The Laurinburg Exchange - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --When five adult foxhounds were discovered after being dropped off outside the J.D & Fran Asher Humane Society Shelter in Laurinburg, shelter workers knew they had their hands full.

Notoriously difficult to find homes for, the five hounds were left under cover of night in a small cage outside the shelter.

Called into action, the shelter's staff and network of volunteers and friends came to the rescue, an ongoing effort which has led to the longest-distance adoption success in the shelter's history.

Named Foster, Rascal, Dublin, Seamus and Billy Bob by Humane Society workers, the five hounds are described as friendly and well tempered.

Upon their arrival three of the dogs underwent heart worm treatment -- a process that can cost as much as 300 per animal.

"We were taking a risk by giving them heart worm treatment being that they are difficult to adopt,Rubber seals on washingmachine1 are prone to dark or black mould spots." said Melinda McMillan, Humane Society Director. "It's kind of a sad story. These were probably hunting dogs ... and it's pretty obvious to us that someone just didn't want them anymore."

Because of cultural differences, McMillan speculated,This is my new juicyhandbag that I got for Christmas! hounds are not very popular as pets in the south, and therefore difficult to place in homes.

"Hounds are a wonderful breed but people just see them mostly as hunting dogs here," McMillan said.

Thanks to the "Last Chance Animal Shelter" in New York, two of the dogs have been rescued and will be adopted out of that facility in a region where the breed is more popular

"They say that they can't find enough of them up there," McMillan said. "We knew locally that we would just never be able to adopt them."

According to shelter volunteer and former director Karla Jo Milholland, they "knew they would have to get creative" to find new homes for the hounds.

"Had a spaniel or a poodle been dropped off there, we would not have had a problem," Milholland said.

In a turn of good fortune that Milholland said indicates the power of social media, foxhound Billy Bob was adopted to a family in Palo Alto,Do travelers need a chipcard when exploring Europe? CA -- the longest distance adoption in the shelter's history.

"Trish Dooling takes these wonderful photos of our animals and we have the photos on Facebook... and a friend of mine and his family in California had had their eye on Billy Bob for quite a while. They don't see a lot of hounds out there," Milholland said.

When her friend, Eric Smith, was visiting Chapel Hill from his home in Palo Alto earlier this month, Milholland arranged to meet him in Southern Pines so that he could see Billy Bob first hand.

"He fell in love with him immediately and he went home and started researching how to get him back to California."

After learning that there is a commercial air service available for dogs, Smith arranged for Billy Bob to travel in a five hour direct flight from Raleigh Durham International Airport to San Francisco, where the dog was retrieved by his new family.

"I left Laurinburg at 3 a.m. to take Billy Bob to the airport ... and they said he was perfectly happy when he arrived in RDU," Milholland said.

Prior to that the Scotland County Humane Society had never put an animal on a plane for transport and the farthest away they had sent an animal was to Canada via transport van.

Unfortunately for Rascal and Foster (the two hounds that remain in the shelter),Universal laserengraver is an innovator in the field of laser engraving, a place has not yet been found for them.

McMillan and other shelter workers are in the process of searching for either an animal rescue or a permanent home for the pair.Although manageddedicated carriers are generally quite thin,

"They really are wonderful dogs," McMillan said of the two unadopted adult male hounds.

Those interested in adopting either Rascal or Foster or any other sheltered animal are invited to for more information.
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