Mountain Mama is a sweet girl who wandered up to the campsite of a feral horse rescue on abandoned strip mines on the Kentucky/West Virginia border. Where she was located there is no shelter, no animal control, and no resources. She was living in a poverty-stricken community experiencing a stray dog epidemic. 

 

Mountain Mama made friends with the rescuers at camp and ended up whelping 14 puppies there. The pups were born on Sept 18th; two became angel babies, but the rest of the 12 are thriving. The horse rescuers were scheduled to leave the mines for a month or two and were unable to take Mama and her puppies with them. They tirelessly reached out to rescues across the region but weren't able to find anyone to take Mama and her babies. 

 

SSR was contacted by a friend of a friend who asked if we would be able to take in the puppies. They were over 5 hours away from our nearest foster home and we weren't able to find transport for them. We posted to all of our followers and still were unable to find a rescue for her. 

 

With less than 12 hours before the horse rescuers would have to decide to leave mama at the strip mines or take her to a shelter where they would likely be euthanized or contract disease, SSR found a volunteer willing to spend an entire day driving to get the family to an SSR foster. 

 

Since coming into SSR, Mama has now been weaned from her puppies and is working on herself! She is very skinny after living in the woods for so long, so we are trying to get some weight on her! She will be spayed in November and then will be available for adoption.

 

Mama is dog and cat friendly! She loves humans and enjoys everyone's company. She is fine with children, but is a little clumsy, so she might knock over little ones. 

 

A special thank you to our friends at Renew Appalachia and Appalachian Legacy Initiative that found mama, cared for her and her puppies, and brought her to rescue!