"The animals have no voice but ours..."

A RESCUE STORY...

The Cumberland Valley Animal Shelter (CVAS) saved 63 dogs from unsuitable living conditions and will update our website as necessary to keep you informed.

Every available member of the CVAS staff, from kennel technicians, through the Outreach Coordinator and Humane Police Officer to the Exec. Director became part of a rescue recently. Dr. Arnett of Best Friends Animal Hospital helped determine the health of the animals and Best Friends Animal Hospital was gracious enough to take 7 of the dogs under their wing for treatment. Nine people worked to transport and rescue these dogs.

Sixty-three — that’s right — 63 dogs were rescued and cruelty charges have been filed.

Initial stages (pictured on the left) had the board room filled with crates and cages before the medical evaluations took place and the dogs were eventually moved to kennels.

We rescued a lot of different breeds (including Afghans, Cocker Spaniels, Collies, St. Bernards, Golden Retrieivers, Pekingnese and others) from makeshift pens outdoors in unsanitary conditions and freezing temperatures.

CVAS Executive Director Jamie Caldwell explained the emergency and pleaded for help from the community: "As we started examining these dogs, it quickly became apparent that CVAS faced serious medical bills. Early testing identified improper grooming, ear and eye infections and fevers. Each dog will be more thoroughly examined and we expect to uncover many more unexpected issues that will require medical attention."

Note to potential adopters. PLEASE READ THIS!!
 

HELP THE SHELTER NOW:

Click on the link below to be taken to our secure PayPal site and please type "donation for rescue dogs" under the "payment for" field:

A JUGGLING ACT

"This case has really tested our resources," said Jennifer Vanderau, the shelter’s Director of Communications. "There's never a time when this shelter is empty. We always have homeless pets in our kennels, but when something like this happens, we get stretched pretty thin and have to shuffle a lot to set up kennels for the newcomers."

"Most of the animals we rescued will require medical care in order to make certain they are healthy for adoption to their forever home and the expense to the shelter for this kind of care is completely unexpected -- you can't plan for something like this. It's been a very emotional time for everyone here," said Vanderau.

A SERIOUS STRAIN

CVAS President Nancy Gardner expressed her pleasure that the staff responded in coordination with other agencies to rescue these dogs. "The first thing CVAS staff did was contact breed-specific rescue groups within the region. And we're so grateful for all the help we've received."

Gardner continues: "And CVAS will continue to work with rescue groups for ‘breed specific’ dogs, but in the final analysis, the shelter will be left with the economic impact of veterinary care, sheltering and feeding and ultimately, care-giving on a level much above average until we can improve their condition sufficiently to get them adopted. This whole event is placing a financial burden on our already-stretched budget."

"On a good day, the shelter runs like a first-class hotel!" said Alan Loessy, Vice President of CVAS. "Our capacity is always occupied and we work feverishly not to turn ‘guests’ away. CVAS takes its adoption mission seriously. Every time we place a dog or cat in a good home, we free up one more cage to save another."

Responding to this rescue, Loessy said: "I have never seen anything like this. Every kennel cage is occupied. We’re housing some of these dogs in the board meeting room. I’ll be surprised if I don’t find a cage in the rest room. We’re doing everything possible and necessary to meet their needs. This is an emergency that CVAS will meet, but has not had to meet in my memory of 10 years service on this board. I must just leave to faith and trust that the community will respond and help these poor dogs. I know our staff will do everything possible to get them adopted. I hate to admit it, but tears streamed down my face when I left that night after seeing the spirit of these dogs who were probably spending their first night in a warm shelter lying on a soft blanket."

Beyond the unbudgeted and unexpected medical expense, CVAS has placed these dogs on special diets to help improve their overall health after so much neglect. Even those who appear healthy will get extra protein and lots of love and attention.

"We’ll probably be OK with food," Loessy said. "But I expect this one rescue event will cost CVAS thousands of dollars -- that we didn't anticipate spending -- to give these poor dogs the care they need for their chance at adoption into a really good and loving home."

"We have two immediate needs. The first is monetary donations that help us meet the challenge of medication to help as many of these dogs as we can. The second is potential adopters once these animals are available to go home. But, our immediate need is money to nurse these graceful dogs back to good health," Loessy explained.

Note to potential adopters. PLEASE READ THIS!!
 

We’ve added PayPal to our web site, so you can make a financial contribution from your home computer. We'd like to track the funds, so in the "payment for" field, please type "donation for rescue dogs." Just click the link below and you'll be taken to the secure PayPal site:

Otherwise, please help these dogs with financial support made payable to CVAS and mail or bring it to 2325 Country Road, Chambersburg, PA 17201. For more information, call us at (717) 263-5791 or bookmark this website and watch for updates.

We'd like to thank everyone who helped in this effort to rescue these dogs. To all the rescues, volunteers, Best Friends Animal Hospital and shelter staff: We couldn't have done this without you. THANK YOU.
 

And a HUGE thank you to everyone who uses the link above to donate money to help us.

Check back here often as we'll be updating the story as it progresses...
 

CVAS, Inc.
2325 Country Road Chambersburg, PA 17202
(P) 717- 263-5791 · (F) 717- 263-2042  cvasadmin@innernet.net