Community Corner
SARL Helps with Rescue of Felix Varela Dogs
Salem Animal Rescue League will receive seven rescued dogs from Florida on June 27.
The Salem Animal Rescue League will be helping in the emergency rescue of the Felix Varela dogs in Miami, Fla..
Sixty dogs, including puppies and all breed mixes, are currently being housed in the Veterinary Science Department at Felix Varela Senior High School in Kendall, Fla.
The dogs were abandoned there and it was later learned that the owner of the rescue organization had purchased the dogs from high-volume breeders and listed them as rescues to sell for a profit, according to SARL.
Once the rescue organization abandoned the dogs and stopped providing food or any support, their care fell to the high school students. The dogs had to be found homes by the beginning of June so the school could undergo renovations.
"From top to bottom this was an incredibly sad story and fortunately SARL was in a position to rescue seven of the dogs. While we engage in rescue transports on a regular basis we have never experienced such an urgent situation. Thankfully we had the capacity to step in and help. Had these dogs not been rescued by the beginning of this month they would have been sent to a very crowded local shelter with a high euthanization rate," said D.J. Bettencourt, SARL’s Director of Development and Community Relations.
SARL has regularly engaged in rescue transports over the past two years with several other overcrowded shelters across the country, including the Marion County Humane Society in Fairmont, West Virginia, the Grayson County Humane Society in Leitchfield, Kentucky, the Pawmetto Lifeline in Columbia, South Carolina, and the Shelby Humane Society in Columbiana, Alabama. However, this is the first case SARL has seen under such dire circumstances.
"In May, the students and teachers who were caring for these poor dogs learned they would have to scramble to place the dogs in homes because the Veterinary Science wing was getting a makeover during the summer. For years, students and the staff at the school have been saviors for countless sick, neglected and abandoned animals and they stepped up when the rescue organization abandoned the dogs. Unfortunately because of the volume of dogs involved in this sad story they had to be-placed immediately for face the likelihood of being euthanized," said Elisabeth Shuter, SARL's Transport Coordinator.
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The seven rescued dogs will be arriving at the Salem Animal Rescue League from Florida on Friday, June 27, at 7:30 p.m.
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