By Taylor Boyd
Hulk’s Helping Hand Rescue, a nonprofit animal rescue in Meadows of Dan, received a veritable Christmas miracle just in the nick of time.
“Our problem, like with the other rescues, is people are out of work, and the donations have come to a halt,” said Elizabeth Whiteley, who started the rescue in 2016.
As a result of the economic downturn and decrease in donations, the organization was facing a financial hardship, until an anonymous donor intervened.
The donor “will match any item that’s donated whether it’s puppy formula, blankets, dog beds, dog food, anything. He will match that. He will also match any monetary donations up to $5,000, and this goes until the end of the year,” Whiteley said.
This is not the donor’s first act of kindness, she said, adding he also has adopted multiple dogs from the rescue.
Initially, “he took two hospice dogs. They were Bassett Hounds, and one was 15 and one was 16. He had them for six and eight months. Then, he adopted a Great Dane” suffering from cancer, Whiteley said, and added “now, he is picking up another one of our hospice dogs that has cancer. He wants help with the special needs, the hospice dogs, to give them a final home.”
The generosity will allow the rescue to continue its work, Whiteley said, and added the rescue is named in honor of Hulk, “the dog that started it all. I was contacted about Hulk five years ago, and I was only supposed to foster him for another rescue. That rescue backed out, and at that time I had already fallen in love with him over the internet.”
Whiteley said it took her about seven days on the phone to track down a rescue willing to pull Hulk from a shelter in Ohio. She recalled the shelter was “a 90 percent kill shelter,” and would not release Hulk to her.
“I found a rescue in Oklahoma, Tornado Alley Bulldog Rescue, and they pulled him for me,” Whiteley said, Hulk “was my wakeup call, and I made a vow if he pulled through the first surgery he had, that I would do whatever it took to save more dogs like him.”
The organization worked with rescues across the nation until the end of 2019.
“We pulled from anywhere we felt there was a need. We didn’t pull a lot from the local places because we didn’t feel there was a need to do it.” Whiteley said she switched to a fully local rescue because she felt she could better “help my locals. In our county we’re blessed because we have a great animal control officer who will step in before dogs get into” bad conditions.
Adjacent localities, like Galax and Hillsville, still call on occasion when they are overwhelmed, Whiteley said.
The rescue includes five small and one large building, Whiteley said, adding that the rescue is designed so that “no animal is left outside without some type of shelter. Each building is set up like a home environment. There are TVs, recliners,” in the buildings and propane is used for heating. The mega building is where we house the aggressive dogs at night.”
A five – member board oversees the operation of the nonprofit rescue, Whiteley said, and added the board is helped by some Jr. Beta members, her son’s friends “who need hours for Jr. Beta, and some” volunteers from Floyd County.
Whiteley said her three sons also regularly help, which makes the project “a family thing. There are no family vacations. Somebody always has to stay behind.”
The organization generally receives an influx of animals starting in October.
“People surrender their older dogs because they’ve already got a new puppy or are planning to get a new one, and the current dog does not get along with other animals. So, they surrender their older dog,” she said.
The rescue also gets its share of Christmas kittens and puppies in February, and chickens a couple of weeks after Easter.
The owner-surrender rate of animals after the holidays is one reason the organization does not allow adoptions near Christmas. Whiteley said the organization stopped adoptions through Jan. 3 “because we don’t believe in giving live animals as gifts.”
Whiteley said the organization’s adoptions rates also have been affected by COVID-19.
Although “this year, we paid to have 51 dogs” and 36 cats from Patrick County spayed/neutered, the vets are busy, and we’re backlogged to March” on the program.
Livestock and poultry do not require a similar procedure before adoption, she said, but adoptions of other animals are not permitted until an animal is spayed/neutered.
In the interim, the group places animals in foster-to-adopt homes, Whiteley said, and explained “they foster them, and once the animal is fixed, they can adopt them.”
Whiteley said the adoption process involves completing an application and a background check. “We look at your social media pages, contact your landlord,” and scout to see if any of members of the organization have mutual friends on social media. If so, “we go and ask them questions.
“We don’t let people say they want this puppy, we match the animals to a family, and 99 percent of the time we do great. We have a less than one percent turn around rate for the dogs being returned,” she said, adding this is in part because the rescue lets the dogs chose their families.
Whiteley said potential adopters are required to visit the rescue and meet the animals before adopting.
“They meet the animal and then they go back home empty handed. Then we discuss it, and if need be, we’ll deliver the animal. We want potential adopters to see the dog in their area and get to know animal’s personality,” she added.
She noted the rescue doesn’t split up families, “whether it’s through adoption or from a shelter. If they come to us together and they’re bonded, then we keep them together.”
Similarly, “we don’t leave a father behind at the shelter. If they come from a property together, we pull all or we pull none,” she said.
Whiteley explained the organization she founded takes in dogs that are deemed “unadoptable. It’s not based on any happy, healthy dog. We don’t take them. We only take the special cases and rescue the ones that” will take weeks or months” “to get even acclimated.”
Whiteley said many rescue organizations have dogs like Hulk put down. But she views it differently.
Rescue, to Whiteley, isn’t “about pulling the little cute foo-foo dogs that are easy to adopt. This is what rescue should be about, not the easy to adopt dogs, but the ones that need a little extra TLC.”
Since it began, Hulk’s has saved 2,138 animals. Whiteley said that total includes transports for other rescues which lack the resources to visit and transport the animals.
In addition to dogs, the group has accepted “chickens, dogs, cats, snakes, guinea pigs, cows, and sheep. Hulk’s will take in any animal, except for spiders,” she quipped.
Once, the group accepted an owner surrender of “eight fancy rats and 11 guinea pigs” from a Galax shelter, she said. “We pulled them all because they didn’t have anywhere to house them.”
The organization also does not accept dogs that are aggressive to children.
“We work with dog aggression and dogs that bite when they’re fearful, but I just don’t risk my kids with a child aggression dog,” Whiteley said.
In early December, Whiteley said the rescue is home to “28 adult dogs, nine cats, three guinea pigs, six rabbits, 19 ducks, one donkey, three cows, one alpaca, and one turkey, and too many chickens to count.”
The group also regularly provides fruit baskets, food, and snacks to local police departments, and donates to help families with Christmas. She said the rescue “is helping three families and a veteran with Christmas this year.”
Donations to the rescue can be made by accessing the Amazon wish list on their website, https://www.hulkshelpinghandrescue.com, or their Facebook page, Hulks Helping Hand Rescue 501c3. “Monetary donations can be sent via PayPal to hulkshelpinghandsrescue@yahoo.com,”, or by mail to Hulk’s Helping Hand Rescue, P.O. Box 796, Meadows of Dan, VA 24120.
