With Biffle's help, puppies get new home
Dogs in Lincoln animal shelter faced euthanasia before move to N.Y.
JOE MARUSAK [email protected]
MOORESVILLE - The puppies wagging their tails outside NASCAR driver Greg Biffle's shop were lucky to be alive.
Those dogs, which numbered around 50, should have been euthanized in county animal shelters.
But volunteers saved them, and Biffle's charitable foundation spent at least $1,000 on shots and health certificates so the pups could go to a no-kill shelter run by North Shore Animal League America in Port Washington, N.Y.
Biffle sipped coffee and chatted with volunteers and members of animal rescue groups who'd come to his shop off Doolie Road on Monday morning from north Mecklenburg, Lincoln, Davie and Cabarrus counties. They came to say so long to the pups they'd saved.
"All of them would have been put in the gas chamber and put to death, and then in the county landfill," said Genet Costner of the Humane Society of Lincoln County.
The puppies had been in Lincoln's animal shelter, where Animal Control Sgt. Keith Poovey kept them past the usual time limit so they could be taken to the New York animal league for adoption.
The animals at Biffle's shop on Monday where loaded into two "rescue unit" vans for the 10 1/2- hour drive to New York.
Biffle said he's had dogs most of his life, and North Carolina's high kill rate concerns him.
An Observer series in 2003 reported that more than 80,000 dogs and cats were killed in just one year at shelters in the 15-county Charlotte region. Eight out of every 10 animals that entered a shelter in the Charlotte region were put to death, and many were healthy and adoptable.
The regional rate of 37 animals killed per 1,000 people mirrored the statewide rate -- and was more than double the national average, as determined by the publication Animal People.
Iredell County euthanized a total of 3,407 dogs and cats last year.
The N.Y. league has picked up animals from other parts of the country as well. Port Washington is in Nassau County in metro New York.
Biffle learned of the league on a trip to the Gulf Coast to evacuate at least 300 animals caught in the path of Hurricane Rita. His foundation donated $10,000 to the rescue. He and his girlfriend, Nicole Lunders, are now league board members.
Biffle said he takes up to five dogs on his plane to several races a year, including Loudon, N.H. He gets them adopted. Driver Ryan Newman, Roush Racing and others do the same, he said.
"We just need to get a handle on the pet population, encourage people to spay and neuter their pets," he said.
As the pups awaited transport to New York on Monday, Lunders said, "This is so successful, we'll do it again."
Benefit for Animals
• The North Mecklenburg High School DECA Club will host a 5-k9 Walk/Run at 9 a.m. Nov. 18 in Davidson. Proceeds benefit Friends for Life and local animal rescues. Details: 704-621-9999, 704-604-3452, 704-651-3347 or [email protected].
Dogs in Lincoln animal shelter faced euthanasia before move to N.Y.
JOE MARUSAK [email protected]
MOORESVILLE - The puppies wagging their tails outside NASCAR driver Greg Biffle's shop were lucky to be alive.
Those dogs, which numbered around 50, should have been euthanized in county animal shelters.
But volunteers saved them, and Biffle's charitable foundation spent at least $1,000 on shots and health certificates so the pups could go to a no-kill shelter run by North Shore Animal League America in Port Washington, N.Y.
Biffle sipped coffee and chatted with volunteers and members of animal rescue groups who'd come to his shop off Doolie Road on Monday morning from north Mecklenburg, Lincoln, Davie and Cabarrus counties. They came to say so long to the pups they'd saved.
"All of them would have been put in the gas chamber and put to death, and then in the county landfill," said Genet Costner of the Humane Society of Lincoln County.
The puppies had been in Lincoln's animal shelter, where Animal Control Sgt. Keith Poovey kept them past the usual time limit so they could be taken to the New York animal league for adoption.
The animals at Biffle's shop on Monday where loaded into two "rescue unit" vans for the 10 1/2- hour drive to New York.
Biffle said he's had dogs most of his life, and North Carolina's high kill rate concerns him.
An Observer series in 2003 reported that more than 80,000 dogs and cats were killed in just one year at shelters in the 15-county Charlotte region. Eight out of every 10 animals that entered a shelter in the Charlotte region were put to death, and many were healthy and adoptable.
The regional rate of 37 animals killed per 1,000 people mirrored the statewide rate -- and was more than double the national average, as determined by the publication Animal People.
Iredell County euthanized a total of 3,407 dogs and cats last year.
The N.Y. league has picked up animals from other parts of the country as well. Port Washington is in Nassau County in metro New York.
Biffle learned of the league on a trip to the Gulf Coast to evacuate at least 300 animals caught in the path of Hurricane Rita. His foundation donated $10,000 to the rescue. He and his girlfriend, Nicole Lunders, are now league board members.
Biffle said he takes up to five dogs on his plane to several races a year, including Loudon, N.H. He gets them adopted. Driver Ryan Newman, Roush Racing and others do the same, he said.
"We just need to get a handle on the pet population, encourage people to spay and neuter their pets," he said.
As the pups awaited transport to New York on Monday, Lunders said, "This is so successful, we'll do it again."
Benefit for Animals
• The North Mecklenburg High School DECA Club will host a 5-k9 Walk/Run at 9 a.m. Nov. 18 in Davidson. Proceeds benefit Friends for Life and local animal rescues. Details: 704-621-9999, 704-604-3452, 704-651-3347 or [email protected].
