Since its 1993 inception, Lifeline Puppy Rescue has saved 25,000 puppies in the west and midwestern United States from euthanasia, putting them into permanent homes.
The rescue was founded as a no-kill shelter to save the lives of puppies that would otherwise have to be put down because of overpopulation problems in other shelters. Today the shelter has volunteers and animal welfare organizations help them pick up unwanted puppies across the Rocky Mountain region, Kansas, Texas and New Mexico. New puppies are brought in every Wednesday, placed in foster homes until someone can adopt them, and given up-to-date vaccines.
According to the Humane Society of the United States, animal shelters care for 6-8 million cats and dogs each year, of which about 3-4 million are euthanized. However the Humane Society stresses that those numbers are only estimates because there exists no central reporting agency for animal shelters.
Scott Cromer, the director of outreach at Lifeline Puppy Rescue, took some time to chat with The Huffington Post about saving dogs' lives.
How many puppies do you take in? Is there ever a limit?
Lifeline Puppy Rescues facility is able to hold sixty puppies and we like to stay at capacity. We typically transfer in the same number of puppies we adopted out that past weekend. The average number of puppies Lifeline puppy Rescue transfers in each week is twenty-five. Ideally Lifeline Puppy Rescue would like to increase our capacity to hold 100 puppies.
What breeds of puppies do you tend to see the most of?
We tend to see a lot of labs, Australian shepherd/heeler mixes, cattle breeds and lots of mixes. We sometimes can't tell what kind of mix they are and have to tell people it could be a Chihuahua or it could be a Great Dane.
Is there an age limit for your puppies?
Lifeline Puppy Rescue will rescue any puppies under six months. Normally the puppies we rescue range in age from eight weeks to twelve weeks.
What happens in the event a puppy doesn't get adopted?
We find every puppy at our shelter a loving forever home. Our promise to the community is to find every puppy in our care a permanent home. We are 100 percent no-kill and keep every puppy until they get adopted.
Are all your puppies placed in foster homes?
Ideally we try to place them in foster homes. Our shelter can hold about 60 puppies, so while we'd like to have every puppy in a foster home, we just can't because there are so many.
All of Lifeline Puppy Rescue's puppies are $200 and include 30 days of pet health care insurance, a free veterinary wellness exam at over 55 participating vet clinics, and pet training referrals. Adopters will receive $50 back if they prove the dog has been spayed or neutered. You must be over the age of 18 to adopt.
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