A three-hour, round-trip mission to save lives ended as the van returned to the Baltimore Humane Society with unwanted dogs from Cecil County.
"We did have a little bit of a target number,” said Amanda Serafini, “We exceeded that number by one dog... managed to squeeze one in. We had the available space so we were able to pull as many dogs as we could."
Five dogs of the 15 still awaiting a reprieve in Cecil County will receive a new lease on life at the facility in Reisterstown.
This as the privately run "Buddy for Life" shelter nears the end of its contract with no option to transfer them to Cecil County's new shelter in Chesapeake City at the end of the month.
"If we're stuck with the dogs and we have absolutely no place to put them, we're going to have to put them down and it really stinks," Tina Bright, a worker at the shelter, told ABC2 News last month.
Christine Sandberg of a group called 'Rescue Well' joined the relief effort Wednesday, making space in her personal vehicle to save two of the dogs.
"To be honest with you, Maryland has always in my view stepped up to the plate,” Sandberg said. “We have a lot of organizations engaged to make sure that we do the very best we can to get as many of those animals out."
After checking out their health, updating their vaccines and spaying or neutering the animals, they will become available for adoption in about a week.
The fate of those still housed in the Cecil County facility remains unknown.
"It was really hard to leave any of them behind,” said Serafini, “It definitely tugged at our heartstrings seeing that they really needed to get out of there and they're really in dire need of placement."
The county has agreed to accept drop-offs and strays picked up from the shelter within five days of its closing, but it appears it will be up to the public and other rescue organizations to save the rest.
