Salvation! A packed cargo van takes pets to hope in the suburbs

For this project, Daily Herald staff writer Sue Ter Maat and photojournalist Laura Stoecker traveled 300 miles late last year to Franklin County Animal Control in Benton, Ill., to document the transport of almost 50 animals, previously slated to be euthanized, to the Chicago area to find new homes. They spent the day at the pound, meeting the workers and the animals. That night, the facility burned down due to faulty wiring. The next morning, they accompanied the surviving animals on their long journey to various stops in the suburbs. In ensuing months, they tracked the animals as they found new homes in the area.

Out of time at the dog pound, the black-and-white 73-pound mutt almost found himself on the wrong side of a syringe full of Fatal Plus, a deadly canine poison.

Weeks earlier, Hobbs had been running along a country road when Franklin County animal control officer Mary Crawford called to him.

He bounded up to her, jumped in her patrol car and rode the entire way in the passenger's seat to the pound in Benton, which is about 300 miles southwest of Chicago.

Pets in Peril A three-part series looking at the fate facing animals at high-kill shelters downstate and how suburban residents help run a rescue pipeline. Stories Part 3 | Adopted pets reach end of harrowing journey, settle into suburban homes [04/01/2008] Part 2 | A packed cargo van takes pets to hope in the suburbs [03/31/2008]Part 1 | Life and death [03/30/2008] Inferno destroys pound just hours before pets' departure [03/30/2008]How you can help [03/30/2008] Video Overview Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 After a seven-day waiting period for an owner to come forward, Hobbs was looking at the end of his 1-year-old life as control officers debated whom to put down that week when the pound was full. But officers favored the burly, outgoing Newfoundland mix, pushing back his date with destiny.His picture was e-mailed to an Elk Grove Village animal shelter. His striking looks and highly touted good nature secured him a seat on a transport over many others, who would not be so lucky. Twice a week, 20 to 60 animals on this particular transport route move from certain death to a new life in suburban shelters, thanks to Illinois Animal Rescue volunteers, who say they've saved 6,000 animals.Now, at 7:30 a.m. on a Tuesday in November, Hobbs waits in a white 1997 Ford Econoline cargo van with more than two dozen other dogs and cats, as Dottie Darr, a Franklin County pound worker and rescue volunteer, counts out her money. She pays for the gas required to transfer pets, who would have been euthanized otherwise. "I tell you, she is a godsend," Broy says of Darr, who is busy marking down who'll get on the transport the next morning when she's shipping out about 30 animals."I hate to tell you how much it is," says Julie Falkenberry, a volunteer with the Perry County Humane Society, who'll be driving the van to the suburbs. "It's $152." "It's all relative," says Darr, who has brought the animals to Perry County from Franklin County. "It doesn't matter anyway. They are getting out."On the road On this day, 50 animals will be crammed into the van to travel to the Chicago suburbs, spending six to eight hours on the road.The trek is tougher than usual. The Franklin County pound, one of the largest in the area, burned down overnight as a result of faulty wiring, killing more than 50 animals. "There is nothing good about today," Falkenberry says, her van filling with sickly, smelly animals. Hobbs smells of smoke, while others like Baby, a white corgi mix, cough, wheeze and vomit from smoke inhalation.With about 30 dogs and cats, Falkenberry speeds off to another downstate pound for another pickup.At the next stop, she meets Danny McQueen, Perry County's only animal control officer, who has a litter of 8-week-old black Labrador puppies and a few other dogs to load. The pair scramble to find the right dog cage sizes and manipulate the cages to maximize how many will fit. The van is almost full, but there are still animals to pick up in Mount Vernon. There, Sue Christiansen, head of the local Australian cattle dog rescue, and Martin Boykin, Jefferson County animal control officer, wait at Huck's truck stop.After loading, Falkenberry's final tally stands at 18 dogs, 21 puppies, five cats and six kittens, all crammed into a van -- cage stacked upon cage. Christiansen is leery of so many cages packed into one vehicle, but the alternative -- euthanasia -- is worse. Volunteers have only so much money to pay for gas and the animals "only have so long or they're dead," Christiansen says. Hours later, Falkenberry makes her first delivery in a Tinley Park parking lot where a volunteer from Chicago's Feline Inc. picks up its one transport, a black kitten named Inky, who'll be put up for adoption at the shelter.Then, it's off to a BP station in Joliet where volunteers from a half-dozen animal shelters wait for their requested animals. Hobbs, seven other dogs and a cat named Pumpkin go to the Elk Grove Village-based Almost Home Foundation. The shelter does not have a pound; instead it depends on about 300 volunteers to foster the animals until someone adopts them. Hobbs, assigned to the Skoczynski foster family in Des Plaines, will receive medical treatment through the foundation. The group pays $100,000 worth of medical bills annually. Fundraisers help; the winter holiday party netted $40,000 this year. The group once paid more than $8,000 in medical bills for a 1-year-old cat, who had liver disease and later died. It's part of the group's philosophy to care for animals until they are adopted, including any medical, behavioral or physical needs, Vice President Chuck Hanson says."Money is always something we can raise," Hanson says. "But if we lose an animal, it's lost forever. " The last stopAbout 3:30 p.m., Falkenberry arrives at Animal House in Huntley. Lizzie, a black Labrador, is one of the last to be let out of her cage. She'd been chained by her owner to a backyard post with her litter of puppies and given no food. One by one, the puppies died, until pound officers rescued her and one last puppy. Most dogs who survived had access to outside runs or were let out, but Lizzy was trapped in a carrier as the fire raged through the building. Her only remaining puppy died in the fire.Now, she's spent eight hours stuffed in a wire cage."This is that poor mom who lost her puppy," Falkenberry tells Animal House volunteers as they help Lizzie out of the van. She has skin and eye infections, protruding ribs and heartworm disease, and faces possible respiratory problems from the smoke. Animal House spends an average of $400 to care for an animal before adoption. But Lizzie's care will cost about $1,000, says Kaylie Carroll, the shelter's development manager. The shelter houses about 150 dogs and cats at any given time on an annual budget of about $1 million. Medical care annually runs about $300,000, she says. "People think donations for adoption pay for the shelter, but they don't cover a quarter of the cost," Carroll says. In addition to her medical problems, Lizzie has two additional strikes against her -- she's large and black. "People don't like black dogs," she says, explaining they are among the first to go down in pounds. If Lizzie had been one of the golden retriever puppies that came on the transport, she'd be assured of a loving family adopting her quickly. Light-colored puppies last only days at the shelter since everyone wants one, she says.Lizzie had been a challenge to place on the transport, with missing fur due to unsightly mange, an eye infection, a blank stare and a never-wagging tail. But Animal House requested her because she had been such a hard-luck case.Now, she'll have her own dog run filled with dog toys and a plush blanket. She'll be enjoying weekly medicinal dips for her itchy skin and all the food she can eat to fill out her emaciated frame.Shelter workers say they are relieved to see Lizzie, who has survived so much to make the trip."It would've been really sad if she had not made it," says Amanda Bosshart, an Animal House manager. "We are so glad she's here." 512304Volunteer van transport driver Julie Eckelberry loads up as two other volunteers label cages destined for different suburban shelters. Lizzie, destined for Animal House in Huntley, is the last to be loaded.Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer 512312Hobbs gets to stretch after spending the night in a cage before being loaded for the hours-long trip to the suburbs.Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer 512286Joslyn is unloaded at Animal House in Huntley after riding for more than five hours from southern Illinois to Animal House in Huntley, the transport's final stop for the day.Laura Stoecker | Staff Photographer