In addition to the 32 GRRMF dogs requiring 53 transporters to move them to safety, vet appointments or foster homes, August presented another challenge to our dedicated transport team led by Sue Angle.
GRRMF transporters along with a Garden Club friend with Doberman Rescue met the van coming from flooded areas of Louisiana 
to bring 16 darling puppies and one mom to the Humane Society of Sarasota County (HSSC) on Saturday, August 27. Loving Friends Transport organized the trip with Acadiana Animal Aid in Louisiana which was the second transport GRRMF participated in a week to HSCC, previously also transporting 13 puppies coming from Louisiana shelters to make more room for incoming dogs due to flooding.
Tammy and Jim Malley with their daughter, Megan, and Ingrid Velez met the puppy van in Ocala, Florida and transported them to the Dade City area where the pups were transferred to Linda Lantry, Sandy Harbour and Sue Angle
who drove them to the Humane Society of Sarasota County. Even though arrival at the Humane Society was at 8:00pm on Saturday evening, the three young workers who greeted the transporters were cheerful and happy to receive the weary canine travelers. Sue and all the transporters agreed that it was so rewarding to partner with wonderful animal rescue groups to help save canine victims from a disaster area such as the floods of Louisiana.
Our GRRMF transport team is awesome and always has opportunities for driving our goldens to safe places. If you have never transported a rescued golden, you have no idea what a rewarding experience it can be, and how loved you are by that furry friend beside you! Raise your paw if you would like to be a golden rescue driver by sending us a note at info@grrmf.org. We could really use your help along the I-4 corridor from Tampa to Orlando and I-75 from Sarasota/Bradenton to St Pete area or Tampa however appreciate help anywhere in our area of coverage.
GRRMF transport volunteers know the feeling of love that emanates from every golden we pick up. What we do saves the life of a precious golden and enriches the life of the person fortunate enough to accept that golden into their life. Transport volunteers give up whatever they might be doing to say… Yes, I can help transport that Golden Retriever on its way to the life it deserves; whether it be goldens urgently rescued from being euthanized at overcrowded shelters, driving the surrendered golden to our veterinarian for the care or surgery they desperately need or chauffeuring them to loving foster homes on their way to being adopted.
It takes many helping hands and loving hearts to carry on this important part of rescuing our beloved golden retrievers. Hopefully the look in the golden’s eye, the wag of its tail and maybe the wet nose kiss it plants on their cheek will let volunteers know that at that moment they are the most important person in that golden’s life. By getting our goldens from one place to the next, our transport volunteers are making a difference that will last a lifetime.
