There's now a modern underground railroad system. But instead of helping people, this one is helping pets.
Overcrowded animal shelters in the south euthanize almost 70 percent of their animals due to lack of space or funds, according to workers at Horry County Animal Care Center.
To increase the number of pets sent to family homes, southern shelters have started to transport animals north where demand for animals is increasing.
"The spay and neuter laws in the north part of the U.S. are much more strict than they are here," says Marion County Paws to the Rescue Director Jennifer Nall. "They have a shortage of puppies and animals, and here people either can't afford to spay or neuter their animals or don't see a need."
The shelter sends transports weekly to as far as New Jersey, New York and Minnesota. Volunteers in the National Paws to the Rescue group bring these animals to their destination. "It's sort of like a virtual group," says Nall. "We network using the internet and Facebook to find volunteers to drive the different legs of the route. We often split the trip up so one person isn't driving the entire way."
Each transport can include as little as one animal or as many as ten to 40 animals in one trip.
Nall says animal shelters up north usually fill up with dogs not usually considered family pets, like rottweilers and pit bulls. "They are mostly looking for family dogs like labs, but that doesn't mean we only are able to find good homes to specific breeds. We move hundreds of animals through the transport in a given year."
Jennifer Skopac is the director of Dogs XL Rescue in Baltimore, Maryland. She said, "There aren't terribly too many puppies up here available for adoption and those that are generally find homes pretty quickly. So it's important to match puppies down south with the families that take very good care of them in the north."
Skopac says shelters up north are usually filled with dogs like pit bulls and rottweillers, dogs families may not want to adopt. She says there's more education up north about spaying and neutering, so northern shelters don't see an overwhelming number of puppies. "Vets are very proactive. Shelters are very proactive. Most shelters in the northeast will not release a dog that has not been spade or neutered for private adoption."
Nall is moving animals on a weekly basis, hoping to give every animal at the shelter more time. "We would have to euthanize so many more animals then we do now. It would just be horrible."
Nall says spring is the most crowded time for the shelter because that's when many dogs have their litters.
