Louisiana rescue animals seek new homes

May is a friendly lab mix about 2 1/2 years old. She recently had puppies, and has tested positive for heartworms. After she gets treated for it, she'll need a permanent home. In the meantime, at the time of WTOP's visit, Last Chance Animal Rescue was still looking for a home to temporarily foster May and make sure she gets her medicine. (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
May is a friendly lab mix about 2 1/2 years old. She recently had puppies, and has tested positive for heartworms. After she gets treated for it, she’ll need a permanent home. In the meantime, at the time of WTOP’s visit, Last Chance Animal Rescue was still looking for a home to temporarily foster May and make sure she gets her medicine. (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
Lincoln - despite his pink collar - is a feisty boy - a Shepherd mix about 2 years old. At the time of WTOP's visit to the shelter, he was still in need of a temporary foster home. (WTOP/ Michelle Basch)
Lincoln — despite his pink collar — is a feisty boy — a Shepherd mix about 2 years old. At the time of WTOP’s visit to the shelter, he was still in need of a temporary foster home. (WTOP/ Michelle Basch)
Claire relaxing after a long ride. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Barnaby gets weighed. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Puppies getting a well earned snack.(Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Puppies getting a well earned snack. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Elam says hello. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Elam says hello. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Lincoln gives the camera a smile. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Gigi is also looking for a forever home. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Gigi is also looking for a forever home. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Mille gets a kiss. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animals Rescue)
Mille gets a kiss. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animals Rescue)
Puppies prepare for bedtime. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Spartan, adjusting to his new, hopefully temporary home. (Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Spartan, adjusting to his new, hopefully temporary home. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
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May is a friendly lab mix about 2 1/2 years old. She recently had puppies, and has tested positive for heartworms. After she gets treated for it, she'll need a permanent home. In the meantime, at the time of WTOP's visit, Last Chance Animal Rescue was still looking for a home to temporarily foster May and make sure she gets her medicine. (WTOP/Michelle Basch)
Lincoln - despite his pink collar - is a feisty boy - a Shepherd mix about 2 years old. At the time of WTOP's visit to the shelter, he was still in need of a temporary foster home. (WTOP/ Michelle Basch)
Puppies getting a well earned snack.(Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Elam says hello. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Gigi is also looking for a forever home. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animal Rescue)
Mille gets a kiss. (Courtesy of Last Chance Animals Rescue)
Spartan, adjusting to his new, hopefully temporary home. (Last Chance Animal Rescue)

WALDORF, Md. — When members of a Maryland animal rescue group drove to Tennessee this week to pick up animals from the Louisiana flood zone, they expected to get about 50.

Instead they got about 80.

“We got 66 dogs and I think 12 cats, and they’re back now. The vets have checked them out, and for the most part they’re very healthy,” says Cindy Sharpley, Executive Director of Last Chance Animal Rescue in Waldorf. “One of them is a three legged hound dog.”

Another recently gave birth to puppies, but needs four or five months of treatment for heartworms.

At the time of WTOP’s Thursday visit to the shelter, employees were still looking for a temporary foster home for that dog, a friendly lab mix named May.

Also in need of a foster home was Lincoln, a feisty shepherd mix.

These are all animals that were already in Baton Rouge area shelters when the devastating flooding began.

Some of the dogs taken in by LCAR came from the Denham Springs Animal Shelter, where small dogs and cats were evacuated in boats.

But floodwaters rose so quickly that shelter employees only had time to let the large dogs out of their cages so they could swim to the shelter’s roof for safety.

A GoFundMe page has raised more than $140,000 to help that shelter rebuild.

Most of the animals brought to Maryland from Louisiana will go up for adoption at two events next month.

They’ll be held September 10 at Petco in Alexandria, Virginia, and September 17 at PetSmart in Columbia, Maryland.

If you can’t take in a new pet but still want to help, Sharpley has a suggestion.

“Donate to the Louisiana Humane Society. They’re the ones that are doing a lot of the work on the ground in this.”

Michelle Basch

Michelle Basch is a reporter turned morning anchor at WTOP News.

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