Hearthfire Animal Rescue Team (HART)

People need to rehome animals for various reasons, including changed circumstances, a bad match between the pet and the family, and a desire to help an animal they have rescued find a forever home. Most conventional Animal Rescues are overwhelmed by the need, and people can wait a long time for help. Municipal Shelters do the best they can, but often euthanize "surplus" pets and, even at best, usually cannot offer an environment that makes people feel good about dropping off animals they care about. Advertising animals on Craigslist is potentially risky, especially for people with limited experience in finding quality forever homes. Our goal is to provide support for individuals who want to help the animals in their care find the right forever home, and who either cannot find help from a Rescue or choose to work independently. We have years of experience actively volunteering for successful Rescue organizations in a senior capacity, and are well equipped to support and advise animal lovers. We do NOT support backyard breeding, but will help individuals with "accidental litters", on condition that they have their dogs sterilized to ensure no repetition of these accidents. We have established relationships with conventional Rescues throughout Washington, and where appropriate will help people place their pets with these Rescues. We provide: * A trustworthy connection between releasing owners and potential adopters * Advice and assistance in ensuring that pets offered for adoption are healthy, sterilized and up-to-date on vaccinations * Personal evaluation of all pets in our program, as needed (We make an effort to meet all the pets in our program but may initially rely on releasing owners for information. Potential adopters may request an evaluation at no charge if they have concerns.) * Advice and support with the adoption process (including writing pet profiles and taking photographs and video for marketing pets to serious potential adopters, identifying good homes, background checks, documentation, participation in adoption events, setting adoption fees, etc) * Counseling and other support, as needed (including home visits to potential adopters, provision of food and equipment, funding for vet care, rehabilitation advice, introductions to conventional rescues, etc)