Safe Haven volunteers,
Robert and Gina Fries, who foster dogs along with their daughter Raechel, say good-bye to their charge, Shadow, as he prepares
to travel to New Hampshire to find a home. Shadow's brother also traveled with the group, driven by Anne Gryczon,
Safe Haven Executive Director.
The
transport also included other Safe Haven dogs as well as dogs from our partner shelter, Faithful Friends of Wilmington, DE.
The wonderful staff and volunteers of the Lakes Region Humane Society in New Hampshire warmly welcomed the dogs transported
by Safe Haven.
Safe
Haven started its Dog Transport Program in 2008 to save the lives of homeless dogs and and dogs rescued from living on chains.
The dogs are transported by Safe Haven to our partner shelters in the Northern New England region, where many shelters have
empty dog kennels due to aggressive spay/neuter programming.
Safe Haven Dog Transfer Code of Ethics
While we do strive to have most of the animals under our care adopted locally
(so that we may more directly monitor their care and wellbeing); in order to
save the greatest number of Delaware’s animals and to make animals available
for adoption in regions and states where there are few animals (so that people do not have to resort to buying animals,
in turn supporting puppy mills and backyard breeders), Safe Haven transfers
our animals only to reputable, No-Kill, shelters.
Safe Haven does not displace local animals and
does not transfer to regions or states were cats or dogs are still
being put down for space reasons (ex. Dogs may be only transferred to regions or states that do not put down dogs for space,
ex. Cats may not be transferred to regions or states that put down cats for space).
Safe Haven only transfers animals to established No-Kill shelters that do not put down animals for space or treatable health reasons.
Safe
Haven gives preference to shelters with animal “control”/protection contracts in their county and surrounding
counties in order to have more of a safety net for our animals.
Safe
Haven mainly transfers animals to established organizations with physical shelter space, not to “foster-only”
groups
Safe Haven may at times transfer dogs to shelters that occasionally put down dogs for behavioral reasons, but only
with a signed agreement that the organization will return the dog to Safe Haven, and not put it down, if it exhibits behaviors
they deem unacceptable, even after an adoption.
Safe Haven may occasionally transfer a dog to a Breed-specific
rescue organization, provided that each organization; is individually evaluated, proves a national affiliation, shows it
has existed for at least 3 years, adheres to a No-Kill policy (including for behavioral issues), accepts mix-breeds, and
the dog is altered before transfer
Safe Haven, as all ethical shelters that have a transport program, engages in a
system of sending (and in the future, receiving) a “fair-sampling” animals.
This means that the sending shelter sends not only harder to place animals, but also easy to place dogs (like puppies, small
dogs, and pure breeds). The receiving shelter accepts both easy to place dogs, but also harder to place animals (such
as Heartworm-positive dogs, Pit Bulls, and older dogs). This is considered a fair balanced exchange, allowing the
shipping shelter to focus limited resources on dogs that are easier to adopt, while not completely exempting them from the
responsibility of caring for all types of animals. The receiving shelter in turn uses their greater resources to help
special-needs animals, while still receiving some easy to adopt animals that will bring more adopter traffic into their
shelter, hence adopting out more and being able to take in more animals in the future.
Transport
Dog Videos
The video below
shows Smoke, the dog abandoned in the Sussex County kennel by his owners and then transported to Maine by Safe Haven.
Smoke's makeover and adoption was part of a feature story on a Maine television show.
Beebe, a pit/Lab mix was living on a chain 24 hours a
day in Sussex County when Safe Haven rescued her for our Dog Transport to Maine. Beebe was adopted with days of her
arrival in Maine. Of all the dogs transported to Maine, only one with some special health issues, is still available
for adoption, but she will be safe at the shelter for as long as it takes for that special person to come along and adopt
her.
To see Beebe, the formerly
chained puppy, romping with a Lab buddy, click here.
Thank You, Foster Families and Kennels:
We are very grateful to the foster families who took care of the dogs while we
waited for Maine shelters to have room to take the dogs: Tim Halleron and family;Jim
Clarke and family; Toni Brown and family; Gina Fries and family; Shawne Noel;
Gayle King and family; Carla Miller and family; and Gayle King and family. Also, we thank
two local kennels that made room for these formerly-chained dogs even though the holiday season is a busy
time for them:Bunting Kennels, Bridgeville, DE. (302) 337-8003; and Ashley's
Pet Ranch, 36017 Pine Bark Lane, Frankford, DE. (302) 537-1030
Rita Hughes, standing with Beebe the pit bull mix and Cathie Taylor, kneeling by Smoke
The Trip to Maine
In March 2010, Safe Haven completed another Dog Transport to Maine. A number of dogs transported to Maine had
been rescued by Safe Haven from living on chains 24 hours a day. Beebe, a two month old puppy who had been living on
a chain is shown below sitting on Santa's lap and also in a video taken at the Maine shelter. Pepper Anne, another
formerly chained dog who went on the transport, is also shown below. Another dog, Smoke, had been abandoned by
his owners at a local kennel, which had been caring for the dog for six months and trying to find a new family for him. Smoke
was featured in a Maine TV show about makeovers forshelter dogs; the video is shown below.
Volunteers Rita Hughes and Cathie Taylor drove
the van full of dogs from Delaware to the shelters in Maine Safe Haven is very grateful to Rita and Cathie for taking
the time out of their lives to transport the dogs all the way to Maine.
Beebe, rescued from living outside 24/7 on a chain, enjoys life now
Pepper Anne enjoys life now that she's no longer living outdoors on a chain
How You Can
Help
To save more dogs' lives, we need to find
people who will:
donate a Cargo Van to make more frequent trips and save more lives
volunteer to foster puppies
and/or dogs before they go north
Nassau, DE 19969 