9/14/08: The following Dachshunds are now Adoption Pending: Oliver, Mia, Amelia and Basil.  Once home checks are completed, they will be going home.  Tootsie, the TV star, who was rescued from the WV shelter at the same time as the Dachshunds, has gone to her new home along with Sissy, another HART dog.  The following Dachshunds are now officially adopted: Otto, Raspberry, Mitzie, Millie, Jacquie, Muesli, Beans, Nutmeg, Rose and Ruby Red.

9/7/08: Given all the press about the closing of the West Virginia Puppy Mill, we received a record number of applications online this week for the Dachshunds.  At Saturday's Adoption Event we had 55 applicants in attendance (many of these were for our other dogs).  Big thanks to our HART volunteer interviewers who worked the entire day!  A number of the Dachshunds are now Adoption Pending: Otto, Raspberry, Mitzie, Spice, Millie, Jacquie, Muesli, Beans, Nutmeg, Rose, Ruby Red and Harvey.  Once home checks are completed, they will be going home.  Cinnamon and Bambi have already gone home to approved adopters. 

9/1/08: Nancy, Charlene and Meg appeared on Fox 5 News this morning to introduce some of the West Virginia dogs: Dachshunds Otto and Muesli, Pekingese Otto, and a very vocal mix named Tootsie!  Visit  Fox 5 News and watch the video!

8/31/08: Charlene reports on Saturday's Adoption Event and the Puppy Mill Dogs:

"Saturday's adoption event can best be described as a whirlwind with many applications on HART dogs. The initial whirlwind started this week when HART agreed to take in many dogs from the West Va. puppy mill that had closed.  In order for us to take a large number of dogs we reached out to our foster homes who did not disappoint.

Those of you that have heard about this on the news saw that the mill had over 1000 dogs and puppies and that the conditions were raw. The mill was mainly a warehouse for dachshund and a few other small breed dogs.

A HUGE thank you to Nancy, Leslie, Jane and Cindi who spent all day and most of the night on Wed driving 6 hours each way in order to bring back 40 plus dogs to Northern Virginia. They left at 6 a.m. and arrived back at 1:30 a.m. with 2 vans full of the rescued dogs. The vans were met by scores of our fosters and volunteers and the press as well.

HART could not have rescued as many dogs as we did without so many people stepping up to foster. Thank you Oki, Chrissy, Tracy, Kirsten, Meg and Mark, Sonja, Charlie and Chuck, Suzanne and Ed, Holly and Ralph, Kari and Rick, Nicole, Marylou, Kim and Christina and Ted.  And thanks also for not balking when I told you all that the vans would not be arriving until the middle of the night!

Also, another huge thank you to Debbie and Dawn for getting the word out to the media about HART's effort in helping to save some of these puppy mill dogs. With one days notice, Dawn and Debbie  managed to get HART's work at saving these dogs in many news pieces including the Washington Post.  We will also be doing a segment tomorrow (9/1) on Fox news (I think it will be airing in the morning) and we will be bringing a few of the dogs from the puppy mills along with one of the dogs Nancy pulled from the local West Va shelter.

And as an interesting side note, while Nancy was waiting to load the dogs we were getting (a wait that went on almost 7 hours), she went to the local shelter in West Va. and came back with 2 dogs who were on borrowed time as they had been there for many weeks. One of these dogs, Tanny, got 2 very good applications today!

Of the 40 plus dogs that HART pulled, 28 are doxies. We received 22 applications on them today but the applicants understood that given all the other dogs there today we could not do interviews. Next week we will start doing the interviews for the doxies."

Nancy and Charlene will be interviewed on Fox 5 News Monday (9/1/08) morning about this story.

HART Photos of Rescue Night
 

Press Release

VIRGINIA RESCUE ORGANIZATIONS TO HELP WEST VIRGINIA PUPPY MILL DOGS

Homeless Animals Rescue Ream (HART)
A Forever Home
The Chance Foundation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Tuesday August 26, 2008
www.hart90.org
www.aforeverhome.org
www.countryclubkennels.com

Fairfax, VA  –   On August 24, over 1000 dogs and puppies were discovered in horrific conditions in a Parkersburg WV breeding operation.  The raid was a joint effort of law enforcement, Best Friends Animal Society and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS.) 

In response to the urgent need to help these puppy mill dogs, volunteers with three northern Virginia non-profit rescue groups will head to WV tomorrow and bring back 100 adult dogs and puppies.   The dogs are expected to return to Fairfax County tomorrow evening.   The WV dogs will be available for adoption locally – after receiving medical attention and TLC in local foster homes and vet clinics.  Volunteers from The Homeless Animals Rescue Team,  A Forever Home and The Chance Foundation are looking for qualified adoptive  homes.  Visit the groups’ websites for more information on adoption and for an application. 

The dogs, mostly Dachshunds, Yorkies, Poodles, Jack Russells and King Charles Cavaliers, were housed in terrible conditions.   Many dogs were stuffed into small rabbit hutches – with no water.   Most were never allowed out of their cages. 

The rescue groups are all accepting donations to help defray the extraordinary cost of bringing in so many dogs at one time.   Charlene Bofinger, Board member of the Homeless Animals Rescue Team, explains that HART will continue to help the many area shelters they generally support – and bringing in the puppy mill dogs will stretch their already thin resources.   “With medical attention - including vaccinations, heartworm testing (and treating when appropriate) spaying/neutering - and boarding costs, it adds up.  The average cost to a rescue group to help just one dog exceeds $500.   I don’t know how where we are going to find the funds to cover the cost – but we are glad to be able to participate in the rescue.”

Combined, the three rescue groups place more than two thousand rescued dogs and cats in carefully screened local homes every year.  Please visit the groups’ websites if you are interested in making a donation.

For more information:   http://network.bestfriends.org/wvpuppymills/news/

http://www.hsus.org/