For the past several months, DDR has been intensely involved in rescuing close to 100 dogs stranded out in the middle of the Mojave desert. This was a monumental collaboration of many great rescues, coming together to rescue these dogs, one by one, week after week. Last Sunday, a huge team effort, lead by Karma Rescue this week, rescued all but 8 dogs off the property, thanks to New Leash on Life, Pawd Squad, Southern CA Lab Rescue, Labs and Buddies and Cattle Dog Rescue, with volunteers coming in to help from HSUS and Red Nose Lucy Foundation and our Coliseum Dog Class.
Dog Man was in action, catching some of the feral dogs on the property, getting them into secure pens, while Jordan and Edgar helped chase the ferals towards the pens. What a day, what a team.
Check out the video made by a Karma Rescue volunteer, it’s terrific!
YOUTUBE VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BNOY0_IDGUg
Just weeks ago, one Raz and Rilee made this video, in the snow when there were so many more dogs.
YOUTUBE VIDEO:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCNAE2e_oKU&feature=related
On Friday, Billy who works with me at the kennel six days a week, rented a truck and drove up to Mojave to pick up the 7 dogs that needed to be spayed/neutered, 6 of them feral including the Coyote dog. He successfully captured every dog with the help of our friend Diane Kinder who works with New Leash on Life. Amazingly, they all went nicely into the crates and made it to the vet safely, no easy task! Angel Dogs Foundation had already spayed/neutered all the other dogs on the property but could not catch these last dogs.
Every dog there needed a second chance. Their stories were all sad, some had homes that were lost due to foreclosure, some had always lived in the kennel, like the sweet but shy Amelia that volunteer Wendy is fostering for DDR. She is doing an amazing job with this dog who has never had a home. Whereas, dogs like Trinidad went right into a home, without missing a beat, into her forever home in Tustin like she always lived there.
Perhaps one of the saddest stories was Luke, a dog that had been shuffled from one horrible kennel to another his whole life. I took one look at Luke and knew, he is never going to have to suffer again and will have an amazing home, which he does with Alicia, a long time Karma volunteer. Luke’s photo is on my desktop and I look at it every day to remind me that it was worth the effort, worth all the sleepless nights, hours and hours of work, thousands and thousands of dollars that we did not have that we needed to raise to cover this totally unplanned project.
While rescuing these dogs is just a “drop in the bucket” to the problem of animal hoarding, it matter to these dogs, dogs that had no chance of ever being adopted because no one knew that they existed until we assembled our team and worked tirelessly together.
Without the guidance and support of Helen Storey, I doubt that we could have been so successful. I have learned so much from her. I also want to thank Best Friends for paying for the spay/neuter surgeries for the feral dogs.
For every rescue who took dogs, thank you so much. Everyone who donated money to help these dogs, your money went directly to saving these dogs and they will have a better life because you care. I hope that you take the time to watch these videos and feel inspired to make a difference for just one dog that needs your help. One day at a time one dog at a time, we will see a positive change.