EPAR continues striving to rescue animals in parish

(Editor’s Note: The following article was submitted by Every Paw Animal Rescue.)
A call comes in from a concerned individual who has picked up a momma dog and her six puppies from the side of a country road or perhaps at some hunting lease where they are in danger of becoming coyote bait. The next call is from someone who found a litter of puppies, or maybe kittens, in a dumpster. Then the next call is for a beautiful German Shepard that was hit by a vehicle and left on the side of the highway suffering from a fractured hip; for how long no one knows. This may all take place in the morning of any given day. It doesn’t include the call that came in at 1:30 a.m. from the sheriff’s deputy on duty about the emaciated half-dead bait dog he came across that was left to die.
These are true stories in the world of animal rescue. The next day may consist of reports from individuals concerned about dogs chained up on a chain two feet in length, a dog in a crate so small it can barely reposition, dogs left behind to fend for themselves when the owner moved away; this may be a pregnant mommy dog. It is a never ending battle to keep up with.
It takes an endless source of support from volunteers to do what needs to be done. These volunteers consist of fosters who provide loving homes for these abused, abandoned and neglected fur babies. These individuals make much-needed monetary donations, and those who donate much-need supplies, such as food, vaccines and other medical supplies, testing supplies, kennels, crates, collars, leashes, blankets, heat lamps, fans, dog houses, food and water dishes, cleaning supplies, etc. The list goes on and on.
We here at EPAR cannot thank all of you enough for your generosity. EPAR would like to extend a big thank you to a special young man, Jean Travis, son of John Travis from Bayou Chicot. He is a six-year-old master at making bread and butter pickles. Jean is credited for raising enough money from the sale of his pickles to purchase 240 pounds of puppy food for EPAR. Jean will be making more pickles to sell and has asked for donations of mason jars so he may continue. Anyone wishing to help may reach out to EPAR and we can contact his family.
Once the fur babies have been rescued, they are placed in the temporary care of a foster family. During this time, it is amazing to watch the once abused, scared and timid ones transform into a loving and loyal member of the family offering a love that is unconditional. Those are the ones that are difficult to let go of. Fosters know they will shed tears when they have to let go, but they will continue to take in new foster fur babies again and again.
With the large number of strays EPAR takes in on a regular basis, we are always in need of foster families. If this is something you may be interested in, all you need to do is contact EPAR’s Facebook page. EPAR provides all necessary supplies during the stay. Some fosters chose to supply what is needed for those in their care as a donation.
Fur babies are now in foster care and the search begins for a rescue to assist with further care and placement into a forever home with an adoptive family. In most cases, these rescues are out of state. The rescues stretch from Maryland, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, to Michigan. Unfortunately, at this time, local adoptions are limited due to several factors. First, EPAR is a foster-based organization, making it difficult to conduct a meet and greet for prospective families to meet a fur baby. To cover the cost of vaccines, and spay-neuter procedure, an adoption fee of $300 would have to be charged to the adoptive family. The out of state rescues working with EPAR are financially stable to provide all of the necessary vetting prior to adoption.
Between April 29, and May 6, EPAR volunteers made two transports, bringing 78 dogs and six cats to their new forever homes. These transports average 20-plus hours and require a team of two. While traveling to a destination, the transport makes stops every two hours to walk the dogs and offer food and water. While one member of the team is driving, the other naps. Upon arrival, many of the fur babies are greeted by their new adoptive families, while some go home with their temporary foster families until they are adopted. Many of our foster families write a letter to the adoptive families providing information about their new fur baby. The foster family usually gives the adoptive family their contact information so the adoptive family can share pictures and even call and share stories at first. It is always a happy ending what, for so many, was a sad beginning. Since those sweet babies can’t tell us their story, we can only imagine.
This is a brief explanation of the workings of animal rescue, since it only touches on dogs and cats. We hope this information has enlightened you to some of the workings of animal rescue.