GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. - Two weeks ago, the Southern Pines Animal Shelter in Mississippi and the Animal Humane Society in Golden Valley mourned the loss of 11 dogs who died during a routine transport procedure.
Southern Pines volunteer drivers were making their way to AHS when their van broke down. According to their news release on Facebook, they said they opened up their van to find that 11 of the 29 dogs had died.
Right now, an investigation is ongoing to figure out what exactly caused the deaths of the 11 dogs. As the investigation is underway, the partnership between the two organizations continues to grow. Another van of 29 dogs arrived Sunday to AHS from Southern Pines-- including a few from the initial group of dogs.
Every transport of dogs to AHS is a special. However, this specific transport of 29 dogs from Southern Pines Animal Shelter was marked with an extra dose of hope and excitement.
"We were able to reschedule them today," Danielle Cunnane with AHS said. "We got 29 dogs up to AHS from Southern Pines and we are really excited about it."
Cunnane is the lead transport driver for AHS and she has made the drive to Southern Pines Animal Shelter several times. The drive is long and arranging transportation for numerous animals is not an easy task. However, Cunnane says it is worth it every time.
This time around, Ramanda Taylor, a driver for Southern Pines, made the drive up from Mississippi to Minnesota. She agreed that the approximately 18-hour drive was not easy. She also said Southern Pines took the deaths of the dogs hard.
"Since then, we've had our van checked out by multiple shops," Taylor said. "We haven't had major problems with the van. We also sent off some of the dogs to get tested to see what could have caused the problem. As of right now we're currently waiting on results from the necropsies."
While that investigation is ongoing, the van transports continue. AHS vouched for the work that Southern Pines does and has been doing for the past several years.
"Groups like Southern Pines are striving to make homeless life for dogs much better," Cunnane said. "We're just able to support that and bring those homeless dogs they've got a ton of, to here, where we just don't see as many in Minnesota."
It's difficult to know what the dogs went through before they arrived at AHS. However, the volunteers say it's a good feeling to know that the dogs will not be at AHS for very long because they will hopefully be adopted.