About AHeinz57
Mission Statement
We are committed to saving homeless companion animals, assisting other shelters/rescues through rescue transports, offer low cost spay/neuter services for our community, and educating the public on animal welfare issues affecting companion animals.
An Animal Welfare Organization
AHeinz57 Pet Rescue & Transport, Inc. is a 501(c)3, non-profit, foster-based animal rescue organization, headquartered in De Soto, IA. Our main purpose is to care for the homeless companion animals in our community and surrounding areas. We also provide much needed services to the pet owners in our area thru food assistance, low cost spay/neuter clinics, and TNR services. In addition to our own community, we strive to bridge the gap between traditional animal shelters and no-kill rescues throughout the central United States in 2 different ways: 1) By pulling dogs out of traditional shelters that are on death row and placing them in foster homes and forever homes through our organization; and 2) By providing free transportation for dogs from traditional shelters to other no-kill rescues all over the Midwest and Canada
What Do We Mean By “Transport”?
Everyday, no-kill rescues monitor traditional shelters and do their best to pull dogs out before they are euthanized. Those that are lucky enough to dodge that bullet still need to get to no-kill rescues that have room for them. Most of the time, this requires transportation to another state. A transport coordinator blasts out emails to the transport network and volunteers sign up for various legs of the journey. We give them rides across Iowa!
AHeinz57 Pet Rescue & Transport volunteers typically drive dogs from Bethany, MO to Clear Lake, IA. Sometimes we take them as far north as Minneapolis, MN or go as far south as Kansas City, MO to pick them up. We have been east to Illinois and west to Omaha, NE. We have two transport vehicles that are equipped specifically for the safe transport of these precious lives.
What is Fostering?
We are a foster-based program for homeless dogs. In addition to taking in the strays in our community, we also pull dogs out of shelters. When dogs are scheduled to be euthanized or gassed in shelters, we pull out as many as we can and place them in temporary homes (“foster homes”). Then we get them completely vetted (vaccines, heartworm test, heartworm prevention, Frontline, spay/neuter, rabies shots, dewormer and microchip). Once all vet care is taken care of we find them forever homes through adoption events and posting them online. We need committed volunteers to make this work.
Amazing Grace – The Reason We Are
Amazing Grace, the scared little dog dumped along the highway who was saved by Amy Heinz, is the reason she founded AHeinz57.