and assists two days a week at the animal hospital. Once a month, she volunteers at Collier County’s Domestic Animal Services, administering rabies vaccines for animals waiting to go to their new homes. “I truly feel like I am making a difference every single day,” she says. “I get to see firsthand the beautiful bond between pets and their families.”
Dr. May wasn’t always set on being a vet. Although she loved animals growing up—her mom has fostered more than 150 pit bulls—she was deterred from the field after putting down her late father’s 17-year-old dog in 2012. She was devastated to lose a loved one on a cold clinic floor. She hopes to soon find time to work with Lap of Love, an animal hospice and in-home euthanasia service, to ensure families and their pets are comfortable during the process.
The 34-year-old has fostered 15 dogs and couldn’t resist keeping one of them—a ‘hazard’ of the job. But bringing home dogs isn’t a problem with her husband—the CEO of BARK, the company behind the BarkBox pup products subscription service. “I have always loved animals, but it took some time for me to realize that it was my purpose in life,” Dr. May says. “Being able to give some of that love back to them, at times when they need it the most, is the most amazing feeling.”