Janet_Bell

Personal satisfaction Knowing we are making a world of difference to these animals is such a "high". There are also a
lot of very happy adopters with wonderful companions because of animal transport, and that too is a high. The transport
team I support moved about 1200 animals to safety in the last year.

Camaraderie I have met many wonderful people doing transport. Some do it occasionally. There's no hard-fast
requirement. Some, like me, are "regulars" who transport over and over again. I always enjoy seeing them and knowing
others who care deeply about homeless animals. One transport couple is particularly special: they live in Cape May, NJ
and drive to Newark, DE every weekend to transport animals to Mt. Holly, NJ before they return to Cape May. Sometimes
they do it both weekend days if there are transports both days. They met transporting, and on the day they married they
even transported after that! Their contribution is priceless.

Amazing connections In 2004, I transported a Catahoula hound mix named Sputnik (who started out in Tennessee) to a
young woman named Anne. Anne lives in NYC and drove to DE to get Sputnik from me. Some time went by and I did a
transport in October 2006 for a shy but loving Catahoula hound named Clifford in South Carolina. Clifford had been
mistreated and dumped at the shelter, but luckily found a foster in the north. I was on the transport team, and suddenly
discovered I knew Clifford's new foster mom: none other than Anne! Sputnik was getting a new friend, and Clifford was
getting his chance. I marveled at the thread and the connection being made again. A year or so later I heard about a
tragedy in NYC...a homeless man living under a bridge had a gentle, loving female dog and he was killed. Animal rescuers
were posting for someone to help his orphaned dog. I forwarded it to Anne, the only person in NYC I knew, hoping Anne
would crosspost to others who could help. Anne immediately started networking to help the dog and found her a wonderful
home in Philadelphia. I am so grateful for the amazing connection that has continued to help long after it was first made.

Saving a soul Early in my fostering career, I felt despair because there were so many animals that I couldn't help.
We can't help them all, and if we try to help them all we will become hoarders. When I discovered transport I saw it as a
way to do the next best thing if I couldn't help more animals directly -- enable others who could help more by getting the
animals to them. And that's why I do it.

So what can you do to help? You can volunteer to drive a few nice animals, it's only a few hours, and you will feel like a
million bucks after doing it. You could volunteer to keep an animal overnight, since there are transports that span two
days and the animals need a place to stay before they can finish their trip. You could help with some temporary boarding
costs -- when transports can't carry as many as needed because there aren't enough openings or drivers, the shelters and
rescues try to hold the animals until the next week when they can get to safety and it comes down to finances. You can
also make contributions for gas for transporters who are willing to drive, but cannot afford to drive. And you can continue
pressing for more progress in spay-neuter efforts. If there were fewer animals and they were all wanted, we wouldn't need
to transport. It will be a long time before that happens, so in the meantime... we transport.

If you are interested in transporting or would like more information, please contact Janet and CARA by
emailing us at cara_adopt@yahoo.com

Basically, it's like a Pony Express (relay) to move highly adoptable shelter animals
that will be destroyed to rescues that have room to foster them to adoption. The
problem is that the shelter animals are in rural areas and states such as West
Virginia, the Carolinas, and Florida. The rescues with room to foster them to
adoption are in northern states such as New Jersey, New York, and
Massachusetts, where the economies are better and the spay-neuter laws are
stronger. The challenge is getting them from Point A to Point B when they are
hundreds of miles apart. That's where animal transport comes in: relaying animals
for short distances to an end destination. Volunteer drivers carry animals from 60-90
miles (called a leg) in their own vehicle to meet the driver of the next leg that will
take the animals onward.

I never planned on being a driver. It's something I backed into. In 2003, I
heard about someone needing help with driving some animals, and I
volunteered to do a leg because I had a bit of free time one Saturday. When
I saw what beautiful animals were coming from the rural areas and getting a
chance they would never have had if they'd stayed there, I was stunned. It's
a sad reality and tragedy that only a small percent of the shelter animals --
only the cream of the crop -- will get to safety. However, it is beyond tragic...
it's criminal...if a rescue opening goes unused. I quickly realized that I
couldn't stand the thought that an animal would lose a chance to get to a
rescue because of distance standing in the way. Ergo, I'm still doing it,
almost every weekend, and sometimes twice in a weekend. People ask
what I get out of it. There are four things: