It’s been a very hard month for Pets Alive. All of us have been affected by it. We’re a family so if one of us is hurting we all are. Kerry writes about it in more detail in her blog and I would really encourage you to read it:  http://petsalive.com/blog/2011/06/09/questions-doubts-and-recrimination/
This month has made me question my own rescue efforts and whether change can really be made. Really it has….
The Pets Alive annual ‘Furball’ was held last Saturday. The theme was ‘Can you feel the love tonight?’ and without sounding horribly cliché you really could. Hundreds of people joined together in their love of animals. It was humbling and incredible to witness. It gave me renewed determination to continue our work in PR.
A small glimmer of hope appeared on the horizon this week. For those who follow PAPR you know that we have a number of dogs in foster care. They had spent far too long in Dr Aguirre’s office and when I was in PR we built ¼ acre runs for these dogs at Iris’s house. I would like to take a moment to tell you all about Iris. Iris is an angel who appeared to me last year. I was transporting dogs back to NY and only had 5 crates to take. That left a spare place on my flight so I sent out a note to all the rescuers I know on the island. One of our biggest struggles as rescuers in Puerto Rico is getting dogs out of PR. They must have an escort on the plane and that can prove difficult to find. Somehow my email ended up in Iris’s hands and I received a call from her about a boxer she had rescued named Dio. Iris has been rescuing dogs her whole life with her own money. She finds wonderful homes for them in Puerto Rico. She had been struggling to find a great home for Dio.
Could I take him to Pets Alive she asked? With a heavy heart I explained that I could only transport dogs and I could not take any further rescues in. I could hear the heartbreak in her voice as she thanked me for what I was doing for the dogs of PR and that she would try and continue to find a home for Dio on the island. I felt terrible. So I called Kerry and asked if we had room at the inn for one more – a beautiful boxer who was neutered, healthy and up to date on shots. ‘Of course!’ said Kerry and I could hardly contain my excitement as I called Iris to tell her the good news. Dio and 5 others traveled with me on the night before Thanksgiving. It was a hideous journey. One flight got cancelled, and then the next one that American could put us all on got horribly delayed. We finally walked in the doors of Pets Alive at 6am on Thanksgiving morning. A wonderful family adopted Dio – he even has his own kids! That Thanksgiving Eve Iris and I became sisters and she has been helping PAPR ever since.
We have 18 dogs in foster care. Dogs that I have been promising their very own family…And this week I was told that they could finally come to Pets Alive! It is not something that I was expecting but that makes it all the more exciting! And scary. PAPR had certainly not planned for a large transport but we will make it happen – the dogs are coming in the next 2 weeks. It now costs us $175 PER DOG to send the dogs with American Airlines. And they are the cheapest. That’s in excess of $3000. So I again appeal to you, our loyal followers and supporters to help us bring these beautiful Angels to heaven on earth. They are so deserving and have waited patiently for so long. I am going to put up a chip-in on our website and I would encourage you to give whatever you can. If you would like to sponsor an individual dog and cover their airfare then even better! If you cannot donate $$$ then please consider air miles. We can fly ANY airline to GET to PR. We need to fly AA back as they transport dogs for us. Jet Blue is great because they don’t charge for baggage. And believe me I take a lot of baggage. I have a full rescue kit that I travel with and my wonderful vet, Dr Thomas LoBasso of Cobble Hill Animal Clinic in Brooklyn always send me with huge donations of heartworm and flea and tick medication. Plus I usually go a little crazy in the dog isles of Target before I leave to spoil our fur kids. They so deserve it.
I don’t know who said it but a picture definitely speaks a thousand words so I put this together for you all. You know who is coming and you can pick your favorite to sponsor : ) These dogs have been waiting for their ‘Someday’……… http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=1AcuG7Rs2YtHWQ

On a very frustrating note, 5 dogs have been dumped at the beach : (
The first one looks in really bad shape.