'Miracle puppies' survive adoption day rollover crash (36!)

The Santa Fe New Mexican ^ | December 15, 2008 | Ben Swan

[CedarDave]

Hanging upside down from her seat belt, Nina Chiotasso knew she had to act quickly. Her dog, Lill, had flown through the windshield after the van Chiotasso was driving hit a patch of ice on U.S. 285/84 [outside Santa Fe] Saturday morning. The van rolled, landing upside down on the guardrail ... of the busy road. In the back, were 36 puppies, fate unknown.

Chiotasso unlatched herself ... and crawled through the busted windshield, desperately hoping to stop Lill from wandering into traffic.

That's when the first of many miracles happened. The first person to come upon the accident was a veterinarian. She wanted to help Lill, but Chiotasso directed her to the back of the van. Chiotasso still doesn't know the veterinarian's name.

"I told her I could get Lill, but that there were 36 puppies in the back," Chiotasso said. "You could just see that look on her face — her eyes just opened wide, and she said, 'OK.' "

Chiotasso raced after her dog, calling her to sit and stay. The pit bull complied, sitting and waiting for her in the highway median. And then came the second miracle: None of the puppies were injured, and Lill had come through the accident unscathed.

Chiotasso, who handles community relations for the Española Valley Humane Society, had been up since 4 a.m. getting the puppies ready to take to the Watermelon Mountain Ranch Home for an adoption event in Albuquerque. The day before, Chiotasso had driven adult dogs and cats to the major event, which features more than 400 homeless animals from seven animal-rescue groups.

With all the animals accounted for, Chiotasso placed desperate calls to volunteers and board members. ... I had to get those puppies to Albuquerque. I knew it was their best chance to find homes."

[Ditter]

Joe I saw a dog at my brothers vet clinic yesterday that I have never seen before. It is a Shiba Inu from japan. Absolutely beautiful. It looks kind of like a fox.

[Frantzie]

Tragic. I shudder because Marley & me the movie is coming out. I love Labs but millions of yuppies will buy Labs and neglect them. Same thing happened with 101 Dalmatians movie. Dalmatians are pretty aggressive dogs.

I have been to New Mexico and even in nice areas of ALBQ like N ALBQ Acres - many people leave their dogs outside. I loathe irresponsible pet owners.

[CedarDave]

City animal shelters are true lifesavers for some animals, but not others. Of the 3,094 animals surrendered at the local city animal shelter or caught by animal control officers, 324 were reclaimed by owners and 337 were adopted. The remaining 2,433 were euthanized. This number represents about 80% of those brought to the city pound. So even some of the stories below meant only temporary reprieve from a death sentence.

While several residents choose to surrender their pets to the shelter, others take a different approach. Shelter officers related the following stories:

• A woman was driving on the highway when she saw a pickup stop and let two dogs out for what she thought was a break. Once the dogs were out of the pickup, it left without the pets. The woman took the dogs and brought them to the shelter.
• A local couple was driving one afternoon and noticed a box on the side of the road. They saw a puppy poke its head up out of the box, so they stopped and found four other puppies inside. The couple brought the puppies to the shelter.
• The shelter supervisor's dog was barking and when she went to check on the disturbance, she found two mixed breed puppies on her property. She was able to coax one puppy into her vehicle, but could not catch the other. Although she brought him to the shelter, he was later euthanized. Not long after, she found his running mate dead on the side of the road, hit by a vehicle.
• A worker came to work at the shelter one morning and found a dog chained to the front gate. “He looked like he had been there all night,” she said.
• A woman saw someone dump a dog out of their vehicle at the local mall. The woman took the dog to her home and notified animal control. The woman volunteered to keep the dog if the owners wanted it back or called the shelter looking for it. “Nobody ever called about the dog,” the shelter worker said. “They just pushed it out of the car and left.”
• A shelter worker was called to the wastewater treatment plant when construction workers discovered a mother dog and litter of puppies in a large plastic bin, dumped on the back of the plant’s property. “They had to call me because the mama dog was trying to bite the workers,” she said.

[Frantzie]

My mistake and apologies to the volunteer driving the van.

[Secret Agent Man]

Yes, dogs are not people, everyone gets that.

Let’s be brutally honest about this. Adopted children are purchased as well. Don’t kid yourself, it is a huge ‘business’. You ever seen how much money you have to fork over for an adoption?

The reason for using the term adoption is not to equalize the pet with a person. It is because people ‘adopt’ an animal to be considered as part of the family (ie the family pet). Not a HUMAN part of the family, but are you going to argue that the family dog is not part of that family? The family thinks so. The dog is not just relegated to ‘the dog tied up in the back yard’ or ‘my cheap burglar insurance.’

[NordP]

I feel the same way about cats - peeeeeU - and that spray the guys do - you'll NEVER get that out - and the clawing at the furniture and ruining it.... and the rats they bring home in their mouths....yuck. And then what do you get after all that??? Attitude.

With dogs...it's all love baby.

[NordP]

LOL

[CholeraJoe]

If I locked Fawn and one of my dogs in the trunk of my car, which one do you think would be glad to see me half an hour later?

[NordP]

Furry children - yep that's what WE have ;-----) <---Dachshund smile

[CedarDave]

My mistake and apologies to the volunteer driving the van.

The van driver was very lucky. Yesterday, two persons died on the highway between Santa Fe and ABQ due to wrecks and rollovers on the icy road.

[NordP]

A stunningly beautiful dog.

[NordP]

ME TOO!

[NordP]

My heart bleeds for these animals, and God Bless those that rescue them...there’s a special place in God’s heaven for them!!!

[NordP]

Hey, that’s a good point! I forgot about that.

[Fawn]

Most cats do not spray when fixed, my cats stay inside so no rodent problems for me, they have 5 cat trees to claw...my leather furniture is fine....my house smells great thanks to Tidy cat. You can't eliminate the constant attention seekers that dogs are, constant letting in and out like a revolving door....walking them....then their constant poopy bad breath, the fact they constantly smell and the drool, the shaking, the BARKING...they are so noisy! ....not to mention the jumping up on people. God I hate that....and then owners think it's cute that my legs are all scratched up from their retarded smelly ugly dog.
Cats Rule....and that's a fact.

[NordP]

Ex ACT ly!!!

I'm thinkin' the feelin' would be MU-tial...

[brytlea]

Oh I love border terriers. They look like just regular dogs!

[Fawn]

That’s proves a point I made before.... that dog owners need attention and approval.

[My hearts in London - Everett]

Now this is news. (and no, I'm not being sarcastic!) Good story. Thanks for posting it! :~)

[brytlea]

I would bet that the majority of the euthanized animals were cats. Feral cats are a huge problem.