Dog rescuer raising money for new animal transport van

RICHMOND, VA (WWBT) - Over the past year-and-a-half, one Virginia woman has rescued nearly 2,000 dogs from kill shelters across the Commonwealth.

However, she's afraid she'll have to halt those efforts if she can't get the new vehicle she needs to transport the animals to loving homes.

It's a typical Saturday for Barbara Kuklock, wrangling a half dozen dogs and puppies and piling them into her canine caravan.

"Usually I'm 20-30 dogs deep at my house, "said Kuklock. "We have doggies that have been shot with bullets…that have had pitchforks in them, that have had their teeth knocked out with shovels."

The dogs come from kill shelters across Virginia, which Kuklock says makes no effort to find new homes for the animals. Kuklock takes them in herself, gets them checked out by a vet, and ready for adoption.

"They are full of love and they just need someone to love them and care for them," said Kuklock.

Two to three times each week, she drives across the Commonwealth, connecting the canines to her network rescuers and foster homes.

Recently, the van Kuklock uses to safely transport the dogs broke down on Interstate 64. Now, she's relying on the kindness of friends, like Linda Hochstein, to help her.

Hochstein fears what will happen if Kuklock can't continue saving the dogs from the kill shelters, so she's helping raise money to get Kuklock a brand new van.

"The animals will die," said Hochstein. "If she does not have something to transport, these animals are going to die."

"There is someone out there for each and every one of these doggies," said Kuklock. "Everyone one of them deserves a chance of life."

• Click here to visit the gofundme page set up for Kuklock

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