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Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2008

'Desperate dogs,' cats get second chance

Trails of Happy Tails volunteers drive 83 canines and 16 felines to new homes.

Bubba. Jamie. Doug.

These three dogs, and many more, were scheduled to be euthanized at the Merced County Animal Shelter last week. They had overstayed their time, and they weren't the cute, young dogs everyone wants to adopt.

Bubba, Jamie and Doug are big dogs, the dogs that usually get a one-way trip to the shelter.

But thanks to a group of volunteers, Bubba, Jamie and Doug are now in foster homes in Tacoma, Wash., and Canada, and their time at the shelter is just a memory.

Trails of Happy Tails, a nonprofit organization in Merced that helps get animals out of the shelter, made a 14-hour trip with 83 dogs and 16 kittens last weekend.

They had three cargo vans, six drivers -- and one goal. "We started loading dogs at 4 p.m. on Friday, and they finally pulled out at 7:30 p.m.," said Mary Jo Campodonica, president of the organization.

Kristen Lucas, animal control officer for the Livingston Police Department, has been working with the organization for a few years. She had worked with rescue groups out of state, where spaying and neutering animals is more common, and she hoped that these groups could once again help Merced animals whose time had run out.

"We had a list of 18 'desperate dogs,'" Lucas recalled. "These dogs were going to be put down if they didn't get out of the shelter."

So Lucas called Beth Gibson, a rescue volunteer in British Columbia, Canada, and Gibson called back with good news.

"I worked with a lot of rescue organizations up here, and got them to agree to taking the dogs," Gibson said. Between the two of them, they made sure all the cross-border paperwork was in order.

Canada doesn't have the problem with unwanted dogs because spay and neuter laws are tough. And because a lot of people live on large properties, Gibson said that it's fairly easy to find homes for big dogs.

"We have a lot of groups up here that focus just on spay and neuter," Gibson said. "They help subsidize owners with getting their animals done."

At the shelter Friday night, Rick Blackwell, animal services manager for the county, helped the volunteers make sure all the animals had their proper paperwork.

"It's wonderful to get these desperate dogs out," he said. "The alternative is euthanasia, and I'd rather see them get a chance of life."

Sharon Lohman, who works as the rescue coordinator for Trails of Happy Tails, said this is the fourth trip the volunteers have made to Washington and Canada. In June, 82 dogs went to Washington -- but 24 hours after the dogs were dropped off, there were 101 of them.

"We had three female dogs that had whelped a total of 19 puppies," Lohman said. "We called it the '101 non-Dalmatians.'"

Getting the big dogs out of the shelter was a feather in the volunteers' cap, but Lohman said it all came about because of the Canadian rescue groups. "They took pit bulls and pit-bull mixes," Lohman said. "Those dogs hardly ever get out of our shelter."

The dogs rode in crates, with fans blowing on them and the air conditioning cranked up high. "They slept all the way," Lohman said. "We're the ones who got tired."

When the six volunteers arrived home Sunday at 8 p.m., there were 83 fewer dogs at the shelter and 16 fewer kittens facing death.

"It's a lot of hard work," Lohman said. "But it's exhilarating to see all those dogs loaded up and know they are all going to be adopted out to great homes."

Gibson said although she's more than willing to help the volunteers get dogs to Canada, she has something to say to everyone who owns dogs in Merced:

"Spay and neuter, spay and neuter, spay and neuter. I can't say it enough. It's very, very important to get this under control."

Reporter Carol Reiter can be reached at (209) 385-2486 or creiter@mercedsun-star.com.

To help the rescue operation

Trails of Happy Tails is a nonprofit organization and welcomes donations to help rescue dogs and cats. For more information, call (209) 384-8388.