Kicked repeatedly by her owner’s steel-toed boot, Daisy’s bones were left shattered, but not her puppy exuberance. This beautiful, 10-month-old pit bull lived through unspeakable horror as the victim of animal cruelty. Daisy arrived as part of our first rescue transport of 2021, from Paws4Life and the Bossier City Animal Shelter.
As many are looking forward to the end of a year that has seen unprecedented loss, we at North Shore Animal League America are committed to our no-kill mission. For the month of December we expect to bring in almost 300 dogs, cats, puppies and kittens. In a year where we have had to scale back our rescue missions due to the ongoing global pandemic, we did not stop our lifesaving work and continued to do all we could to save more animals.
On October 23, 2020, our Mobile Rescue Unit pulled into our Port Washington, N.Y. campus from its third lifesaving mission to the hurricane-devastated areas in Louisiana and Texas. It was carrying 37 puppies and dogs and 18 cats and kittens that would have been euthanized as the shelters there are overflowing with animals due to the non-stop storms.
North Shore Animal League America arranged a transport with PAWS4Life that would ultimately open up space in Bossier City Animal Control and other local shelters for animals that would need a haven after the latest devastating hurricane blew through the region. Hurricane Delta, the 10th named storm to make landfall in the United States in 2020, dropped more than 15 inches of rain in parts of Louisiana and Texas.
Looking at a photo of Miracle Baby’s tiny face in the plea for help to save his life, who could resist wanting to assist. Certainly not our Rescue Team, who answered Brooklyn Animal Care Center’s urgent appeal that stated he needed “nutritional support” and a place that could “monitor his temperature.” They immediately set up a transport to pick him up and bring him to North Shore Animal League America.
As Hurricane Laura was developing into a real threat, our Emergency Rescue Team began reaching out to our partner shelters in Louisiana and Texas to see what help we could provide. As always, supplies were at the top of the list, and clearing the shelters of as many homeless dogs and cats as we could to make room for those that would be displaced from their homes and families by this devastating storm.
The staff waited expectantly as the lifesaving transport pulled onto North Shore Animal League America’s Port Washington, N.Y. campus on a weekday evening with 29 tiny kittens aboard, completing their journey to safety.Five of these innocent, young kittens had already been through so much hardship during their short lives. These babies had been abandoned with their mom when the tenant of a rural Virginia property just moved away and left them behind.
Kitten Season sounds wonderful, but it is a tragic situation. It’s the time of year when thousands of unwanted litters of kittens are born. These kittens often find their way to overcrowded shelters where they are often euthanized. Others roam the streets in search of food and shelter, often being subject to illness and injury. Wolfie and Nicholas are two kittens whose stories could have been drastically different if they had not found their way to our Pet Health Centers.
Cinderella, Brooklyn, and Emory, three neglected and abandoned mama dogs who came north with their pups to our Port Washington, NY campus on a rescue from Georgia earlier this year, have all found loving, responsible homes.
North Shore Animal League America often rescues pregnant dogs or dogs with litters of puppies. Recently, two sweet mama dogs arrived with their pups on a rescue transport from Tennessee. Sadly some of their pups starting showing possible signs of canine parvovirus. The ones who tested positive were placed right away in isolation in our Freed Special Recovery Center. Thanks to this vital resource, our special procedures, and amazing staff, there is good news for the pups!