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Website helps to save dogs

NEW YORK: Sweet William, a young black Labrador retriever in Illinois, has two days to live.

Sandy, a golden female Jindo in New York, also has just two days left. Kate Hepburn, a tan female boxer in California, has 18 days to live.

These were some of the dogs in shelters across the United States slated for death — their fate posted on a website that aims to save their lives by offering them for adoption.

Each is tagged with a death date set by a shelter — and a countdown clock showing the days, or hours, until the animal is killed.

Dogsindanger.com works with more than 120 shelters nationwide that destroy dogs. How much time the dogs get before death varies from state to state. In New York City, a stray dog must be kept a minimum of three days, while a shelter has the legal right to immediately destroy an animal that is abandoned there by its owner.

About 4 million dogs are put to death each year in the U.S., by injection or gas.

In the three weeks since the site has been up, dozens of dogs have found new homes. Their photos are posted on a section of the site marked “Success Stories.” The images of dogs that did not make it adorn the site’s “In Memoriam” wall. — AP

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