Little Shelter’s Cross Country Run Saves 30 Pups

Little Shelter made a rescue mission to Texas where they saved 30 puppies from probable euthanization.

By Sophia Ricco
sricco@longislandergroup.com

Little Shelter Animal Rescue and Adoption Center welcomed the arrival of 30 tail-wagging puppies all the way from South Texas where they were facing euthanization.

With its mission to save at risk animals, Little Shelter stepped up to rescue the pups after Texas Best Choices Animal Rescue officials asked for their assistance. The rescue group had saved the puppies from other municipal shelters in South Texas where they were likely to be euthanized, but could not house all they rescued.

“Local rescue is always our primary mission at Little Shelter,” executive director David Ceely said. “But we’re painfully aware of what animal control is like in the south and we have the ability to help those animals. We feel since we have the ability, we actually have the responsibility to help them.”

Little Shelter sent its assistant manager and a volunteer to South Texas to pick up the pups. “It took about four days for the entire trip, but once the dogs were in the van, they had to make a bee-line back to Long Island,” Ceely said.  “They were able to stop a few times and walk the dogs on the way back.”

A Little Shelter volunteer cradles one of 30 puppies rescued from euthanization in South Texas last month.

The van pulled in on Friday, May 24, and Little Shelter staff was ready to greet the new arrivals. The puppies are being held for a two-week quarantine in isolation rooms, allowing them to be medically and behaviorally evaluated before they are introduced to other animals. Ceely is confident all find a home, describing them as cute, friendly, and healthy. A majority are lab mixes, ranging from 12 weeks to six months old.

“If there’s a sick animal at risk, it’s one thing, but to see these healthy puppies that were at risk, it was another thing,” Ceely said. “We knew we could get these friendly puppies into homes very quickly.”

Ceely said shelters in the south have a different perspective on euthanization. Many put down young, healthy dogs, he said

“It’s not unlikely that a municipal shelter down there will put a six month old puppy into the gas chamber. It really is all based on space,” Ceely said. “If they run out of space and a certain animal has been there for a few months, even a puppy, it will be put to sleep.”

Little Shelter’s no-kill mission extends across the country. “Whether it’s on Long Island or New York City or Texas, our mission is to pull animals out of high-kill shelters and bring them to a no-kill shelter,” Ceely said. “We want to get them off the euthanization list.”

Little Shelter hopes the public will help, through adoption, fostering, donating or volunteering. Find out how at littleshelter.com, or visit at 33 Warner Rd, Huntington.

“When you adopt from a shelter you save two lives,” Ceely said. “The life of the animal that you adopt and one that gets to go into the kennel space that’s freed up.”