Brandon Sokol - Furever Kansan

Ask A Kansan
1 day ago
1 min read

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlEvwZQEAaA

Brandon Sokol is the Facility Director of the Prairie Paws Manhattan Animal Shelter, where he helps lead a community-focused, “no-kill” approach to animal welfare—balancing compassionate care for cats and dogs with the real-world constraints of shelter capacity, staffing, and municipal contracts. Prairie Paws operates its main campus in Ottawa and also manages contracted shelters for Emporia and Manhattan, partnering with local governments to provide animal control impound services, adoption programming, and public support resources. Brandon’s path into sheltering started with a lifelong love of animals (especially cats) and an eight-year run at Petco before he made the leap into animal welfare—discovering that modern shelter work is as much about solutions, education, and outcomes as it is about rescue.

In Manhattan, Brandon is known for building strong teams and volunteer-powered programs (including dog day-outs that help dogs decompress and give adopters better “real life” info), while also advocating for practical, humane policies around intake, safety, and community responsibility. He’s also helped champion access-to-care work like low-cost spay/neuter efforts and broader partnerships that support shelters and pet owners across Kansas (including connections to the K-State shelter medicine ecosystem in the region). Beyond day-to-day shelter operations, Brandon regularly shows up in the community to build support for Prairie Paws’ mission—such as local media features highlighting fundraising and shelter needs.