In
January 2008, Amy and Kathleen took a trip to Ohio and
rescued 9 dogs that were at risk of euthanasia and brought
them to Danbury Animal Welfare Society for adoption. Here
is the story.
Kathleen,
having recently lost her beloved dog Ellie, was watching
Petfinder.com to see if there was a senior dog in need
of adoption. She found a senior dog named PeterPan in Ohio
and started communicating with the shelter about her. PeterPan
had been there for three months and so far had no prospects
for adoption. The shelter where she was housed was mostly
outdoors and PeterPan was staying in an outdoor pen while
looking for a new home. After discussions with the shelter
about PeterPan's circumstances and temperament, Kathleen
decided to apply to adopt her.
But
the shelter is a 9 hour drive away! Amy offered to drive
with Kathleen to go pick up PeterPan.
We
knew from our work in rescue that there was a shelter about
1 hour from PeterPan's shelter that has an extremely high
euthanasia rate. We contacted our friends at Danbury Animal
Welfare Society to see if they could help any dogs from
Ohio, since we were doing the trip and would have room
in the car. DAWS frequently will help some of these out-of-state
pounds with adopting out some of their dogs. In Connecticut,
responsible pet ownership has resulted in a low euthanasia
rate in most of our pounds. Puppies and healthy, friendly
adult dogs usually get adopted here. But in Ohio, West
Virginia, and many southern states, there are just not
enough homes for all of the puppies and adoptable dogs
that come in. Some facilities have euthanasia rates of
90%+. Local Connecticut shelters such as DAWS are able
to save many lives by teaming up with these out-of-state
pounds in rural or poor areas, bringing up some of their
dogs, spaying and neutering them (even the puppies) and
finding them great homes here.
So
Amy and Kathleen met a volunteer at the shelter in Ohio
and she showed us
around the facility. That day they had sadly euthanized
37 dogs and two days prior another 25; the staff and
volunteers work hard to try to find homes and rescues for
these dogs,
but there is just no room for them all. We knew we had
limited room in our vehicle and also limited space
at DAWS,
but
we identified 4 highly-adoptable adult dogs and 5 puppies
to bring back. If we had room we could have taken 30 friendly
and adoptable dogs but we could only do what we could do.
For having ten dogs in the car, the ride back went very
smoothly! Everyone was crated except for PeterPan and Norman.
All the dogs slept for most of the 9 hour drive, except during
a break when we stopped to let the puppies out to pee and
poop.
We brought all the dogs back to DAWS on Saturday January
19th, arriving at about 9:30pm. Some went into foster care
and others stayed at the shelter. They are all being seen
by the vet this week and will be spayed and neutered. Adoption
applications and information about the process is available
on the DAWS website at daws.org.
We marked 5 other adults and several more puppies at this
shelter that we hope to transport to DAWS on 2/2/08. We will
meet the Ohio shelter volunteer in Hagerstown MD (a 4 hour
drive for her, a 5 hour drive for us) to pick them up. We
will post some more pictures and another story then! |
Norman in the car. He's a 9 month old Aust Cattle Dog mix.
Loves other dogs. Very friendly!
Wendy,
Mickey and King. 8 week old beagle/aussie mixes. Currently
housed in a foster home (Star and Cinnamon's mom!)
Arby,
a male beagle-y type mix. So cute and loves other dogs.
Bandit,
an 8 month-old mini-aussie. Being fostered by Debbie, who
works at Wags. One of our clients is considering adopting
him and has taken an application!
Denny,
small 20-poundish terrier mix. Loves toys! Loves other
dogs! He's a riot, so happy.
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