Fifty rescued beagles come to Massachusetts for adoption
PEABODY - Meet Laurel and Cloverly. At 4 months old, they're playful and friendly and have a newfound love for the outdoors. The two beagles are being fostered in Peabody through Sweet Paws Rescue. On Tuesday, they touched grass for the very first time.
"Seeing those first moments and seeing them linger back in the crate before they timidly took their first step out was pretty nice," said Lynne Hathaway, Sweet Paws Rescue Foster Coordinator.
A first glimpse of freedom after being saved from a mass breeding facility in Virginia, part of a nationwide effort to find 4,000 rescued beagles new homes.
"So the Humane society of the United States was tasked with managing the release of these 4,000 beagles," said Ann Lambertus, director of Northeast Coonhound Rescue. "Fifty came to Massachusetts under the Northeast Coonhound Rescue partnership with the Humane Society of the United States, and when our 50 beagles got here, we had four other rescues waiting to all take some of them."
"The first thing we did yesterday was give them some puppy vaccines; we're deworming them, making sure they're all ready to go. They'll be microchipped before they go, and as soon as they're ready, they'll go off to their homes," said Hathaway.
Sweet Paws Rescue has adoptions pending for the five beagles it took in, but the Humane Society has partners listed on its website that are helping find the rest of the dogs loving homes.
"Everybody in the entire United States, big organizations, small organizations, everyone stepped up to do their part in this huge effort," said Cynthia Sweet, Sweet Paws Rescue founder.
"Knowing that they'll never be caged again. Knowing that they'll be pets. They'll be family members. To me, that's huge," said Hathaway.