Cortland Standard .net

By CATHERINE WILDE
Staff Reporter
Eight dogs from North Carolina have another chance at life, after the Cortland Community Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals rescued them Saturday.
Officials drove to a transfer point in New Jersey to pick up the canines, which had been slated for euthanasia at a shelter in North Carolina. It was the first time the local SPCA did this type of rescue, which it could do because its kennels were not full.
The dogs were quiet for the entire four-hour trip back to the local SPCA, a no-kill shelter, said Neil Burns, an SPCA volunteer who drove the dogs back. Burns and Kitty Totman, president of the CCSPCA Board of Directors, drove the animals in a large Suburban that city fireman Mike Tenkate had loaned the shelter for the trip.
Totman said she connected to the group Middle Mutts on Facebook and arranged to be part of a rescue transfer. Middle Mutts acts as a liaison for animals that are slated to be euthanized, scheduling their transport for pickup by shelters that have room and agree to take them in. Totman found the group while looking for rescue groups to ‘friend’ on Facebook.
Ruin Creek, a shelter in North Carolina, transported the dogs to New Jersey, Totman said. They were rescued from Vance County Shelter in North Carolina.
Before the exchange, Shelter Manager Sandy Snyder selected the eight dogs after getting a list of dogs slated for euthanasia at the Vance County Shelter. Over 50 dogs were on the list.
Snyder picked those that were most likely to be adopted.
Totman said the dogs are loving and gentle.
“We got the most amazing dogs,” she said. “They are so starved for love, they were quiet all the way back and literally hugged us when they got out of the van.”
Six dogs are up for adoption; the youngest, 12 weeks old, was adopted Tuesday and a 4-month-old Carolina mix, Nugget, was adopted Wednesday.
The dogs are all mixed breeds except for one purebred black Chow, estimated to be about 8 months old.
In the kennel Tuesday, the dogs wagged their tails, licked their handlers and begged for attention from behind their bars.
Bandit, a large beagle mix, sat calmly in the arms of an SPCA worker, shyly looking at the onlookers.
Nugget barked at visitors while Macy, a Corgi mix, licked SPCA worker Tiffany Lyon as she administered deworming medication.

Local articles in today's paper:

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE