Gateway Pet Guardians

Specialties

Rescuing and adopting out animals in the St. Louis Metropolitan area.

History

Established in 2004.

Gateway Pet Guardians was founded in 2004 through the combined efforts of five extraordinary women with a passion for rescuing animals, but our story really begins about ten years earlier. One fateful day in 1995 while driving through East St. Louis, P.J. Hightower-​an avid animal lover-​took notice of the numerous stray dogs running through the streets. But instead of shaking her head in disappointment, muttering a, «If only I could…» and simply continuing her journey like so many before her, P.J. did something about it. On that day and nearly every day thereafter — and every single consecutive day over the last ten years — P.J. has made the trip across the river from her home in St. Louis, bags of dog food in tow, and fed the dogs she saw on the streets. When she had the chance, she’d rescue them, take them to the vet, and try to find a good home for them all the while paying for it out of her own pocket. And so it continued for nine years.