Animals' long trip to a better life

Two cats and one dog were scheduled to leave Lafayette in south-central Louisiana at 7 this morning, headed north. The cats, Nermal and Ed, are being adopted by a family in New Hope, Minn. The dog, an Australian cattle dog/hound mix named Andrew, is going first to the 4 Luv of Dog Rescue in Fargo, N.D., and eventually to another dog rescue near Winnipeg, Canada.

All were at Louisiana animal shelters where they were in danger of being euthanized. Andrew was plucked from a shelter when death was just an hour away. They owe their lives to an international network of animal rescuers as organized as the Pony Express and as dedicated as the Underground Railroad.

Nine legs of the trip north are scheduled today. Each is an hour or hour and a half long. One driver is to bring the animals through Cape Girardeau at 7:15 tonight. A new driver will take them to Festus, Mo., for the night. Sunday, other drivers will transport the animals through Iowa and Minnesota until they reach transport coordinator Josie Moen in St. Cloud, Minn. at 10:15 p.m. Moen will take Andrew on to Fargo a week later.

Most any transport requires down-to-the-minute scheduling and lots of flexibility on the part of the drivers, many of whom take on an extra leg rather than allow a transport to fall apart. Moen, a physical education teacher, is married to a charter bus driver. She has access to a computer mapping program that helps her plan a transport. This weekend's is a particularly long one that has been difficult to fill.

As of Thursday, drivers had committed to about half of the 22 legs. If drivers weren't found for the rest by midnight Friday, the mission was to be scrubbed and postponed for another try the following weekend. Moen hasn't given up hope that the holes in the run sheet posted on the Internet will be plugged at the last minute. "I've seen stranger things happen," she said.

Until the advent of the Internet, people devoted to rescuing animals from euthanasia worked in isolation, trying to find homes for animals in their own backyard. Petfinder.com and sites devoted to particular breeds have enabled animal rescuers to connect with others and save more animals.

Almost every breed is represented by a rescue organization. A Humane Society shelter that takes in one of their animals often will contact them. The people involved in animal rescues tend to become known for it in their communities. They often are contacted directly by someone who has just been to the pound. Most of the animals reported are purebreds.

The rescue groups have to be able to act quickly, Moen said. "The dog is going to be on its way to being gassed. We need to have people in place."

Each animal transported must have paperwork, including veterinary records, a health certificate and proof that a veterinarian has seen it within the previous 10 days.

Most from the South

Most animal transports in the Midwest begin in the South and end in the North. Those involved in rescues share a belief that people in the North are better educated about animal issues. They say Northern states put a higher premium on spay and neuter programs and have fewer puppy mills.

Moen said few members of her breed, Australian cattle dogs, ever need rescuing in Minnesota. That is one reason she and others are willing to spend so much time and money finding homes for dogs that are in danger hundreds and even thousands of miles away.

The euthanasia methods -- gas chambers and intracardiac injection -- used by some shelters in the South is another reason for the transports. The Humane Society of the United States opposes the use of carbon monoxide to euthanize animals unless the shelter cannot legally obtain sodium pentobarbital for injections, the preferred method. The HSUC opposes intracardiac injection unless the animal is verified unconscious.

Many involved in rescuing animals are in the medical field. Nursing is a common profession among animal rescuers. Bobbie Beach, a nurse at Saint Francis Medical Center, operates a dog sanctuary called Silverwalk Hounds just north of Cape Girardeau. She has five dogs of her own and fosters six more. Last summer, her census was 14 dogs.

Beach lives just north of Cape Girardeau in a red house with a fenced-in yard the size of a football field. Ollie, Muggle, Danny, Louie, Millie, Victor, Harry, Penny, Raggedy, Annie and Angel bark when visitors pull up and then immediately begin licking visitors' hands. There are beagles, hounds, a dachshund and numerous mixes.

The cyclone fence is backed up by an electronic fence to prevent the dogs that dig from making a break for it. But these dogs are far from being in jail. Most are alive only because the rescue network brought them here. "They are always going from a place where their life may be in jeopardy to a place where it will not be," Beach said.

