Sunday, September 18, 2011

Honey's Five Days

Five days. That’s how long animals have to find a home when they enter one shelter in South Carolina. If you know about the overpopulation of pets that fill these shelters, you know the odds are not in the their favor.

Things were not looking good for this sweet Lab, Honey. We’re not sure how this lovable girl found herself in such a horrible circumstance. All we know is that she was an “owner surrender,” a mama who recently had a litter of puppies.

Volunteers with our rescue saw Honey on the shelter’s Facebook page. Lab lovers, they immediately knew they had to save the dog.  When a rescue pulls from a shelter, the rescue pays a fee to have the dog vetted (spayed/neutered, up to date on vaccines, etc.) Then, transport is arranged to get the dog from the shelter to the rescue.

Honey arrived in New Jersey last weekend into the loving home of the volunteers. We ended up taking Honey mid-week because they had their hands full when a nasty groundhog bit one of their personal dogs.

As soon as I posted Honey’s Petfinder profile, interest started to come in. I contacted one family in particular who was interested in Karina back in the spring, but they weren't able to take her because the timing wasn't right. (And it just seemed to fit because Honey is a blond Karina.)

Can you guess how long it was between the time Honey stepped paw in New Jersey until the time her new family’s application was approved? You got it—five days.  

Don't get me wrong; they're all not that quick and easy to adopt out as a sweet yellow Lab. Had she been a bully breed or a BBD with the same disposition, it would have taken longer. But they all deserve more than five days—they deserve a lifetime. 

3 comments:

  1. Yay for Honey!

    I think I learned by my third foster that a timeframe was never guaranteed. It would be great if 5 days was a norm, so many more dogs could be fostered... but thats just not how it works. Like you said, all dogs deserve as much time as they need.

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  2. Kim, I live in SC and I'm wondering if you can give me more info on this shelter. I am currently fostering for the Florence Area Humane Society and I'd love to be able to watch that shelter's facebook page as well and help with as many of the out of timers as I can. If you'd rather not post publicly you can email me the info. vjune224@gmail.com

    Five days is such a short time for any animal to be adopted! I just don't see how this is really giving any of them a chance at a new life, fosters and rescues stepping up and pulling these dogs before their time is up is a wonderful thing!

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  3. Hi, Vicki. You're right. The shelters (because of lack of time, resources, money, etc.) can't do enough to promote the animals pouring into their shelter on a daily basis. I'll email you the info about the shelter. It's really kind of you to ask. Our next foster (coming up on Saturday) is coming from there as well.

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