Thursday, October 22, 2009

Rescue Without Borders

Every journey starts somewhere .... and for Leah from East Coast German Shepherd Rescue , this one began with a phone call asking for help a couple of weeks ago with an urgent situation in Texas for 200 German Shepherds. A call was put out for an Urrgent need for German Shepherd Fosters!!!!!!!!!!... ... and ECGSR was able to offer to take 20 dogs!
As it happens, compassion had already moved folks in Texas to adopt the dogs ... and this is where the real journey started.
About the same time, a woman in Tennessee contacted Leah to ask if ECGSR could possibly help in the future with German Shepherds. There are so many high kill shelters in the South and the numbers of German Shepherds are just overwhelming.
So Leah started doing some research and discovered the underground world of Southern Rescue and their transport worlds of pulling dogs from high kill shelters and transporting North.
She learned that the shelters are poorly funded and are always full. A dog is only held for a limited time(she thinks it is four days). Then he or she is briefly available for adoption ... literally a few days to a week. At that point, the dogs are placed in a room and gassed…..puppies / pregnant dogs / seniors / you name it. The dogs are killed to make room for new dogs .... who will in turn be killed to make room for new dogs .... who in turn will be killed and so on and so on.
Leah says of this" What an ordeal…Got three seniors pulled from one rescue after being approved, then one from a woman who could no longer afford food for her 7yr old Shep..I had him tested for H.Worm and he was positive..will have to deal with that. Then I had one spot left…found a Shepherd X at another shelter but they would only release to an approved Georgia Rescue…which I found and corresponded with – problem was the dog I wanted was not available until a day after my transporter left Georgia. I asked if I could take another that would be PTS. They released Lily (amstaff X) to me and then I had to find a driver to take her 1 ½ hours to where the rest of the dogs I pulled were being fostered. She got Lily just in time.. Thank Dog…
Spoke to my Transporter tonight and she stated that she picked up another 5 for me on her travels from N.Hampshire in Miss and Tenn. I don’t even know what dogs they are yet..Right now they are being loaded in Georgia and going to N.Hampshire where they will rest then come here to me. My transporter had a backer for the gas but have used up all the money by the time she reaches NH. So now will need to raise Money for the trip from NH to NS. Paid for the 5 dogs Vet Cert…but still need more for the other 5dogs… So that is where this rescue effort is so far…"
Rescue may be fueled by compassion, but it definitely needs more than love to get the job done. For more information on how to help, contact Leah at mailto:leah@nsgrescue.com or through their facebook group EAST COAST GERMAN SHEPHERD RESCUE
In the course of arranging everything, Leah also discovered that there are a lot of good folks down in Georgia trying to get rid of the gas chambers and create a better world for the animals, including , btw, one of the people that Leah was speaking with to arrange things who was originally from Berwick.
Webmaster note ... these pics, of Lily at the top and the other two dogs were taken by the very kind person fostering them until the transport details were sorted out. Tonight, these dogs are on their way to a safer life.
In such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners. - Albert Camus

No comments: