By Cindy Kilgore
Marie Leotta's My View, “Concerned about the trend of importing dogs,” is a real stab into the heart of Vermont's kindhearted and selfless rescue volunteers and humane society staff. In neither situation are dogs "warehoused" as Ms. Leotta implies. Rescue organizations depend on volunteers to foster dogs in their homes at their expense. The objective is to give a loving and caring home for a homeless dog and that process begins with the foster home who gets to know, firsthand, the personality and needs of a particular dog. Anyone who has adopted from a legit rescue knows the drill – phone interview, personal reference and vet reference. Vermont's humane societies don't go to the same exact extent but are careful with applicants and provide clean, safe shelter and medical care for animals under their watchful eye.
Homeless dogs coming up from the South is not a trend as Ms. Leotta suggests nor is it anything new. It's just that there are more dogs in shelters and pounds in the South than they can possibly handle. Overpopulation of pets in the South is intense – between strays and lack of responsible pet ownership – thousands of adoptable dogs die for a lack of a home as a result of this irresponsibility. It is estimated that 2.7 million adoptable pets are euthanized in this country annually (that's one every 13 seconds). Another wrench in this sad equation is the puppy mill. Puppy mills appeared in the 1940s when Midwestern farm crops failed and the government funded farmers for a new commodity – dogs. Shortly afterward, pet stores came into existence to accommodate this new cash crop. Today, over two million puppies are born into these factories each year. So, if you're still with me ... we got a big problem.
We, as New Englanders, have a choice to either look the other way and say “It's their problem” and be oblivious to this senseless killing of dogs or we can open our hearts and homes to dogs that otherwise would be destroyed. If we lived in a bubble and bred only Vermont dogs for Vermonters, then we'd be a part of the problem and not a part of the solution.
Ms. Leotta is also of the impression that heartworm has just entered the scene in Vermont. For any responsible pet owner in Vermont, your dog most likely has been taking heartworm preventatives since the first initial visit to the vet. Yes, it has become a greater issue since the influx of southern dogs, but can just as easily be introduced into a neighborhood by a snowbird’s dog that has spent the winter down south without heartworm preventatives (yes, it all comes back to the human factor, doesn't it?). Heartworm is transmitted by a mosquito exactly the same way as malaria and dengue fever are transmitted to humans. Unlike Ms. Leotta's comment that it is easily treated, I have to disagree. It’s a horrendous ordeal for the dog and its caretaker. The rescue organizations I have volunteered with always “vet” their dogs prior to transporting them north. It’s an expensive treatment for organizations relying on donations to continue saving homeless dogs.
Ms. Leotta asks, "Why are we allowing these rescue groups to bring these dogs up north and how can we do a better job of ensuring they are being sold to homes that can care for them?" I suggest, Ms. Leotta, you volunteer with a local rescue organization or shelter for a day, a week, foster a pregnant dog, become one of the transport people moving a blind dog from a southern shelter to its forever home or hold the paw of a young dog whose being euthanized because nobody adopted him in the five-day period he had been allotted to fill a kennel space. If you step into the shoes of a rescuer, you'll understand they don't let these dogs go lightly; there's a lot of emotional investment in a dog pulled out of line to be destroyed.
We have an amazing community of people, not only in this state but around this country, trying to help our homeless pet situation – one pet at a time. To a rescuer, it’s not a burden ... it’s not even a choice.
Kilgore lives in Granville.
