![]() “There’s not a lot of money-making in transporting,” Ivory said. The costs come from oil changes, rotating tires or, even, the occasional late night run-in with a deer. Ivory says she spends about $800 to $1600 a month in maintenance. Maintenance is the major cost to transporters. She charges based on the fuel, her payroll costs and maintenance. Ivory will charge about $1600 for this 1,600 mile trip. She charges the receiving shelters one dollar per mile, round trip. “We’ve had to clean a few crates, but we are ongoing.”įor Ivory, the job is largely a labor of love. “We’ve had some dogs that just settled down,” Ivory said. Luckily, it’s finally quieted down in the back. “And decided that this is what I need to do.” An hour into the trip, the women stop. “So I went ahead and got a van,” Ivory said. Every time she went, she said, other humane groups would ask her to take some of their dogs, too. Ivory began occasional trips to deliver dogs to New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts. ![]() As she rescued dogs from local high-kill shelters, she decided she needed to get dogs out of the area. Ivory modified the inside herself.īefore Ivory became a transporter, she ran a humane society in southern North Carolina. She loads crates of dogs onto shelves in her white sprinter van. Ivory typically transports about 28 dogs at a time. Her, a colleague and a load full of dogs. “If there’s any messes in the back, whoever’s not driving is cleaning it up as it happens.” She laughs a hearty laugh.Īn average week for Ivory could be 5,200 miles on the road. “We’re going to be driving, and while one’s driving the other one’s going to be sleeping,” Ivory said. This has been a full-time job for five years. With the slam of a door and the rev of an engine, the transport heads out into the evening. Straight from North Carolina to Connecticut. On this overcast and foggy Monday night, they’ll drive like they always do. They run Howl on Wheels, a ground transport service for rescued dogs Getting dogs there, that's the job of two women: Kelly Ivory and Jane Hurst. The next step? Head north to the Connecticut Humane Society. Inside a bright white sprinter van, the dogs sit in crates. “We’ve tried for years to get one.”ĭogs in the Howl on Wheels van during the overnight trip. “There’s no spay-neuter law, no leash law,” Harklerode said. Harklerode rescues dogs from high-kill shelters and cares for strays and abandoned dogs from the community. A disabled former nurse, she now uses her skills to care for animals, as the head of Mercy Fund Animal Rescue. On a recent Sunday, Harklerode sits with her friend Susan Menard, in Menard's kitchen. And the story of an industry that’s sprung up: Moving a supply of adoptable dogs from the rural south to cities in the north, where there's a demand for them. So, a dog in the trash, that’s life for Harklerode. From an informal network of people who know she rescues dogs in Marion, North Carolina. Sometimes, she’d get up to 60 such calls a day. “A little week-old puppy that was thrown away,” Harklerode said, now cradling the small black ball wrapped in a towel. įor Joy Harklerode, it started with a call at church. For more info on Marketplace Weekend, go here. This story was produced in partnership with Marketplace Weekend, a weekly radio show on business and life.
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