This has been one of the most rewarding projects I’ve worked on so far with photography. The SPCA of Wake County rescued 88 dogs from a Jones County puppy Millin March. The animals were in horrible condition. Many had skin diseases and tumors, and some were blind because of inbreeding.
The SPCA wanted to put a real face to the puppy mill problem and they asked me to do it! Here are some of the shots of the 50+ dogs we photographed. You can find more on facebook.
Most of the dogs were terrified. They had been kept in cages. Dirty filthy cages. Check out the SPCA’s video of the day they (along with the Humane Society) rescued these pups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6rIViG9t3I
Darci (one of the great great great employees at the SPCA) and I spent three hours Monday taking photos of about 21 pups. We spent from 8:30am-3:30pm a few days later photographing the rest of the pups, editing the images and printing them. I went home for two hours and came back for the big fundraising event at the shelter. All of these photos were printed and displayed for people to take home after coming in and meeting the rescued pups.
The dogs were set to go up for adoption a few days later, April 2nd, but a major roadblock kept that from happening. The judge in the case gave ownership of the dogs (who had signed a release form to give UP ownership) BACK to the two people charged in the case. Seriously?!?! The case went to court this past Tuesday and the SPCA won! They will be placing the dogs up for adoption soon.
