Yippy ti yi yo, come along little doggies
Thursday, August 16, 2007 7:03 AM PDT
By Leslie Slape
Printable version
E-mail this articleA team of Texas animal rescue workers hopes to bring 25 lap dogs from the Lone Star State to Cowlitz County as soon as it raises $3,000 to cover travel expenses.
"It's a win-win-win-win situation," said Prima Mosi, the high-energy founder of Pets Across USA, who met with Cowlitz County Humane Society Director Rick Johnson on Wednesday. "We're rescuing dogs and providing pets for people who otherwise would wait for months to adopt or pay hundreds of dollars to a breeder."
"We don't get a lot of small dogs," Johnson said. "They, on the other hand, say they get a lot of small dogs because of puppy mills."
Puppy mills are high-volume kennels where dogs often are overbred and are kept in substandard conditions. If puppy mill operators think they're about to be closed down, they make a getaway and abandon the dogs.
The dogs end up in shelters like the one Mosi used to operate in Austin, Texas, that takes in 25,000 animals a year. Slightly more than half of them are adopted. After four years of euthanizing animals to make room for incoming animals, Mosi decided "It was time to leave and make a difference."
She formed a no-kill shelter, Protection for Animal Welfare Services. Her organization helped rescue animals left homeless by Hurricane Katrina.
"Millions came in to help the Katrina dogs. Twenty to 30 people were waiting to take in a foster dog -- incredible!" Mosi said. "I thought, 'Why can't we continue this?' "
She said pet overpopulation is a disaster people overlook.
Through a Seattle volunteer at the Katrina rescue, she learned the West Coast had a market for small dogs and decided that collaboration could be the solution to the problem. She was stunned at classified ads in Washington asking $800 or more for English bulldogs and other small breeds that were being euthanized in Texas shelters.
A year ago in Seattle, Patty Kaija, founder of Friends of Lewis County Animal Shelter, met Mosi at a seminar on how to improve animal rescue efforts during disasters.
"She said, 'You know we've been talking about this idea to bring little dogs to you guys,' " Kaija said. "I said, 'Yeah, put them on a bus and bring them to us.' "
Mosi raised the funds, purchased a bus, outfitted it as a mobile kennel, and asked Kaija what kind of dogs she wanted. She collected the dogs from Texas shelters and made sure they were spayed, neutered, vaccinated and healthy.
Last weekend, the mobile kennel with 25 little dogs -- and a film crew from "Animal Planet" that is making a documentary of the rescue -- arrived in Chehalis. All the dogs were adopted Monday.
"It was absolutely incredible," Kaija said. "The response to it was so much more than I thought it would be. People are saying, 'When are you guys going to do this again?' "
Johnson of the Cowlitz shelter helped out with the Lewis County event. He's looking forward to the Cowlitz shelter's turn with Pets Across USA.
"It's a pretty neat deal," he said.
The date will depend on how quickly the organization can raise the $3,000 to cover gasoline, food and lodging. Donations are tax-deductible, including corporate sponsorships that will buy an ad on the outside of the bus.
"We have the dogs. We just need the money to get them here," Mosi said. "Every $10 will get us 30 miles."
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