Hello, I am Rhonda. A pretty typical person, if you call being a neurotic, anal, pretzel of emotion typical. I live in Anderson, SC, am married with a son and step-daughter (both grown), five cats and four dogs. My husband and I own an adult day healthcare facility, which I work at during the day. The rest of my life is spent behind the computer trying to find placement for shelter animals before their euthanasia date, and posting transport sheets to get them to safety. Oh, and there's also the emaciated ones on the side of the road, or chained in backyards, or worse. Its an insanity that I, along with many many other rescuers choose, because we simply cannot know what's happening and not do something about it. It is a situation that renews itself every time another dog or cat is dumped in a shelter or on the side of the road.

I have been involved in animal rescue in some capacity for many years, from volunteering at local events and donating money, to driving for other coordinators, and now in the last 2 years doing my own pulls and transports. I became very heavily involved, or as we rescuers say, "entrenched" in rescue after losing my soulmate Charlie, on November 19th, 2005. Charlie was my best friend and comforter, and could make might heart leap like no human ever could. An awkward, chunky cocker mix, who didn't need to be a purebreed to be worth more to me than money could ever buy. I think it was grief that slung me into this level of animal rescue. I was trying to find a way to somehow fight the pain of losing him, so I developed a relationship with the local shelter director where I adopted Charlie ten years prior, and was able to start pulling animals from there and finding rescues to take them. I somehow felt that by doing this, I was saving Charlie all over again and making him proud. We never really earn the level of adoration that our furkids give to us. From there, it grew to pulling from other shelters, as well as assisting other rescue groups with transporting their furkids.

There are many transport coordinators and rescuers out there who are doing such wonderful work, and I guess its a little awkward for me to speak about what I am doing when they are doing it too. It really is a mission that many of us are on, and we are all killing ourselves doing it. I have had several people ask me lately about my "organization" and the question really stumps me. I guess they ask because I have a name for my transports, the Freedom Train, which was really just a catchy name (however unoriginal) with a very real reflection of just what was happening on each transport. Freedom from pain, neglect, lonelines, imprisonment, hunger, and many times abuse, is what these transports represent. I can't really consider my rescues and transports an organization, because to say that would mean that the people involved are officially involved with me and me only. That is not the case, because the people who I am blessed to know and work with to get these precious ones to safety, have a desire that goes far beyond me. It is just my task to get a group of them together on each occasion, to assist me in a goal that we all share...saving some furkids! I do, however work with some wonderful organizations, rescues who help me and others place hundreds of animals and save them from death. One such rescue, Room For One More, www.rfom.org is a no-kill rescue shelter in Hopatcong, NJ. It is run by Sylence Campbell and Vauren Davidson. These ladies are amazing in that they pretty much give up everything to tend to all the shelter and special needs furkids who they take into their haven. It requires constant work, including cleaning, vet appointments, medication administration, fundraiding events, adoption events, screenings for potential adoptors...it goes on and on, and it is every day non-stop. Some rescues are foster-based, such as Angel Paws Rescue Haven in NY http://www.petfinder.com/shelters/NY427.html . Alison, the founder, is responsible for placing the right animal in the appropriate foster home and providing everything that animal needs until she has an approved adoptor for it. And yet other rescuers are independent and will take a couple animals at a time to foster until they approve forever homes for them. Tina Patael is an independent rescuer, who also coordinates transports. She is involved with the Trap and Release program in her community and has assisted in significantly lowering the cat overpopulation there. She also finds alot of time to pull urgent animals from GA shelters, and transport for me on the Freedom Train. There are so many awesome rescues out there, but many do not have the means to get the animals to them, and that is why rescue transports are so vital.

It seems that most of us are constantly begging for the animals' sake, and we do it shamelessly. There are so many things that we are constantly needing in order to rescue the animals and get them transported. These things include: money for vetting and special medical needs such as heartworm treatment, surgeries, grooming in emergency situations such as when the animal is so matted that it is in pain, etc (many shelters can't even pay to have the animals spayed/neutered), dog/puppy food, cat/kitten food, bowls, towels, blankets, crates, collars, leashes, treats, flea treatment, pet shampoos for the rescues. We do not have sponsors, so most of the time we scramble and send out bulletins begging for the supplies, or many times paying for them ourselves. Transporters are so generous to purchase their own gas for the transports, and they always do this no matter how expensive the gas gets. They also use their own personal vehicles for the transports. They are the most generous, selfless people that I know. They never complain, instead they make it work and just do it!

Most of the time, the animals are put on the transport directly from the shelter. The shelter staff meets me around 6:15 am so that we can get the paperwork signed, pull fees paid, and get the furkids loaded and on the road by 7 am. Exceptions to this are when the animals are being quaranteened away from the shelter, such as puppies who need to be quaranteened for at least two weeks to monitor for any Parvo symptoms, or other contagious illnesses. We have to take every precaution to keep everyone healthy. Also, some animals may be in a foster home and in that case, the foster parent will meet the transport en route. Still even other times, the animals may be at the veterinarian's clinic, such as when they have been pulled off the road as strays or off of chains, and need some TLC before being transported. This is very common, due to lack of spay/neutering, and an example of this is the litter of tiny pups that were recently pulled from a drainage ditch by my friend, and had to go to the vet until transport.

For the furkids going to rescues from the transport, they are taken in and cared for and loved on like never before, until the rescue finds the perfect screened and approved forever home. To many of these animals, it is the first time that they have ever known what its like to be cared for in any way. It is always wonderful to see how they thrive, how the look in their eyes change once they are shown the love that they so deserve. The tail that hung between his or her legs suddenly begins to wag because it has a reason to. It makes all the heartache worth it. I always send out all updates that I receive on the furkids to all of the transporters who helped get them there. This is what we live for in animal rescue. It is the only way we can continue and overcome the constant heartbreak.