A transport plane loaded with 37 dogs departed from the Camarillo Airport to a shelter in Wisconsin Tuesday morning to help ease overcrowded conditions at the county’s animal shelters.
Ventura County Animal Services partnered with the Humane Society of the United States to take as many dogs as they could fit into a specially modified plane operated by Wings of Rescue, a nonprofit that specializes in transporting animals from crowded shelters to facilities with more demand, said Randy Friedman, spokesperson for county animal services.
The transport brought the dogs to the Humane Animal Welfare Society shelter in Waukesha County. The dogs had to meet certain criteria including a no-bite record, up-to-date vaccinations and input from the Wisconsin facility.
“We reached 142% capacity in our dog kennels last week, so we are very excited that this rescue transport effort has come together,” said Esteban Rodriguez, director of county animal services, in a news release.
The effort came after a free adoption event was held from Jan. 16-19 to reduce the number of dogs at the county’s facilities in Camarillo and Simi Valley. The event helped find new homes for 43 dogs and lowered capacity to 104% for both locations.
Shelter officials believe the canine surge was partly fueled by prolonged Santa Ana wind conditions.
High winds that knocked down fences and gates led to an increase in dogs turned into shelters, Friedman said. The agency sees an average of 25 animals turned into the shelter system daily, he added.
Although fires recently raged in Los Angeles County, no animals from those shelters made their way into Ventura County’s system, he said.
For more information about Ventura County Animal Services, including dogs, cats and other critters available for adoption, visit www.vcas.us.
Ernesto Centeno Araujo covers breaking news for the Ventura County Star. He can be reached at ecentenoaraujo@vcstar.com.
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
