NEWS

More dogs transported to Upstate New York for adoption

Jozsef Papp
jpapp@augustachronicle.com
As part of Project Freedom Ride, Rexanne Faulkner, left, and Jennifer McConn, prepare to load a dog onto a van with 25 other dogs headed to Watertown, NY, from Augusta Animal Services in Augusta, Ga., Tuesday morning June 11, 2019. [MICHAEL HOLAHAN/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]

One by one the dogs were placed inside a van and got comfortable for a long ride ahead.

The 25 dogs were being transported to Upstate New York from Augusta Animal Services. The transport is part of Project Freedom Ride, a family-based rescue in Evans that helps relocate dogs throughout the country. Jen McConn of Project Freedom Ride said it’s easier for the dogs to find homes in the north compared to the south.

“In most of the southern states, you have a pet overpopulation problem. You have more animals needing homes than homes willing to take them,” McConn said. “You can transfer these dogs to the north and they’ll find homes within a week. Basically, for here, it is life saving. If they don’t find homes, they won’t make it out of here either.”

McConn said another transport is scheduled June 25 to send 25 more dogs. The dogs included pit bulls, Labrador mixes and heeler mixes, among other breeds.

She said that will surpass 2,000 dogs transported since the project began in December 2016. She said it was all because of her son Roman.

"We’ve done pretty well, pretty quickly because of him. I think people saw something different in him, it wasn’t an adult just trying to get your money, it’s a little boy that wanted to help,” she said. “I think people really rally behind that, so we got very lucky.”

Roman said he is excited about this transport and is glad he is able to help the dogs. The project started while the family still lived in Texas and grew from there.

“I wanted to start helping dogs because when we lived in Texas, I saw dogs out of the local PetSmart and I wanted to help them because I saw they weren’t in homes, so we helped them,” he said. “We started going to the shelter and started visiting.”

Over the past two years, Roman’s fame has grown including appearances on the “Today Show” in May. The project received a $10,000 donation from Rachel Ray Nutrish pet food company during the show.

Roman said he was stunned when he heard he was going to be on national TV, and the donation helped them cover two transports. McConn said the exposure has been great, but it does add more pressure to perform and help.

“It’s overwhelming. It’s exciting. It’s always a blessing and a curse, that comes with a lot of eyes on you,” she said. “You got to make sure you are doing everything right, which we do, but it’s that much more pressure, but because of that exposures we have followers in other countries. It’s been pretty amazing.”

Each transport from Augusta cost around $5,000 and $15,000 from Texas. She said they have already covered all the transports for June and will try to continue moving at least 50 dogs a month from Augusta.

The dogs for this transport will be sent to Allegany County SPCA in Belmont, N.Y., and Jefferson County SPCA in Watertown, N.Y. She said this is the first time they are sending dogs to Belmont, but have already sent more than 70 dogs to Watertown, where foster homes and adopters are lined up before the dogs even get there.

She said the most important thing about the project is the community involvement. She said Augusta Animal Services is being overwhelmed with the number of dogs being brought to the shelter.

“ When your numbers grow and you are having more and more dogs come in, that is a sign of a problem within the community,” McConn said. “The shelter is left to deal with it and we are trying to help them, but they got to quit coming here to begin with.”

McConn hopes the project continues to grow and they are able to send more animals to different parts of the country to find homes.

“We are hoping this becomes a very regular thing and we can help save more from here. It is not an easy feat at all,” she said. “It is tough but we like to see them out.”