Florence shelter dogs prepare for trip to new homes in New York
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Florence Area Humane Society volunteer Rescue Coordinator Lela Joseph talks about two Border Collie dogs that will be delivered to Rochester, NY this weekend. The Florence Area Humane Society will transport 12 dogs, this Saturday, to Rochester, NY, where they have already been placed through Duffy's John D. Russell/Morning News
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Florence Area Humane Society volunteer Roxanne Altman, left, and volunteer rescue coordinator Lela Joseph, talk about one of the recent dogs that the humane society acquired, Tuesday, November 18, 2009, at the humane society. The Florence Area Humane Society will transport 12 dogs, this Saturday, to John D. Russell/Morning News
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Florence Area Humane Society volunteer Rescue Coordinator Lela Joseph talks about the upcoming transport and adoption of 12 dogs at the shelter. The Florence Area Humane Society will transport 12 dogs, this Saturday, to Rochester, NY, where they have already been placed through Duffy's Friends, a re John D. Russell/Morning News
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Rosebud is one of the lucky 12 dogs that has been placed for adoption in the Rochester, NY, area.The Florence Area Humane Society will transport 12 dogs, this Saturday, to Rochester, NY, where they have already been placed through Duffy's Friends, a rescue agency in Rochester. To date the humane soc John D. Russell/Morning News
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Florence Area Humane Society volunteer Roxanne Altman, left, and volunteer rescue coordinator Lela Joseph, talk about one of the recent dogs that the humane society acquired, Tuesday, November 18, 2009, at the humane society. The Florence Area Humane Society will transport 12 dogs, this Saturday, to John D. Russell/Morning News
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Florence Area Humane Society transports 14 dogs...
The Florence Area Humane Society has worked out to have 14 dogs adopted in Rochester, NY, this weekend.
JOHN D. RUSSELL/MORNING NEWS
Chica, a Terrier mix, is one of the lucky 12 Florence Area Humane Society shelter dogs who has been placed for adoption in the Rochester, N.Y., area. FAHS volunteers will take 12 dogs to the Empire State where they already have been placed through Duffy’s Friends, a rescue agency in Rochester. To date, the humane society has placed more than 200 dogs this year.
FLORENCE — Twelve lucky dogs from the Florence Area Humane Society will be licking the faces of 12 lucky new owners Sunday in Rochester, N.Y.
Leigh Ann Sawyer and Kim Massengill will leave Florence early Saturday morning in a rented van en route to Rochester. The humane society is looking for donations to cover the cost of the trip: $200 for the van and $150 for gas.
Among those making the trek are Marsha, Jan and Cindy, three black lab mixes who have been at the humane society shelter since May.
Some of the others are Pepper, a black-gray mix; Rosebud, a German shepherd-basset mix; Buddy, a terrier mix; Precious, a blond terrier mix; FeFe, a poodle; Terry, a tan terrier mix; and Clover, a red retriever mix.
The canines have already been placed through Duffy’s Friends, a rescue agency in Rochester. The new owners had to undergo background checks and have their homes inspected before being cleared to adopt the dogs.
Lela Joseph is the rescue coordinator for FAHS. She said there were more than 40 applicants for the 12 dogs.
“It’s a win-win situation for all concerned,” Joseph said Tuesday at the humane society shelter amidst the barking of dogs and meowing of cats. “Duffy pays to have the dogs’ shots and heartworm treatments and to have them spayed and neutered. It’s incredible to see the excitement on the new owners’ faces when the dogs arrive.”
Roxanne Altman is a volunteer at FAHS. She has made the trip before and said the joy the dogs bring to their new owners is overwhelming.
Altman was petting an emaciated schnauzer-poodle mix. She was sitting on a blanket on the floor with the trembling dog.
“She was left in a crate in front of the humane society Saturday morning with two of her sisters,” she said. “They had no food and water and were scared to death.”
Joseph said the FAHS sent 220 dogs last year to the Rochester and Washington, D.C., areas.
“The people are so grateful to get these dogs,” she said. “They all have great stories to tell.”
Joseph also has some tales to tell about her lifelong love of animals. She’s been rescuing them for 30 years.
She even helped a neighbor with her cat when she was 5.
“We were keeping the cat for the neighbor,” she recalled. “I thought it needed a bath, so I gave it one. My mother had a fit when she saw what I was doing. We managed to dry the cat off and get it back to the neighbor without her knowing about the bath.”
