  | |||
               | |||
 Highway to Heaven is an all-volunteer alliance of rescue groups and shelters who work together to save the lives of as many animals as possible; there is no fee for participating in this ground-breaking alliance. The member shelters follow specific protocols for vetting and quarantine of the adoptable animals and the member rescues pull animals preferentially from member shelters. Below is a description of who does what and how it all comes together. If you are not a member of our group, please go to the individual shelter website for adoption information. If this program sounds like something your organization would be interested in please inquire to: Toni Klemko, 717-697-4758 or tklemko@verizon.net . WHO – Member Shelters: Member shelters are often rural shelters with very little local adoption traffic. In an effort to save lives, they will quarantine their animals (in private homes) for rescue and even take them to the vet! Our shelters have secured special rescue-friendly vet pricing and the animals receive in-house services (worming, DHLPP, Albon, etc. as needed) and some quality one-on-one TLC while they are in quarantine. Member shelters list their specific pricing for services right here on the Highway to Heaven website on their own page. Member Shelters will pull dogs at the request of our rescues and quarantine them prior to transport. WHO – Member Rescues: Member rescues pull animals from participating shelters because they know these animals have been quarantined from the general shelter population and have received vet care. The rescues pay extremely reasonable rescue-friendly prices for vetting and in-house services as above however; they do not pay for boarding. WHO – Highway to Heaven: Highway to Heaven works to ensure that member shelters are adhering to protocol and providing rescues with healthy animals*. In addition, Highway to Heaven arranges and guarantees volunteer transport for the animals from the sending shelter to the receiving rescue. HOW IT ALL WORKS: Member shelters provide a scrolling pet list (such as Petfinder) on Highway to Heaven of their animals available for adoption. Member rescues view the animals available for adoption by member shelters. When a rescue determines there is an animal they would like to have, they “tag” that animal. When rescues tag an animal, the shelter pulls that animal from the shelter environment as soon as possible. This may be a few days depending on how many animals are currently being quarantined at their foster caregiver’s homes. The animals are kept in quarantine/foster homes for a minimum of 14 days. As soon as the animals arrive at their foster home they are wormed; they are wormed again the week prior to transport. We use both Pyrantel and Panacur for worming. The animals are also taken to the vet to receive additional care such as vaccinations and even spay/neuter surgery if requested by the sending rescue. Animals will have at least one set of vaccinations before transport; they will come with a medical record and a health certificate. Member rescues will receive a “Vet Sheet” showing the animals your rescue has tagged and the costs due based on what procedures are required/requested for the animals. On Thursday or Friday prior to the weekend of transport the animals are taken to the vet for their health certificates. The vet will have a copy of the vet/shipping sheet that you have received so that everyone knows up front what charges to expect. Member rescues are notified the day that the animals are taken to the vet and are required to call the vet and pay the charges, in full, by credit card. In the meantime, Highway to Heaven will coordinate volunteer transport** to get the animals from the sending shelter to the receiving rescue. It is expected that the sending shelter drives the first leg of the transport and the receiving rescue drives the final leg of the transport; transport legs are typically 45 – 60 miles one way but may be a bit longer depending on proximity to established transport routes. If a member rescue has another method of transport that they prefer to use, we can make sure the animals get where you need them to be for that transport. If crates are required for transport – i.e., all puppies under 6 months old and all animals less than 30 pounds – the receiving rescue is responsible for providing crates. The sending shelters are most happy to pick one up for you. WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN? In short, this alliance allows for more lives being saved, shelters having to kill less, and rescues receiving healthy animals via volunteer transport. Costs are minimized and life-saving is maximized. This alliance is a win-win for everyone involved, and especially for the animals! NOTE: It is implied that the tagging rescue accepts provisional ownership of the animal(s) at the time the animal(s) is tagged. The rescue provides funds for veterinary requirements and lists the animal(s) on their rescue site for adoption. While the animal(s) is in shelter care, the shelter bears the liability for bites, escaping animals, etc., as this falls under “in your care supervision”, much as it would be for a boarding kennel. In the event of an emergency, shelters will act in the best interest of the animal(s). Rescues tagging puppies MUST also accept the puppies’ mother if she is with the puppies. RESCUES MUST PULL OLDER DOGS AS WELL AS PUPPIES. THIS PROGRAM IS NOT A PUPPY BROKER PROGRAM AND THE INTENT IS TO SAVE ANIMALS OF ALL AGES AND BREEDS. *Disclaimer: This association is set up in the hope it will significantly decrease/minimize instances of rescues receiving sick animals. Although we attempt to cover all bases so that animals being sent are healthy, we do not guarantee that the animals may not be harboring bacteria, viruses, or a congenital condition that is not sufficiently advanced to be detected by routine veterinary screening tests. **We are an all-volunteer based group, thus transport may be slightly delayed if transport legs are not filled. If a transport does not fill and run as scheduled it will be rescheduled until filled or until you cancel the transport. Neither Highway to Heaven nor its volunteer transporters are registered non-profits under tax code 501(c)3; we do not charge a fee for transport but do accept donations through PayPal. If you would like to donate, the account is GetMeTherePlease@gmail.com (This entity is non profit and tax deductible.) Please select “Personal” when you donate via PayPal so there are no fees charged. ALL monies donated go to helping sponsor transport with gas funds. It is suggested that rescues make a gas donation for every transport requested; if a driver needs gas funds in order to fill a transport leg we want to provide the funds in order to prevent risking the failure of the transport to run as scheduled. If no drivers on your scheduled transport have need for gas funds, your donation will go toward general gas funds for transport. THIS IS DEDICATED GAS FUNDS FOR TRANSPORTS AND WILL NOT BE USED FOR ANY OTHER PURPOSE. It is our policy that if you pull one puppy
from a litter you must pull the whole litter.  | |||