Georgia Puppy Caravan This Weekend

By isak, August 22, 2009

Forrest is available for adoption from Austin Siamese Rescue in Austin, TX[

I am a late posting this news, but it is such a great effort, I want to give it space anyway. You can never say enough about good events like this. And maybe it will inspire other such events across the world. If you live in the Baltimore, MD and Lindenwold, NJ areas, you can get out there and support this drive on Sunday, August 23. Just check their itinerary.

From the website of Animal Rescue Flights, one of the groups involved in the caravan, this explanation of the event:

4 key activities planned as part of the Georgia Puppy Caravan:

1) A caravan of up to 200 vehicles will travel a path that starts in New Jersey and ends in Atlanta. Families and individuals participating are making the trek to show their support for the animals of Georgia. We invite everyone to come out to our rest stops and show your support of the Caravan on its long drive…bring your flags, posters, and smiles to show the local media how much support there is for the animals. Support for the animals of Georgia will also come by air! Volunteer pilots for Animal Rescue Flights will fly into the Peachtree Dekalb airport with food donations and will be prepared to transport shelter dogs to their new rescue homes, if needed. Caravan itinerary

2) After arriving to Georgia, the Caravan will visit the Chattooga shelter in Summerville and entirely empty the facility of its unwanted animals. The media will be on hand. It will be a symbolic event of how things should be…animal shelters sitting empty because every animal has a home of its own. The message will be positive, focusing on the need for spaying and neutering as well as asking people to care for their animals as members of the family versus discarding animals as they might discard unwanted furniture or clothing. Preparations are being made in advance so that the dogs are ready to travel. More details about emptying the Chattooga shelter.

3) To welcome the Georgia Puppy Caravan to Atlanta, an event is being planned and hosted by Mr. David York and the Barking Hound Village, where the new National Geographic reality series about Rescue Ink will be premiered. Both Rescue Ink and National Geographic will be present at the event. Politicians, celebrities and the press have been invited. And, of course, Caravan participants and rescue volunteers will attend the event as well. Much of what is necessary to put on such an event is being donated. We hope that the press attending this event will raise enough awareness that it will be possible to more quickly create a widespread low cost spay/neuter program for Georgia. Many thanks to Mr. David York and Barking Hound Village for sponsoring such a wonderful event. More details about the premiere event.

4) We know there will still be work to do after the Caravan leaves Georgia. With this in mind, the Caravan wants to leave a gift behind to help the shelters in Georgia after all the excitement wanes and the media coverage ends. Food and supply donations are being collected at designated donation points in various states and will be delivered to a warehouse in Georgia that will be responsible for distributing the food and supplies as needed until it is gone. In addition to food and supplies donated by individuals, cash donations will be used to purchase dog food directly from a dog food manufacturer at a specially negotiated rate. If we can raise enough funds to purchase 20 tons of dog food, this manufacturer will round out the truck with the last 2 tons and ship the food to Atlanta. More information about food, supplies and cash donations.

Press release

Some of the organizations assisting in the Georgia Puppy Caravan include:

• Freedom Train Animal Rescue Transports
• Barking Hound Village
• Daffy’s Pet Soup Kitchen
• Animal Adoption Center
• Georgia SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals)
• Dogs On Death Row

For more information about the Georgia Puppy Caravan, please call Karen LaSasso
at 609-665-1224 or email her at kat12242003 [at] yahoo [dot] com.