Already home to thousands of unwanted pets, Broward County received the special delivery from the Bahamas under an arrangement with the Grand Bahama Humane Society.
And they believe the potcakes will go like hot cakes, The Miami Herald reported.
One of the dogs was adopted before it even got off the boat. A crew member claimed it.
The furry vagabonds arrived at Port Everglades early Tuesday afternoon aboard an express ferry from Free-port.
Shipped Renee Slone, who manages Freeport’s Grand Bahama Humane Society, made the two-hour journey in the ferry with the 30 puppies and one older dog being shipped to a family in Denver.
Shelter officials are confident they can quickly find the dogs homes because they are frisky young puppies, as opposed to the older dogs that normally wind up in shelters unclaimed.
“Puppies don’t usually last a long time in our kennels,” Chris Mitchell, clinic manager at the facility located west of Interstate 95 on Griffin Road, told the Herald. “People will take them.”
The dogs were originally to be sent to a Tampa Humane Society shelter, but that facility could not take them after a law enforcement raid filled its kennels.
“Places like Broward have had a precipitous drop in puppies at their shelter,” said Martha Armstrong, senior vice-president for Humane Society USA. “That community has done a good job of spaying and neutering.” But dogs are still euthanised.
Overflowing In the 12-month period that ended October 1, 586 were put to sleep at the Humane Society of Broward County, which took in 2,869 dogs in that time. But the problem might be worse at the Freeport shelter, currently overflowing with 60 dogs and 30 cats.
Transportation for the dogs was donated by the owners of The Cat.
Within hours of their arrival, the puppies were given names like Bimini, Antigua and Aruba, according to the newspaper report.
They were fed, examined, dewormed, vaccinated and photographed so their pictures could be posted on the Humane Society’s website.
And then they snuggled together in their familiar bunches.
The youngest, 6 weeks old, formed a furry pile in the middle of their kennel.
The older ones, around 12 weeks old, were a little more curious about their new surroundings, sniffing at visitors.
There are an estimated 11,000 stray dogs in the Bahamas, according to the latest statistics available.
Of the estiamted 73,000 owned dogs in the Bahamas, it is believed that more than 12,000 owners failed to confine 29,000 dogs.
The Tribune
