Basically, it's like a Pony Express (relay) to move highly adoptable shelter animals that will be destroyed (because there are too many and no room for them in the shelters) to rescues that have room to foster them to adoption. The problem is that the shelter animals are in rural areas and states such as West Virginia, the Carolinas, and Florida. The rescues with room to foster them to adoption are in northern states such as New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts, where the economies are better and the spay-neuter laws are stronger. The challenge is getting them from Point A to Point B when they are hundreds of miles apart. That's where animal transport comes in: relaying animals for short distances to an end destination. Volunteer drivers carry animals from 60-90 miles (called a leg) in their own vehicle to meet the driver of the next leg that will take the animals onward.

                     

I never planned on being a driver. It's something I backed into. In 2003, I heard about someone needing help with driving some animals, and I volunteered to do a leg because I had a bit of free time one Saturday. When I saw what beautiful animals were coming from the rural areas and getting a chance they would never have had if they'd stayed there, I was stunned. It's a sad reality and tragedy that only a small percent of the shelter animals -- only the cream of the crop -- will get to safety. However, it is beyond tragic... it's criminal if a rescue opening goes unused. I quickly realized that I couldn't stand the thought that an animal would lose a chance to get to a rescue because of distance standing in the way. Ergo, three years later, I'm still doing it, almost every weekend, and sometimes twice in a weekend. People ask what I get out of it. There are four things:

Personal satisfaction     Knowing we are making a world of difference to these animals is such a "high". There are also a lot of very happy adopters with wonderful companions because of animal transport, and that too is a high. The transport team I support moved about 1200 animals to safety in the last year.

Camaraderie     I have met many wonderful people doing transport. Some do it occasionally. There's no hard-fast requirement. Some, like me, are "regulars" who transport over and over again. I always enjoy seeing them.

Amazing connections     In 2004, I transported a Catahoula hound mix named Sputnik (who started out in Tennessee) to a young woman named Anne. Anne lives in NYC and drove to DE to get Sputnik from me. Recently, I did a transport in October 2006 for a shy but loving Catahoula hound named a Clifford in South Carolina. Clifford had been mistreated and dumped at the shelter, but luckily found a foster in the north. I was on the transport team, and suddenly discovered I knew Clifford's new foster mom: none other than Anne! Sputnik was getting a new friend, and Clifford was getting his chance. I marveled at the thread and the connection being made again.

Saving a soul     The shelter workers our transports support are on the front line and trying every avenue they can to get animals saved. They are the real heroes. They love their animals, and rejoice when they are rescued -- and grieve deeply when they aren't and run out of time. They have to make the hard decisions about who will not leave. Many of them cry at night when they lose animals they have loved. How do I know this? The transport coordinator, whom I support, is a former shelter administrator who was making those hard decisions. Now she's a mom with two toddlers, and works on transport coordination late at night after her kids are in bed. It's so important to her because she knows first hand the despair of shelter workers.

Early in my fostering career, I felt despair because there were so many animals that I couldn't help. We can't help them all, and if we try to help them all we will become hoarders. When I discovered transport I saw it as a way to do the next best thing if I couldn't help more animals directly -- enable others who could help more by getting the animals to them. And that's why I do it.

So what can you do to help?     You can volunteer to drive a few nice animals, it's only a few hours, and you will feel like a million bucks after doing it. You could volunteer to keep an animal overnight, since there are transports that span two days and the animals need a place to stay before they can finish their trip. You could help with some temporary boarding costs -- when transports can't carry as many as needed because there aren't enough openings or drivers, the shelters and rescues try to hold the animals until the next week when they can get to safety and it comes down to finances. You can also make contributions for gas for transporters who are willing to drive, but cannot afford to drive. And you can continue pressing for more progress in spay-neuter efforts. If there were fewer animals and they were all wanted, we wouldn't need to transport. It will be a long time before that happens, so in the meantime... we transport.

If you are interested in transporting or would like more information, please contact Janet and CARA by emailing us at cara_adopt@yahoo.com.