A bloodhound no longer at her shelter came from Dallas and ended up in Wisconsin. Beach drove that transport by herself. Most transports involve a number of drivers and a lot of stress for the animals, who will bolt if given a chance, Beach said. "They don't know you and have been traveling goodness knows how long."

She began the sanctuary six years ago and began transporting animals a year later. Her sanctuary is licensed by the Missouri Department of Agriculture. She is certified to foster greyhounds, American black and tan coonhounds and bloodhounds. She also fosters for Safe Harbor, the Jackson no-kill shelter.

The amount of time and scheduling required to drive rescued animals up and down the interstate highway system are why Zalma, Mo., dog trainer Marilyn Olson Neville was so happy to meet Bill Dunn at a recent home show. Neville, the local point person for animal rescues, discovered that Dunn is a pilot who flies rescues for the papillon breed. He offered to help with other breeds.

Three weekends ago, Dunn flew two Australian cattle dogs from Shreveport, La., to a dog rescue in Mount Vernon, Ill.

Dunn also is in the medical field. He is a perfusionist at Saint Francis Medical Center. A perfusionist operates the heart-lung machine during cardiac surgery and brings patients back to life after their heart has been stopped for cardiac surgery.

Dunn has been involved in animal rescue a number of years. He flew an injured bald eagle to Jefferson City for the Department of Conservation.

He participates in rescues because he enjoys flying and helping animals. "You just get a good feeling helping these animals out," he said. "We both get something from it."

Ngasha Huy, a nurse who runs the Australian cattle dog rescue near Shreveport, La., set up the Shreveport-to-Mount Vernon flight and is trying to arrange another for Dunn this weekend. Her rescue is a virtual one. She has no sanctuary but works the network to find rescuers or homes for her breed and for other animals.

"People know to contact me if there is a dog that needs rescue. No physical rescues for Australian cattle dogs exist in southern Louisiana, southern Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma," she said. She works through an international Australian cattle dog group to find a contact near the dog. That begins the rescue process.

Huy sometimes goes into animal shelters and does a "rescue pull." A pull notifies the shelter that someone is coming for that dog. "It might buy the dog a few more days," she said.

Pleas for rescue pulls are sent out on the Internet. This one appeared Thursday: "Need the help of a registered Rescue to pull an injured dog from Inland Valley Humane Society. The dog is scheduled to be killed TONIGHT. This is a Shih Tzu with eye injuries. I am willing to be responsible for this dog and see that it gets the treatment it requires. Please help."

A week to live

An animal that goes into a shelter that euthanizes might have a week to live unless rescued. Huy recently went to a municipal pound in Texas where 900 dogs came through during the month. Only 35 were adopted, the rest euthanized. "They were so glad to see a rescuer," she said.

Animal rescuers often get help from people who believe in their cause. Retired Cape Girardeau County Emergency Operations director Dave Hitt and his daughter Kelly, who teaches in the Kelly schools, recently drove nine dogs from Blytheville, Ark., to Cape Girardeau. A Dexter woman named Candace Poe drove them on to Festus. The dogs had started in Texarkana on the Arkansas-Texas border and ended up in the Chicago area.

For today's transport, Hitt and his wife Mary Burton Hitt, director of the Southeast Missouri Hospital Foundation, have volunteered to drive the two cats and one dog from Cape Girardeau to Festus. His first rescue was impressive, Hitt said. "Everything is coordinated down to the minute."

Sikeston Humane Society director Lanette Baker once drove a rescued dog to San Diego.

"It's saving lives," Huy said. "If you're not a doctor or a nurse, it's something that you don't get to do very often."

Neville is not involved in this weekend's rescue because she flew up north earlier this week on a visit. She said the network can use more drivers willing to take legs on Interstate 55 going north.

The rescuers also need more crates to transport the animals in, leashes, collars and water dishes.

Moen said people in the network are trying to set up a more permanent system so they know they have people who can be counted on living along the main transportation corridors.

For information about animal rescue locally, call Neville at 573-722-3035. Her address is HC2, Box 179, Zalma, Mo. 63787.

sblackwell@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 137