November 18– A dozen dogs from the Vidalia area have been moved from local animal shelters to New York by a Brooklyn animal rescue group.
Eva Armstrong is one of the rescuers who made the trip south in a cooperative effort with the Sweet Onion Animal Protection Society to find homes for the pups.

“Candace Brown, who is another member of our organization, and I spent hours at Vidalia Animal Control, the Lyons shelter and the Hazlehurst shelter. We spent time with the SOAPS ladies who were kind enough to show us around and introduce us to the dogs.
“We thought this might be the one chance for these dogs to get out because some of these dogs had been in there for years. We took them out of their cages and spent the time to see how they react to human touch and everything. If we just had the money and time, there are none of those dogs we wouldn’t be happy to save. The shelters in that area are full of nice dogs,” Armstrong said.
Because of spay/neuter laws in New York state, Armstrong says there are few stray dogs and the demand for dogs is great. That helped her find homes for the Toombs County dogs.

“We drove for two days back to New York and arrived on a Friday night. All the foster parents were there waiting for us in Brooklyn. They took them home and took care of them overnight. The next morning we had an adoption event and of the 12 Vidalia dogs we brought back, eight of them got adopted right away,” she reported.