July 20, 2006
By Arlene Barochin
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
The Love Train came ridin' on through to Broward County on Wednesday -- the puppy love train.
Photo: Dawn Parisi, with the Humane Society of Broward County, cradles three shepherd-mix puppies on Wednesday. The “Love Train” has transported the animals, many of them offspring of pets displaced during Hurricane Katrina, from Mississippi. (Sun-Sentinel/Robert Mayer)
It carried doggies from hurricane-wracked Mississippi on hopes that wagging tails and sad brown eyes melt local hearts and lead to new homes, with help from the Humane Society of Broward County.
In this case, the "Love Train," a rented bus with cages, travels to pet adoption centers throughout the country.
"Love Train equals second chance for about half of the animals, a chance they would not have here," said Shelly Richie, spokeswoman for the Humane Society of Southern Mississippi. The Humane Society of Broward County plans a special adoption program Friday and Saturday.
These wayward dogs are the second wave of homeless pets caused by Hurricane Katrina. Those early animals have yielded a crop of their own, a baby boom of sorts, said Richie.
Now, the shelter aims to relocate 450 animals; besides here, the Love Train stops in Orlando, Denver and San Francisco.
Wednesday marked its second chug into Broward. Only four dogs remain from the first visit last week.
"Every animal I send out will have a happy home," Richie said.
The Love Train took breaks during the 770-mile trip from Mississippi so the caretakers could walk, feed and play with the animals, said Cherie Wachter, director of marketing at the Humane Society of Broward County.
The arrangement helps both shelters. While alleviating pet overpopulation in Gulfport, Miss., the 6-week to 4-month-old dogs will help meet a puppy demand among Broward residents.
The Broward organization also accepts animals from shelters throughout South Florida, Alabama and Puerto Rico.
Wachter sings praises to those who join in this Love Train.
"As long as people continue to come and adopt, we'll be able to help animals," she said.
Arlene Barochin can be reached at abarochin@sun-sentinel.com or 954-572-2027.
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