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Author Topic:   Homeless pets journey north to find families
Dee
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posted April 01, 2013 07:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Dee     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
ASHEVILLE — Maybe they were anxious and even frightened, these weary travelers, as they sped 950 miles north through the darkness on Tuesday night in crates stacked inside a white van, the sound of the highway racing below them their only contact with the outside world.

But when they emerge into the New England sunshine later today, the 19 puppies and dogs on this 16-hour journey of mercy will forget their cramped legs and uncertainties as they are placed into the eager arms of shelter staff and volunteers who will soon introduce them to loving families awaiting in their new, forever homes.
These lifesaving missions happen nearly every week, beginning at
Animal Compassion Network in Asheville and ending at a shelter in Massachusetts, New Hampshire or New Jersey, where healthy pets who cannot find homes in Western North Carolina are eagerly sought for adoption nearly 1,000 miles away.
Working with rescue organizations and shelters both here and in the Northeast, ACN matches homeless pets with the needs for adoptable animals up North, where stringent spay/neuter laws have reduced the population of unwanted dogs so dramatically that there are waiting lists of people seeking four-legged family members.
“We have many more people who want to adopt than we have animals available for adoption,” said Betsy Herald, intake coordinator with Great Dog Rescue of New England in Andover, Mass.
“Sometimes I feel bad because I know that Trina (Rhyne, ACN transport coordinator) and the rest of them are down there in the trenches on the front end, and we get all the happy endings on our end.”
Since the pet transport program was launched by ACN in November 2011, more than 600 dogs and about 30 cats have been saved from shelters across WNC through ACN’s creation of the Appalachian Animal Rescue Coalition.
After meager beginnings that allowed monthly transport at best, the program is now underwritten by the Petco Foundation, which gave ACN a $100,000 grant last May that not only pays for adoption preparation and travel expenses, but will help fund a new, larger van to allow the relocation of more animals with each journey.

When we started, we were funding it through individual donations and sponsorships, and consequently we weren’t able to make as many trips,” said Angie Wilt, operations director for ACN. “Petco has allowed us to rescue twice as many animals as we were before.”

The pet transport program operates as a complex but well-oiled machine, beginning with Rhyne receiving descriptions of “candidates” who need adoption from about 17 WNC rescue groups and shelters. Rhyne submits those descriptions and behavior profiles to the “receiving” organizations up North, which make their requests for animals based on the interests expressed on their waiting lists.
“Once the rescues look and say, ‘We’re interested in this dog and this dog and this dog,’ Trina figures out how many large, medium and small crates can fit comfortably in the van,” Wilt said, “and she’ll let them know which dogs can go this time, and next time we can send others.”
The trips themselves are fairly epic, with two volunteer drivers willing to make the 16-hour trek to New England and back, escorting up to 20-25 dogs to their new homes. Wilt has twice made the trip to Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem, Mass., noting wryly that it’s “a long drive.”
The agencies that have cared for the dogs who are about to win the adoption lottery bring them to the departure point, where volunteers spend a few hours exercising them and “trying to wear them out and get them ready for the trip,” Wilt said.
Each animal has a small bowl of water and ice in its crate, along with soft bedding and toys, and once the van begins moving, “everybody goes to sleep.”
The drivers stop about halfway, at a well-lit and secure truck or rest stop, and spend about an hour on the ground, walking the dogs one at a time to take care of potty needs, stretch and exercise their legs, Wilt said. They are returned to the crates, given fresh water and bedding if needed, and the second half of the journey begins.
ACN gives the volunteer drivers food to eat along the way, provides funds for a nice meal after the animals are delivered and for overnight lodging, then they return to Asheville — likely to make the trip again the following week or the next.

Wilt said the rescue organizations on the receiving end have stellar adoption policies, “so we know that the animals we put on those vans are going to a wonderful place.”

“I’ve been there and seen these facilities and met the people, and it’s just magical,” Wilt said. “In three to four days, almost the entire group of dogs that went up there is adopted, whereas sometimes down here it can take three weeks to adopt out the exact same animal.”
It’s not just picture-perfect pets these northern shelters are seeking, Herald said. Friendliness and personality are important, partly because each animal goes immediately into a foster home upon arrival to prepare for being adopted, and 90 percent of those foster homes have other dogs in residence.
“We’re not picky about blind, deaf or three legs, but it has to have a good personality,” she said. “ACN is very honest with us about the dogs’ personalities and any quirks they might have — they’re wonderful about that.”
Eileen Bouressa, executive director of ACN, said this program that saves hundreds of animals’ lives and brings joy to families up north is happening largely because of the generosity of the Petco Foundation.
“We were pleased with the results of our initial efforts in 2011 to send one transport of dogs to safety per month, but with this grant to fund additional transports, we are now sending out an average of five van loads of shelter dogs and cats per month,” she said.
“The Petco Foundation has given a second chance to hundreds of shelter pets this year, and we anticipate a long and successful relationship to continue our lifesaving work for years to come.”
Herald said she hopes the same for Great Dog Rescue and ACN.
“We absolutely hope to keep this going,” she said. “We get to see the happy families and the kids coming up to pick up their puppies and all the pictures being taken, so we appreciate what they do down there in Asheville,” Herald said.
“They’re the ones dealing with the first steps of rescuing the animals — they do the hard stuff and send us great dogs that go to great families,” she said. “Their work is the down and dirty, and we’re very fortunate to be on the receiving end.”


http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20130327/NEWS01/303270031/Homeless-pets-journey-north-find-families

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Randall
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posted April 03, 2013 08:55 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Randall     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote

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