Original Message:
Sent: 06-10-2023 09:57 AM
From: June Thomas
Subject: June 2023 Resource Drive: Transport
If you haven't watched the video that Claire Callison recorded back in 2019 on finding transport partners, check it out. Claire is from AmericanPetsAlive! She teaches the Maddie's University transport course and is the go-to Transport speaker for HASS and Best Friends conferences.
American Pets Alive! | Transport Programs: How to Find & Cultivate Successful Rescue Partnerships
Networking is key - most of our destination partners (more than 10 in 5 states developed in 2 years) came through FB Groups, Best Friends conference, Maddie's University course, acquaintances of acquaintances, etc.
'Cold calling' methods don't work well, in my opinion, but you can try. That's when you make a list of possible receiving rescues and contact them by phone or email hoping for a reply. Our Coalition member just did that (300 rescues throughout the country); no leads.
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June Thomas
President
Central Arkansas Rescue Transport
Original Message:
Sent: 06-10-2023 09:45 AM
From: Liesse Langlois
Subject: June 2023 Resource Drive: Transport
Can someone tell me if there is an organization that matches shelters that need to transport to receiving shelters? How did you all develop a relationship with a shelter out of your area? I am looking into Vermont, and New England in General, but am open to other areas.
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Liesse Langlois
shelter director
APET Animal Shelter
Original Message:
Sent: 06-10-2023 08:36 AM
From: June Thomas
Subject: June 2023 Resource Drive: Transport
Liesse, I don't have a solution for you - we are located in Arkansas and only transport animals for our Coalition members. But I can give you some tips.
Please keep in mind that transport placements for dogs is down significantly all over the country, especially for large dogs. Our Coalition in Arkansas can't get placement opportunities with our existing destination partners for small dogs right now, including those that were taking them earlier in the year. Dogs adoptions are way down (from what I've been told) in Minnesota and Illinois (where we send more of our dogs). Through the transport grapevine, I've heard the same for the East Coast and other mid-America states.
Also - many of the rescue transport organizations provide the means to get your animals from point A to point Z, but you have to have the relationship with the receiving partner. CART uses 2 rescue relay transport groups that operate with this model; one departs every other Saturday morning from the Kansas City area, while the other one has the same schedule but departs from spots in eastern Missouri. Plus, there are several Facebook Groups created specifically to post available relay 'legs' to volunteers to drive rescue animals along a route defined by the sending rescue to a receiving rescue. Cost to participate in these rescue relays are minimal. I will create a separate post with information on what I've learned from using these organizations. But you have to find the destination partner.
I suggest you check around for any Coalition groups in Texas that work collaboratively on rescue transports. That's what CART has done in Arkansas. CART is a separate volunteer charity that finds the destination partners and then handles the transport logistics; our members take care of the vetting and health certificates and pay $10 per carrier (dog or cat) to join the transport. CART raises money through donations to pay for the transport costs.
I've heard good things about Your Texas Rescue Connection, though we obviously aren't involved with them.
There are options for you but it does take some effort to track down these opportunities. Good luck.
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June Thomas
President
Central Arkansas Rescue Transport
Original Message:
Sent: 06-10-2023 07:47 AM
From: Liesse Langlois
Subject: June 2023 Resource Drive: Transport
Thank you Janice. I should not have said "not pay" as in nothing. We can do some at cost payments. But for the people that do this as a money making venture, it is beyond our capability to pay. We would gladly also work with a type of transport that does relay transport, if they have a shelter up north to take dogs to. I have sent a contact request, so yes, please, when you get that, please do respond privately.
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Liesse Langlois
shelter director
APET Animal Shelter
Original Message:
Sent: 06-09-2023 01:14 PM
From: Janice MacRossin
Subject: June 2023 Resource Drive: Transport
Being from Texas I understand your dilemma. In honesty getting a transport group to take a dog out of state for free is going to be hurdle number one. We have to pay the transporter. It costs them gas, van maintenance, insurance and payroll to take these dogs. One small group I know fundraise when they have a dog with a willing recipient lined up, to pay for transport costs. Feel free to reach out to me privately and I can give you some contacts in the area who might be able to help with ideas.
