Pups come from Mississippi where they don't take care of their animals and just dump them, kill them themselves, let the coyotes eat them, or take them to a kill shelter. The Vet that started WTAR moved here from MS about 5 years ago where she was very active in Shelter medicine. She was very frustrated at the situation down there. When she arrived in Virginia, she wanted to volunteer here, so went to the Fairfax Cty Animal Shelter to take a tour and talk to them about it. One thing she noticed was that they didn't have many dogs, and NO puppies. She asked where all the puppies were, and was told that they rarely got puppies. In fact, they had a waiting list of over 300 people who wanted a puppy. She thought, wow, I know where to get puppies, but of course the mission of the Ffx Cty Animal shelter is not to import dogs from another state so she decided to do it herself. She has been working on this for the past 4+ years and has saved approx 5k dogs and cats.

One interesting VT related thing...this Vet is an expert at shelter medicine and does about 60-70 + spay surgeries a month. She has partnered with the VT vet school to have students come up to NoVa and do the surgeries with her so that they can get trained. They would never get the real experience somewhere else. Pretty much everything this DVM does relates to some sort of service. She did not go to VT, but is the living Ut Prosim to the fullest.

Here's what the $450 adoption fees pay for:
1. Foster supplies (food, medicine, emergency vet if injured or sick) for 1 week or more in Mississippi until fosters can be lined up in NoVA and a transport can be arranged.
2. Transportation via WTAR van with volunteer drivers from MS and VA. They used to rent the van but that was expensive so they eventually bought one. Transports are 2 or 3 times/month.
3. More medicine (flea, tick, worm, antibiotic if needed and any other medicine) and immunizations once they arrive in Virginia. My last two pups had terrible cases of mange - they treated them over 3 or 4 weeks with several different medications. I was given medicated shampoo to use. They fully recovered.
4. Supplies for a 3 week foster period to include time for quarantine, spay/neuter, socialization and some training if able. Some, but not all of these supplies (food/crate/dishes/leashes/treats/a toy/pee pads) is donated, but not all. When we run out at home we usually just buy more ourselves. Most dogs are house broken during this time.
5. Spay and neuter
6. Microchip
7. They have about 2 full time employees that make very little money.

Really, $450 is a bargain and they are saving so many lives. People do not spay/neuter their animals so they get calls all the time from people wanting them to take litters of puppies. WTAR always tries to get the owners to release the mom to them too. If they won't let WTAR take the mom, they insist on doing free spay surgery so that the mom won't have any more pups. These pups come from ONE rural county in Mississippi. To give you a taste of what it's like down there read this post from yesterday from one of our partners in Mississippi -

Post starts here:
24. That’s how many emergency calls I got today. I’m already booked solid until August and I’ve got 24 new calls today. Some are two weeks old, some are adults, some have parvo, some have broken legs, all are emergencies. Which ones to you chose to say no to and turn away? How do you decide which ones aren’t worth rescuing? Y’all my medical bill this week is going to be through the roof. Please sign up to foster. Tell your friends to sign up to foster. Tell strangers you see with dogs to sign up to foster. Lol. The more people we have willing to take animals, the more animals I can send. And pray for your Mississippi friend. 😞

One of my rescue friends wrote this on Facebook. Truer words have never been spoken.

Today, we didn't have room for your dog; we had to say no. You said you were moving and couldn't take him with you. You couldn't wait till next week for us to be able to help, so you dropped him in a parking lot. He was hit by a car and died.

We didn't have room for your puppies today, we had to say no. You don’t want all these puppies and they have to go today. We spent hours trying to find help. When we finally do, we call you back, but it's too late, you "took care of them."

The high-kill shelter emailed "the list" today. We didn't see it in time, we were busy trying to find help for your puppies. When we offer to save them, it's already too late as they are all gone.

We tried to save your dog today, but we were too late. The damage you did was too much to overcome. Your dog attacked someone today, and now he dies for your neglect.

You tagged us on a Facebook post today, someone giving their dog away for free. We thought someone else would save him, so we didn't respond. No one did. Instead he was given to a dog fighter.

You dropped off your dog today. After 13 years he pees on your carpet, so he had to go. He had cancer. We held his paw while he drew his last breaths in fear surrounded by strangers.

You called us today, your dog was acting strangely, and you can't afford the vet. Your dog was in labor, but you didn't notice until it was too late because she lives out on a chain. She is gone when I get there.

You hear about those the rescuers save, but all we can think about is those we lost.
Today. Every day.