5/8/09 The Wild Unknown World of Rescue

The wild unknown world of rescue



One thing I never knew before the Internet and getting involved with so many pet people, is what “rescue” dogs were, they weren't just dogs at the city pound. I had no idea how many breed rescues, and all breed rescues there were in the world. When you go to www.petfinder.com you will see for yourself just how many organizations are out there that help place homeless pets.

Another thing I wasn't aware of before is that there are transports for pets from one area of the country to another! Usually by way of volunteers who will drive a “leg” of a run on a weekend usually. It amazes me to this day how many good hearted souls are out there trying to get pets to their “forever” homes or into a good rescue from a high kill rate shelter.

There are Internet groups that have truck drivers volunteer to meet at specified locations at certain times to pick up animals and drive them to the next leg of their trip, and meet up with other truckers or volunteers, to get them to the next leg.

I truly am in awe of the entire process of saving these pets!

I get e-mail from these groups several times a day that sometimes I can pass on to people I know that live in the areas they are transporting through. Usually the road trip legs range about an hour or so each, and are covered by many volunteers.

From what I know so far, this is the way it works:

A person who may work for a high kill rate animal shelter, or has contacts through one will go to the shelter when they are over capacity and pull as many of the adoptable pets out of there as they can and they work to get them into rescues. Someone arranges a transport to the rescues if the rescues cannot come down to get them or are too far away. The e-mails fly and people will sign up to drive a leg or two of the trip. The animals are given health papers, vaccines if needed and any information on the pets known to them.

The animals are then pulled from the shelter and started on their way to the rescue that will help find them a permanent home, or possibly to a foster home if they are full.

These animals are then many times put on the Internet rescue sites in hopes of finding them a new home.

Foster homes are another important link in the chain of rescue. People just like you and I can do this! Fostering an animal is just like having one of your own, except they are up for adoption and many times it’s a short term home. Some animals may need a foster home because of a health issue that is being taken care of before adoption and the rescues want to make sure the animal is healthy first. While in foster care, the foster home can evaluate the pet and see what its “quirks” are and work on training. The vet bills are taken care of by the rescues, but most foster homes are responsible for providing food and grooming for the pet they take in.

Rescues get the pets checked out thoroughly by vets and they are almost always spayed or neutered before they are put up for adoption. The rescues rely on donations from the public through fundraisers, and have volunteers that help them by being foster homes for the animals, or helping with adoptions. Many of the pets that the rescues receive have health issues such as heartworm and that is very expensive to treat. Many vets will give the rescues a discount, but even with a discount it adds up to hundreds of dollars spent on one pet. Good rescues want to find the best home for the pets and they try hard to match up the families to the pets they want to adopt. Not all pets work for all homes and not all homes work for every pet. A good rescue will take your family’s lifestyle into consideration and have you fill out paperwork and answer a lot of questions and sometimes do a home visit before you will be considered to adopt. It’s a lot like adopting a child! Some people can't believe how picky some rescues are but really it’s for the benefit of the pet and the prospective new home. After all, the idea is to find a home that is “forever”.

The rescue has an adoption fee that is normally less that what it would be to buy a purebred puppy, and you end up with a dog that is healthy and already spayed or neutered to boot! You will know beforehand most of the time if the pet is good with children or other pets and good rescues will ALWAYS take the pet back should something happen and it doesn't work out or your life changes and you can no longer keep the pet you adopt.

So why not be a link in the chain of rescue and help out some pets that don't deserve to die in a shelter? Get on the Internet and look up some rescue groups or transport groups online and see what you can do to help. We may not be able to help them all, but together we can change the lives of many!