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Janice MacRossin
Volunteer Coordinator
Helotes Humane Society
Original Message:
Sent: 06-09-2023 10:51 AM
From: Liesse Langlois
Subject: June 2023 Resource Drive: Transport
Oh please please help Maddie's community! We are a small, rural, not for profit shelter in a rural county in East Texas. We are located outside a town of about 5,000 people. We are no kill, and, because this county has no county wide shelter, we are the defacto animal shelter for people who need to bring in stray animals. We need a transport to work with us. Because we are no kill, we have a hard time convincing a transport/rescue group to work with us because they prefer to save dogs from a kill shelter. Which is understandable, but...as a rural shelter, in arguably the worst state in the union for abandoned and neglected dogs, (and puppy mills) we need a transport to work with us on moving just one or two LARGE dogs north a month for us, so that we can have room open up to help more people and animals in our community.
I am new here, so I don't know if there is a section just for shelters in rural areas, but our needs are many. There are just not the resources available to us, in manpower,money or services that is available in a large city. And on the rare times we have convinced a transport to work with us, they only want puppies. Puppies are easily adoptable, but the shelter and the county need a transport willing to take LARGE dogs and Senior dogs north as that is the greatest need in a rural county. Dumped, fully grown dogs.
We are working with an outside group to try to get the county to build a taxpayer funded shelter to help with the need. I keep a call log every day of people that call in reporting a dumped, neglected or injured animal. Calls I repeatedly have to say "I can wait list you, that is the best I can do, currently". We will give this data to our commissioners court in an effort to get them to proceed with building a county shelter, but that is much further down the road. We need help, now. We cannot get many fosters, and we only have about 5 volunteers, in spite of having posted the need for volunteers on local community pages.
So, we need a transport. We need transports to consider that when they only help kill shelters, then the dogs at no kill shelters languish, and more puppies are born, and, the community can't do anything with the dogs, so they dump them or take them to kill shelters. So only working with kill shelters is not having the effect of saving any more lives. We don't even want all the spots on a transport, just one or two a month. That is enough so that we can move more dogs thru.
We also completely vet the animal, worming, heart worm testing AND treatment if they have heartworms, vaccines, spay and neuter it, any medical care they need, including dental care and we microchip. Our animals are ready to go. The receiving shelter literally needs to do nothing. Because of the money all going into the dogs, we cannot pay to transport. So that option is out for us. We need an established transport that is working with a northern shelter already to assist.
Please, if any of you know of any transport willing to take even one dog a month for us, that would be a lifesaver for this little rural shelter and the community we serve.
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Liesse Langlois
shelter director
APET Animal Shelter
Original Message:
Sent: 06-01-2023 03:06 PM
From: Charlotte Otero (she/her)
Subject: June 2023 Resource Drive: Transport
We asked forum members what our next resource drive should be and one of the most popular requests was for transport. So this month, we are focusing our resource drive on all things transport to help your organization transform your transport programs.
Transport in our animal sheltering context is the physical act of relocating animals from a source organization to a destination organization. According to Human Animal Support Services (HASS), "Transport programs may transport pets from a shelter to a rescue, a community in crisis to a more stable community, from a shelter that is facing the decision to euthanize for space, and more."
For this resource drive, members are looking for information on (but not limited to):
You can participate in 2 ways:
1. Reply to this post and tell us about how your organization manages transport or how you've formed successful transport programs. Share links to any training, webcasts, protocols or information you think would help others working to evolve their transport programs.
2. Reply with a request about a resource or information you're looking for in relation to transport and we'll do some group brainstorming to see how we can help!
🤑 Participation = Your Entry To Win 🤑
Everyone who uploads a file, shares a resource on this thread or replies with information about transport during the month of June will be entered to win a $50 gift card to Amazon, Petco or PetSmart (winner's choice). Your reply will also enter you to win a $3k grant! Start sharing now!
Where Will the Resources be Stored? How do I view them?
All Transport resources shared on this thread will be accessible in the "Transfers and Transports" folder in Maddie's Pet Forum Library: https://maddies.fund/transports
*Pro-Tips for sharing resources:
Use the "Upload File" button when replying to this thread to attach a file. We encourage you to attach the file versus hyperlinking to the file whenever possible. Files that are attached to discussion threads are automatically added to the Maddie's Pet Forum Resource Library so attaching helps make the resource searchable and improves accessibility within the forum. Learn more about how to share a resource here.
Yes, you can share fundraisers that your organization did not create. Sharing is caring and this applies to resources too! Make sure the creator allows the resource to be shared publicly and be sure to give credit to the creator or source organization.
#TransfersandTransport
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Charlotte Otero
Community Strategist at Maddie's Fund
she/her
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