From the city street of Chicago to the Western Suburbs, Illinois is known for its very generous dog lovers. This year many of them went above and beyond for the four-legged companions that people know and love so very much.
This year Pilots-N-Paws helped various organizations rescue canines across the U.S. from some very dangerous puppy mills. The primary organizations that made their information privy to me were The Anti-Cruelty Society in Chicago and Animal Rescue Foundation, Illinois (ARF-IL). These two organizations stepped right up when air shipments of rescued pets arrived at airports in and around Chicagoland. Sometimes the volunteers and paid workers had done their work so well that the animals had been placed or foster homes acquired even before the planes touched down!
The Spotted Paw and The Barking Lot out of Wheaton, Two Boston’s (two locations) out of Naperville, Pet Stuff out of Chicago and other organizations dealing in dog merchandise have done their best to participate with dog rescues, to offer special pet events for locals to participate in and get to know one another, besides specializing in new and updated products that pets and pet owners alike can get into. The Spotted Paw especially has gone completely out of their way in order to save, foster and offer their services to rescued pets. Who would think that Wheaton would have such a caring organization in their midst when they moved in the end of 2011? Pets and their owners alike are incredibly lucky to have this organization in their hometown!
Then there are the individuals that spectacularly stood out from the rest. From the teenagers like Reese and Drew Stoneburner, to Jackson Hicks, Chloe Grotto and Alyssa Berry that dove headlong into helping ARF-IL at many of their spring and summer and early fall pet events to the long-timers like JoAnn and Dan Davey that are not just local volunteer, but participate nationally with Best Friends just as the Marketing Specialist for ARF, Linda Bennet does. These are just the Wheaton animal representatives, too. Just think how many have not been met in Naperville, Glen Ellyn and many other DuPage towns and villages that are just as prevalent. Illinois is simply a very giving state!
The year 2012 has been quite successful indeed. ARF let me know that my numbers were off in my previous article and over 600 dogs (and cats) were able to find their forever homes this year! That is just one small foster-based organization in one town. If all Illinois organizations were just as successful, Illinois may just as well have topped the other 49 United States of America! Illinois rocks as far as animal rescue is concerned!
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