Experts and animal enthusiasts speculate the reason that Wisconsin has a surplus of rescues is because - generally speaking - attitudes towards pets are different here. But there are other reasons, too.
From the Article:
Anyone familiar with the local dog community knows there is an abundance of pups in Wisconsin who were rescued from southern states like Texas, Florida, Tennessee and Alabama – just to name a few. This leads to the question: Why are so many dogs rescued in one state, but then transported to Wisconsin for adoption?
Experts and animal enthusiasts speculate some of the reasons why Wisconsin is home to a surplus of rescues is because, generally speaking, attitudes towards pets are different here. In Midwest culture, dogs are more often than not viewed and treated as family members. Of course, there are many loving and responsible dog owners in the South, but there are many who are not.
Glenna Tucker operates Sweetpups, a rescue and sanctuary in Winnie, Texas, and she has taken in thousands of ailing and abandoned dogs over the past decade. She then nurses them back to health and then transports the pups to rescues in Wisconsin.
"The situation is bad here – you’d probably think I was making these stories up, but I’m not. It’s common here for people to throw a litter of puppies into a garbage can like they’re disposable diapers," says Tucker. "We get emails every day. Yesterday we found out about 20 dogs living about five miles from here whose owner has been gone for more than two months and a neighbor finally contacted us. Some of the dogs died, and the others are emaciated."
Tucker says Texas animal advocates rely on Wisconsin for our animal compassion and low euthanasia rates.
"We have euthanasia rates of 80 to 85 percent here. Wisconsin is filled with people who want to help because they know what’s going on in Texas where dogs are looked at like property not pets," says Tucker.
I think it’s because in some places they put the animals to sleep, other places don’t so they send the animals to other places so they don’t have to put them to sleep hoping they will be adopted
@steinbring both of my wonderful pups are from the south: Tennessee and Alabama respectively.
Both were grossly mistreated, with one being denied veterinary care after having one of his hind legs crushed. It healed some, but it points the wrong direction now. 🥺
My Cito (the black lab in the front) came up from Kentucky. I was told at the time that the Wisconsin Humane Society gets a lot of dogs from the South because Wisconsinites adopt and Southerners just don't.