And all these years later, Joseph is still loving her animals. They include a 120-pound great dane mix named Barkley, two Boston terriers, a West Highland terrier, a three-pound Chihuahua, a 14-year-old cat and nine fish.
For those close to home who are looking for a pet, the FAHS shelter is located at 1007 Stockade Drive, off of National Cemetery Road, in Florence and is open from noon to 5 p.m. every day except Wednesday and Sunday. Call (843) 669-2921 for more information.
Reader Reactions
“I know first hand”......
In reality, it usually means “I don’t know s#%t, but I want to try to give myself fake credibility so people won’t think that I really don’t know s#%t”.
That, or there is an ax to grind.
If everyone would spay and neuter their existing dog or newly acquired dog and cat - the need for rescue groups would become a mute point. I recently adopted a dog from your area and he is now neutered, licensed and contained in my back yard to be loved for 15 years.
It’s part of the solution - spay/neuter, license and contain your pet.
Well said ciara1. I just can’t wait for this shelter to FINALLY be built. The groundbreaking for the new shelter was in FeBRUARY 2007! City Council dragged their feet so long and now the animals will have to suffer through another COLD WINTER! It would also help if pet owners would SPAY OR NEUTER their pets!!!!! IT IS THE LAW! Fortunately most of the dogs and cats are spayed or neutered BEFORE being adopted out! The shelter had to start this practice because even though new owners signed an agreement to get their pet spayed or neutered by a certain date, a great many were not and unfornatley the resources just aren’t there to go out and enforce the law. The reason they are shipping animals up to New York is because they have a shortage of dogs and cats because their laws are being enforced. We here are too busy dealing with corrupt politians!!!! But that is a whole different issue! AAAAAHHHHHHHH
OMG, Noflogo needs to go-go right down to that shelter and see what really goes on at any shelter. Lets put the blame where it belongs, lousy, cold hearted pet owners. Pets should be a life time committment where good care, training and socialization are tended to. When none of the above are performed, these folks dump their dirty, sick, emaciated and vicious animals off at the gates in the cloak of darkness so they will not be identified or arrested for cruelty or neglect. It is sickening to think these are the same folks that run right out after their nasty deed and pick up another, cuter, younger pet. Of course the same will eventually happen to them. Millions of pets are destroyed each year around the U.S, so sad a statment about our disposable society. No-go states the biting dogs are put down first, of course they are, it is up to the volunteers to evaluate the risk factors involved with each and every animal. Who in their right mind would adopt an aggressive animal and leave a great dog behind to be destroyed due to lack of space? Adopters pick and choose, as do the shelter workers, they know what is adoptable and what is not. If anyone feels it is not right to destroy an aggressive dog, they need to go down to the local shelter right now and adopt them all…just make sure you have great insurance.
Nogoflo: What? are you nuts? The shelter does not picke and choose. There is a set set of guidelines for euthanizing animals. I’ve been there on the days they have to make those decisions. The staff are in tears. They HATE this part of their job and go to great lengths to save each and every animal that ends up at their door. That is how the whole Duffy thing got started. Maybe you should volunteer up there some time and get to know the staff before you mouth off. AND the ones that go to New York are picked out the by DUFFY rescue, NOT by the shelter staff.
My experience with Florence HS couldn’t be more different. We have adopted 3 dogs from Duffy’s Friends, two from the Florence Humane Society. Florence HS does not pick and choose whom to save - they place or save as many as they can. As the animals who have not been adopted run out of time, rescue groups in the North receive e-mails and lists pleading for the animals to be saved. We adopted one dog fresh off the transport. He had been run over by a car as a pup and Florence HS gave him the operation that allows him to run today. One of our adopted dogs is a Pit Bull Terrier, the other a Pit Bull mix - not typically viewed as warm and fuzzy. They were all on the short list and it is only because of Lela Johnson and the Florence HS as well as Duffy’s Friends that these ‘babies’ now romp together as brothers here in Upstate New York with us. And we couldn’t be happier or more grateful.
Don’t be fooled by this “feel good” story about the dogs over the human society. See, they have a practice of killing the ones they don’t particulary care for. I know this first hand. I wouldn’t ever donate another nickel to this Florence location. There are many many great shelters across this country and the folks at this one shouldn’t be allowed to pick and choose which ones they want to kill and which ones they want to spare and sent to NY. If you think you turned over a dog - and it was gonna get adopted by a nice family - think again - if the worker didn’t like the dog - if the dogs bites or growls - dead.
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