Bikers on a mission to help animal rescues

As returned pandemic puppies drive need at area shelters, group will ride through on Saturday

Bikers Against Animal Cruelty will make four stops in the area Saturday to drop off food and supplies to rescue organizations — and the public is invited to watch them in action or even donate along the route.

“Shelters in the area are in desperate need,” said B.A.A.C. spokeswoman Rosalie Decrosta, 73, and a member who prefers to drive a car.

Decrosta said the demand for supplies is high since dogs adopted during the pandemic are being dropped off at shelters in record numbers after people have returned to work and believe they can no longer take care of them. One organization received 23 surrenders in one weekend, she said.

“These poor little guys are now in shelters and they’re scared,” she said. “All the rescues are scrambling to get good homes.”

BAAC is an organization of motorcycle enthusiasts who ride to raise awareness of animal abuse and meet needs though education and donations of food, supply, and money.

Saturday’s events will begin at 10:30 at The Simon Foundation, Inc., a nonprofit at 120 Rescue Road in Bloomfield, where they will drop off food, supplies and take donations.

“Kickstands” will go up at 11 a.m. and after that they will go on to three other locations to do the same: Dog Star Rescue, 12 Tobey Road, Bloomfield; Burlington Animal Control, 200 Spielman Highway, Burlington; and Animal Rescue Foundation, 366 Main St,

Terryville.

Longtime BAAC president Greg Belcher, who drives a Harley Davidson Road King, said it’s all about the “mission.”

“I like helping and animals and I like riding my bike … Of course, helping animals always comes first,” he said.

Paula Deprospero, adoption coordinator for dogs at The Simon Foundation, a no-kill animal rescue and adoption center, said their organization coordinates often with BAAC.

“They work tirelessly to support deserving and challenged animals,” she said of the group.

Decrosta, known affectionately in the group as “Momma Rosie” said the organization was formed in 2007 in response to the illegal dog-fighting scandal involving former NFL quarterback Michael Vick.

They started with 22 members and now have about 80 from Connecticut and several other states. They are headquartered in North Haven, where they have a warehouse.

The group’s logo is a circle with a pawprint, horseshoe and bird foot, to signify they will stand up for and help any kind of animal.

Decrosta said the group regularly holds events to raise funds to help animals without homes who are victims of abuse or neglect.

She said they do a lot of education promoting proper pet ownership, funding a spay and neuter program for undeserved families, facilitating rehoming, helping foster animals, and protesting animal injustice.

Decrosta, an animal lover, who is also Belcher’s mother-in-law, said she became involved with the group about 10 years ago when her daughter and Belcher said they needed a public relations and marketing person.

The biker aspect of the group is interesting to people and it’s fun watching them in action. There are the unique, “beautiful” motorcycles, she said, and the loudness when they arrive all at once.

She, like many others at first, held stereotypes about bikers until she got to know the group.

“If you saw these guys — they’re wearing leather and they have beards,” she said. “If I saw them 10 years ago, I think I’d cross the street.” There are women in the group too.

Decrosta said all the preconceived images quickly disappear when one gets to know members as they hold a kitten or become tearyeyed over a story about animal abuse.

“I’d trust my life with every single one of them. They are wonderful people,” she said.

Decrosta hopes members of the public stop by Saturday to root them on.

“People are invited to show up and see what we do,” Decrosta said.

For more information, visit bikersagainstanimalcruelty.org.