Animal rescuers are an integral part of our society. Where would we be without them? One cannot even imagine all the overflowing shelters across the nation having no other place to send the dogs and cats in their care. The death toll would increase a hundred-fold.
Sadly, we’ve also heard of rescue horror stories; fake rescue groups collecting pledge money for certain animals, and then those animals go missing. Then there are adoptions gone bad by not doing enough background checking on the potential adopter.
Animal Coalition Unlimited, located in Oregon, believes every dog deserves a second chance at a good life. Animal Coalition Unlimited (ACU) started as a volunteer group in 2014. They had come across several dogs that were abandoned and forgotten at boarding facilities in the southern states by the people who called themselves a “rescue”. Unfortunately, to help these dogs they were burdened with paying off the enormous bills left behind by the 501 (c) 3 groups that abandoned the dogs. They went to work fundraising and hosting online auctions to help defray the cost.
Animal Coalition Unlimited takes a unique approach to animal rescue and adoptions. For one, they do not charge any adoption fees. However, they have certain stipulations for potential adopters under their Foster to Adopt program. This method confirms the potential adopter can take care of the dogs and meet all their future medical needs. Basically, the new owner gets to foster their pet for a period of time before officially adopting them.
This ensures it is a good fit for both the person and the pet. This is in the best interest of the dog because it gives the dog a better chance of being adopted by a good family without putting too much pressure on the adopters from the get-go. They thoroughly interview and screen all applicants and follow this up with a home visit. With this program, Animal Coalition Unlimited can monitor the ongoing progress of the dogs for approximately a six-month trial period. Their success rate with this program is very high.
Shortly before the 2016 Thanksgiving holidays, a small black and white pregnant pit bull was abandoned in a hospital parking lot in Stockton, California. The poor dog was emaciated and full of worms and fleas. The dog was picked up and placed in a boarding facility where she sat for three weeks, not knowing what her fate would be.
Due to no interest from Northern California rescue organizations, the dog was going to be sent to a nearby animal shelter which may have resulted in her and her unborn puppies being put down due to the high intake of pit bulls. A Good Samaritan, however intervened, and the dog was sent to Portland, Oregon into the care of Animal Coalition Unlimited. There the dog was given the name “Pee Dee.”
The first goal was to get Pee Dee healthy enough to give birth. She had been totally neglected and emaciated, weighing a mere 36 pounds. The veterinarian at Lake Grove Vet was extremely helpful and supportive in getting her the necessary nutrients to get her to a healthy weight to deliver her puppies. An ultrasound detected seven puppies, and on December 22, 2016 Pee Dee delivered 10 very healthy puppies.
One puppy was lucky enough to be adopted, but nine along with Pee Dee, still remain in the care of the Coalition. There was much interest in the puppies when they were young and cute. Many were taken in then but brought back as they got older and needed more training and discipline.
Fast forward to 2020. All Pee Dee’s pups are now just a little over three years old; six are in boarding and four are in foster homes. The monthly cost to maintain all the dogs is $4,400.00 However, ACU will not relinquish the dogs to just anyone since each of the dogs has a strong personality and needs a strong owner with no other dogs in the house. It has been a very challenging situation having ten dogs under continuous care for three years.
Several of these dogs have lost their foster homes and the others were returned by their adopters. As of September 2019, ACU HAS A $30K outstanding debt for vet and boarding bills.
If you would like to give one of these nine dogs a new home, or you would like more information on becoming a sponsor, please send requests to:
For updates on Pee Dee and her nine pups visit their Facebook pages:
https://www.facebook.com/AnimalCoalitionUnlimited
https://www.facebook.com/inMEMORYofCLARA/
Donations can be made here:
Or on their Facebook Fundraiser page
Not many people realize how hard animal rescuers work. They are constantly rescuing, networking, transporting and vetting other people’s “throwaways.” They are often up all night taking care of the sick, the scared, and the injured. There is no monetary reward or gain for them; no red-carpet walks to recognize their efforts.
Yet, they continue to work hard and toil away for the sake of the animals. We need them more than we realize, and we need to support their work.
Without them, countless lives would otherwise be lost.
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“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
― Mahatma Gandhi
