We are off to help the dogs from the desert!

Can you imagine living in the desert, with nothing but a makeshift hay hut for shelter? Subject to intense heat and biting cold, without proper food and clean water? Well, that’s exactly what 150 dogs have been doing in remote Gabbs, Nevada since last spring.

For several months now, United Animal Nations (UAN) has been working with other animal organizations (including Best Friends Animal Society, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), the Nevada Humane Society, the Yerington Animal Shelter and Dog Town Rescue of Carson City), to figure out how to help these dogs, who had nobody to care for them since their owner died from a heart attack in May.

Now our Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) volunteers are on their way to help 30 of the most needy dogs.

Most of the dogs have already been transferred to rescue groups and shelters in Northern California and Nevada, where they will await adoptive homes. But the remaining 27 dogs have lacked human interaction for so long, and are so timid and unsure of themselves, that they need special attention and care before they can be made available for adoption.

So for the next four weeks, our EARS volunteers will work with these dogs at a temporary shelter in Reno previously occupied by the Nevada Humane Society. There, they will assess their behavior, socialize them, and give each dog the best possible chance at a positive future.

Today, Shannon Asquith, our director of field services, joined teams from HSUS, Best Friends, Nevada Humane and the Yerington Animal Shelter to move the dogs 150 miles to their new, temporary digs in Reno and get them settled.

We’ll post more photos from Reno and updates on how the dogs are progressing under the care of our amazing EARS team!

Photos on this post are courtesy of Best Friends Animal Society. Read more about their efforts to help the dogs in Gabbs at www.bestfriends.org.