Dire Situation in GA, Pls help!

From: Candice Owens <candi163@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Aug 6, 2008 at 11:18 AM
Subject: Dire Situation in GA, Pls help!
To: donations-needed@yahoogroups.com

Hi All, Please take a minuter or two to read the email below. There is a small group of local volunteers in Georgetown GA and they need our help. Their vet bill is well over 6000$ and growing. They also need rescues to pull from them so they can take in more needy animals that are currently suffering on the streets. If you are a rescue and would like to pull from ADR, please contact me at RescueFromAngelDog-owner@yahoogroups.com. I am working as their rescue coordinator. If you are able to assist with the vet bill or sponsor and animal, donations can be sent several way. http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/angeldogrescue.html#Donate THEY ARE A REGISTERED 501c3......DONATIONS ARE TAX DEDUCTABLE!!!!! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Tammy Heeber Date: Mon, Aug 4, 2008 at 6:31 PM Subject: TT/ Fwd: Angel Dog Rescue - Georgetown, Georgia To: TrishTrans@yahoogroups.com The situation in Georgetown, Georgia (long, but please read, I'm begging!). Angel Dog Rescue http://www.angeldogrescue.petfinder.com I have just returned from a 4 day visit to Angel Dog Rescue in southern Georgia. Part of the reason for my visit was to oversee the rescue of 16 puppies which went from there to a rescue in New York. These puppies were living in various areas of the town in people's backyards, under sheds or in crawl spaces under houses, some with no mothers because aggressive dogs in the area had killed them. Angel Dog rounded the pups up; Parvo tested, treat their medical ailments and gave them their shots. Unfortunately, until the rescue group had been found, the pups had to stay where they were living since there was no available room to take them in. The rescue director had to beg people to allow her to put up a small pen to keep them until the day of the transport. It was not an isolated case, but rather a chronic and sad problem, and although the pups are on their way to a new life, the adults are left in the same tragic living conditions. The situation there is horrendous. If there is an animal problem, the sheriff calls Angel Dog to deal with it. They have become the local animal control! I saw dogs everywhere I looked - living under porches, in ditches, in people's yards, under abandoned cars, running in the street – anywhere they can find a place to lay their head. I am not exaggerating. With no steady food source, many were obviously starving - emaciated, only to end up abused by people or other animals. Most looked like they were in desperate need of medical care. Even some of the puppies I saw on the streets were tired and hopeless looking. I thought to myself, gas chambers are horrendous, but I'm just not sure they're worse than what these dogs live through daily. Most people don't even care enough to have them killed. They just dump them wherever they can - on the side of the road, in a parking lot or dumpster or their family just moves away and leaves them there. So many of these street dogs are pregnant, sick or very old. Watching them scavenge for food and shelter was heartbreaking. Many of these aren't feral dogs - they were someone's friend and companion! The sad and frustrating part is that with about 60 dogs in rescue, Angel Dog simply does not have anymore room at their foster families to help any of these dogs. They are more than willing to give them a safe place to sleep, food to eat and the medical treatment they need, but they literally cannot save one more animal until the ones in foster are found good homes. So, these street dogs will continue to starve, suffer and die, having no food for themselves but trying to feed their puppies, most of which if they live, will meet the same fate. The people that run the rescue are amazing, and one thing that truly struck me was their determination. I watched this tiny group care for these street dogs anyway they could. It was almost like a war zone and they were doing triage (it reminded me of Katrina without the hurricane.)! They help them wherever the animal happens to be. They work 12-16 hours a day covering four counties leaving dog food out so a mother and pups won't starve, driving to an abandoned house day after day trying to give a wounded dog antibiotics, always checking dumpsters on their way for abandoned puppies. I watched them search in the brush and woods to locate a bleeding dog someone saw run near there so they could heal its wounds. I saw them try to convince some neighborhood kids not to shoot their bee-bee guns at the adults and pups for sport. But what they want to do, must do, but cannot do is give these dogs a safe place to stay – all because their foster families are full. I heard my fill of stories while I was there too. I met Lumpy who used to live on the streets and fend for himself - just another street dog that had no place to go and no one to care for him. The people of Angel Dog wanted to take him in, but had no room. While he was awaiting a spot to open up for him, someone shot him full of bee-bees. Those bee-bees are still under his skin to this day. Luckily once he finally made it into a foster home, his foster family fell in love and adopted him. And then there's Emma, a sweet Lab mix who is still awaiting her forever home in foster care. Emma's drug dealing caretakers didn't want the docile dog they had, they wanted a Pitbull. So they carved Emma's ears to look like a Pit. The people of Angel Dog saw this poor girl on the street with her infected ears. They knew where she lived. They knew what they had to do and they did it by convincing her owners to give her up. Thankfully there was room for this one. I also met most of the foster families during my visit. These are some of the most dedicated people I've ever seen. The majority of the dogs live outside in pens, but they are by no means neglected. These people have committed themselves to caring for these dogs, many at their own personal expense. Their efforts are reflected in the dogs they've cared for. They're amazing; incredibly well socialized, affectionate and healthy. 95% of them would make great family dogs. I need to help these dogs. I can't stand the thought of their suffering. I want rescues who may consider pulling from Angel Dog to understand that yes, they are a no kill rescue. Yes, the dogs are safe in foster homes - but the ones that truly need them, the ones that are starving, injured, abandoned and abused with no place to go cannot be helped until the animals in foster care are placed in good homes. If anyone pulls dogs from this rescue they will be helping two dogs - the one being pulled and the one Angel Dog would literally be able to take in off the street. So many are suffering - truly suffering, that they want to help but can't. They are really striving to grow and expand to meet the great need of so many unwanted dogs their area. I'm excited by their new newsgroup – http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ADRNews and their new rescue newsgroup – http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RescueFromAngelDog. They're in the process of updating their Petfinder site (www.angeldogrescue.petfinder.com) since quite a few of their dogs aren't up there. They are very rescue friendly. I'm sure that due to their limited size and the considerable distance, they would prefer to transport for a minimum of five dogs, but even more would be better! Can we pull together and try to fill up a van from Angel Dog at least once a month? I know that for at least five they would transport twice a month. I would be so thrilled to get some dogs onto the 8/16 run to the northeast. Full vetting and health cert is $80.00/dog. Thanks so much. Tammy Look at these poor babies. I can't get them out of my head. The picture of the puppy on someone's lap was sent to me yesterday (8/3) by the rescue director. They found 3 pups dumped on a backwoods logging road. You see all those dots on him? Well they're actually fleas. Please help me help Angel Dog so they can save some of these dogs. http://www.angeldogrescue.petfinder.com