RESCUE-PUP PIPELINE
Vanloads of dogs brought in from South
Every weekend, scores of stray dogs from the South are imported into New York City. Vans packed with crated canines cruise into the city after hours on the road.
The dogs are then handed off to foster “parents” and eventually adopted for hundreds of dollars, payable to the nonprofit rescue that arranged for their transport.
Such rescue groups bring dogs to the city after “pulling” them from kill shelters in Southern states, where warmer weather and a lack of spay/neuter laws lead to more strays, city dog advocates say.
Although many end up with loving families, the practice contributes to overcrowding in city shelters, the ASPCA and other groups say.
Early one Saturday in August, The Post observed dozens of dogs being unloaded from a packed 15-passenger van at the South Street Seaport. They had been brought from Georgia by Waldo’s Rescue Pen, a tax-exempt dog rescue in Manhattan.
That same morning, The Post saw dogs being distributed at Madison Square Park from a van driven from Texas by Hearts & Bones Rescue.
Badass Animal Rescue in Brooklyn advertises the same model, offering “sweet, loving, adoptable dogs from high-kill pounds in the rural South.”
Hearts & Bones and Badass did not return requests for comment.
Last year, 3,274 shelter dogs were transferred into New York City, according to Shelter Animals Count, a nonprofit that maintains a national database. There’s no official count of dogs imported from the South.
Local advocates say the inflow of dogs into the city means more canines have to be put down here.
ASPCA shelter-services executive Christa Chadwick called dog homelessness a “complex problem.”
Among the challenges, Chadwick noted, is that animals in some areas are at risk of euthanasia due to “oversupply” while those in other areas face euthanasia due to “medical and behavioral challenges that require intensive support and resources.”
The Animal Care Centers of NYC, a taxpayer-funded nonprofit that runs the city’s public shelters, said imported dogs compete for adoption with locally rescued ones.
“There are many dogs coming into NYC from Southern shelters, because they have a much greater chance of getting adopted in the Northeast. There are also great dogs that are needing homes right here in NYC,” ACC rep Katy Hansen said.
Rescues must register with the state Department of Agriculture and Markets, but that’s the extent of governmental regulation of such groups.