HAMPTON ROADS, Va. — Hounds are being dumped in the woods or on the side of the road to fend for themselves in rural Hampton Roads, according to officials with a Virginia animal rescue group.
“I’m trying to get a place for them because their shelters are so overcrowded, they’re doubling up. There’s no room for them; the dogs have days to live,” said Raquel Linger, who runs Coastal Paws rescue.
Two hounds named Sally and Sammy were rescued just this week. Linger's nonprofit rescues animals in Virginia and North Carolina. She said she has been flooded with calls about hounds being dumped in nearby counties.
“It’s calls, emails, Facebook messages, everything, probably 30 dogs today before I came to see you,” Linger said.
Linger said typically this happens between hunting seasons when the hounds may not perform up to the owner’s standard, so they are abandoned. She said animal shelters are completely overrun and have no space to take in the dogs.
"They do not get vet care, and they basically get them when they’re a puppy. They try to train them and run them a few times; if that dog is not running the way they want them to run, they cut them loose,” Linger said.
To avoid them being euthanized, Linger sets up fosters to take them in as well as providing spay neuter surgeries and other preventative care.
“I just feel like they deserve a chance. They did their job; they’re a working breed, and they didn’t ask for any of this, and what you get in return when you get a hound, there’s just nothing like it,” Linger said.
There are a few ways you can help. One is to help by fostering the dogs and second is to give monetarily. You can use PayPal by searching @coastalpawsrescue. Volunteers are also needed, so if you are interested in fostering or volunteering email coastalpawsrescue1@gmail.com.
