39 Dallas Rescue Dogs Flown To MA For 'Texas Home 'Em' Fee-Free Adoption Event

SALEM, MA — More than three dozen Texas rescue dogs have arrived in Massachusetts to find their forever homes and are the inspiration for the next adoption fee-free event from the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem and the MSPCA-Angell.

The dogs are part of an Operation Kindness rescue in Carrollton, Texas that last week moved 39 dogs ranging from two months old to 3 years old from the overcrowded shelter near Dallas to Hanscom Air Field in Bedford before they were brought to Salem for the mandatory 48 quarantine.

The available dogs include Chihuahuas, Poodle mixes, Hound mixes and Pit Bull mixes.

The influx of adoptees will be part of the next fee-free adoption event called "Texas Home 'Em" where all dogs 40 pounds or more will have the adoption fee waived so that new owners can spend that money on creating a safe and comfortable home.

"Texas is one of the toughest states in the country when it comes to pet overpopulation, especially dogs, and Operation Kindness has been working extraordinarily hard to do everything in its power to help," MSPCA-Angell Vice President of Animal Protection Mike Keiley said. "But the dog population crisis is a problem that requires everyone in animal welfare to band together to address, and this partnership is a perfect example of that."

Keiley estimates that the Dallas shelter system takes in an average of more than 100 animals every single day.

“Dallas Animal Services is a prime example of the enormous challenge the entire state of Texas is up against," he said. "It's dealing with the largest pet overpopulation problem of any state in the country, second only to California."

While shelters in New England have begun to fill up in line with the national trend, there are still more adoptive opportunities in Massachusetts than Texas and other areas of the country where there has been a national euthanasia crisis for more than a year.

"We've been saying for a long time that the dog population crisis is a national problem that's quickly reaching a breaking point," Keiley said. "In order to fight it, we all in animal welfare need to do everything we can to rehome dogs faster, and adoption events like Texas Home 'Em are key in doing that."

The adoptathon will be held during open hours at the MSPCA's shelters in Boston, Methuen, Salem, and Centerville on Cape Cod, beginning June 3 at the Northeast Animal Shelter, June 4 at the other three locations, and running through June 9 at all shelters.

It's the first of three special summer adoption events the MSPCA plans to hold in the coming months.

More information on the Texas Home 'Em adoptathon can be found here.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached atScott.Souza@Patch.com. X/Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)