Who Will Let the Dogs Out started after Nancy and I began visiting southern shelters to learn where all the dogs were coming from and why. We didn’t know how to fix the problem, but we knew we wanted to help. So we used the only skills we had – writing and photography. As we…
In 2011, hope came to Hope City Animal Control in Hope, Arkansas in the form of a new organization created specifically to save lives. At the time, the shelter was euthanizing 92% of the dogs (no cats—this city deems them free-roaming animals, so they are on their own). Enter this group of passionate women who…
Operation Underdog is a foster-based rescue that saves the hardest dogs to save –those with serious medical needs, difficult behavioral challenges, and seniors – the dogs least likely to be rescued or adopted – the underdogs of the animal shelter world. As Elizabeth, one of their founders put it, “They need us more than others…
Private animal shelters often are built near public shelters to do the job that the tax-payer funded shelter is not. They literally rescue dogs from the public shelter. Why is more not expected from a government run shelter? Why do citizens pay for two shelters – one with their taxes and the other with their donations (and hearts)? And why, pray tell, do we allow this to go on?
On her one-hour commute (each way, each day) Melissa, the executive director of the SPCA Of Bradley County – TN has a lot of time to think about ways to improve the situation at the shelter. Her sunny personality, quick wit, and willingness to tackle even the toughest challenge make her the perfect leader for…
“Why do you do this?” I asked Rose, the founder/director/doer-of-pretty-much-everything at Saving Webster Dogs. Rose shrugged, smiled, sighed, and said, “Somebody has to do it.” But, somebody doesn’t have to do it. In fact, nobody else in Webster County, West Virginia is willing to do what Rose does to save these dogs.
This is not a sustainable situation, but it is one that we encounter almost everywhere we go: Incredible heroes (mostly middle-aged and older women) sacrificing everything to save the animals, and counties who count on them with no plan for what happens when they can no longer continue to rescue (or the rescue connections dry up).
I asked Leonika how we solve this, and she shook her head. She said
@OPENARMSAnimalShelter
@Lawrencecountyhumanesociety-LouisaKY
Saving Webster Dogs is a unique rescue run by one of the hardest working, most dedicated woman I know (and I know a lot of women in rescue). Rose cares for between 75 and 115 dogs at a time on her hillside farm (often single-handedly). Volunteers are few and far between in the impoverished, rural…
Every time we go to the shelters, I learn something. This time was no different. We’ve been to over 80 shelters now, so you’d think they would all look alike. In a few ways (dogs in need, incredible people) they are, but in so many ways they are unique. One of the projects we are…
Polk County, Florida is ranked first in Florida and fourth in the nation for number of dogs ‘euthanized’ each year. The Polk County shelter killed 5000 dogs in 2020. Which is even more remarkable considering 2020 was the year so many shelters were emptied (momentarily). The only way a dog labeled a bully breed can…
