In the United States, 56% of dogs who enter animal shelters are euthanized, according to the American Humane Society. But one Rockingham County teen is fighting that statistic, one dog at a time. WMRA’s Kara Lofton reports.
It was late winter when Laura Burchfield saw the dog outside of her car window on route 11. He was German Shepherd, alone and frantic. Her parents wouldn’t let her keep the dog right away so she had to take him to the local pound where he was put on stray hold.
LAURA BURCHFIELD: I called every day to be sure he was ok and to be sure if he had found his home yet and nobody claimed him and I went and got him the next Saturday and we fostered him for the next few weeks.
That was in February of last year. Since then Burchfield, who is a rising sophomore at Turner Ashby High School, and her family have fostered 14 dogs. She said at first her parents were a little nervous about having all the dogs come in and out, but have since become very supportive of her passion.
BURCHFIELD: It just sort of connected with me, it just felt like something I really wanted to do, even for the rest of my life, it felt like something I wanted to stick with.
Burchfield fosters most of her dogs through Augusta Dog Adoptions, a non-profit that takes dogs from local shelters and high-kill pounds and places them in volunteer foster homes. She said the organization is always looking for new foster parents.
The rest, like the German Shepherd, she found abandoned.
BURCHFIELD: The best thing about fostering is when I get to pull them out of the shelter and see that look on their face of freedom and see them finally feel happy. And the worst thing is probably when I bring them home and they are so scared and you know they have probably been through something bad.