While U.S. shelters have a surplus of dogs, with many metro area high kill shelters taking in over 200 a day, one Canadian dog rescue has found a way to bring those wonderful adoptable dogs to British Columbia for waiting pre-approved forever homes.
Thank Dog I am Out Dog Rescue is at it again, this time bringing 129 death row dogs from a California Animal Shelter to a crowd of happy people waiting for a new dog to love. They don't mind having a "used" dog; in fact, they are excited to meet the new ones and find their newest family member.
Small and medium-sized dogs arrive at an airplane hangar at Vancouver International Airport, in the rain, with scores of volunteers, many who adopted a dog previously from the rescue, under the same circumstances. The volunteers provide walks, cuddles and assistance to the throngs of excited people.
"It's been the most amazing show of support for rescue," said Susan Patterson, founder of Thank Dog I Am Out Dog Rescue, according to CTV. "It's mindboggling, actually."
"We spayed and neutered them, we vetted them, and we flew them up," added Patterson. "We pre-approved 170 adopters in British Columbia - which meant reference checks, legally-binding adoption contracts, and home checks."
"When you have a shelter that holds 600 dogs and you're getting 200 a day and only 40 are getting adopted a day and you do the math, it becomes a critical situation where the dogs have to be euthanized," Patterson said of the situation in California, according to Global News. "In southern California - on a good day, they might be killing 600 dogs per day. In the state of California, they kill 6,000 dogs per week."
"I don't know what kind of dog I want," said Cloverdale resident Madison Van Vliet, according to CBC California. "Does it really matter? No. Just one to fall in love with."
"These are great dogs that were going to meet an unfortunate end, but because of this are going to have a brand new home to go to," said Jake Giammarino, a dog trainer with Discover Dogs.
"To me, rescue is rescue, I'm not bound by a border," concludes Patterson. "In a perfect world, I would love to have the PNE opened up and every rescue who wants to be there from wherever they are set up a situation like this and have hundreds of dogs from everywhere being adopted out."
