BRIGHTON, Colo. — Four local puppies will make their television debut next month when they take to the field for Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl XVIII.
The adorable pups came from Lifeline Puppy Rescue in Brighton, which made the 2,000-mile journey from Colorado to New York for the filming. They were among 118 rescue puppies from 67 shelters nationwide who joined Teams Ruff and Fluff in the annual event airing Feb. 13 – Super Bowl Sunday.
Casey Hampf, fundraising director for Lifeline Puppy Rescue, said the organization was grateful to the Puppy Bowl for raising awareness after a year of hardships with overcrowding.
"Shelters across the nation experienced low adoptions like they hadn't seen in years," Hampf said. "We rescue from high-kill and overpopulated shelters that were bursting at the seams, so we had to work really hard to find fosters and accommodations to rescue these puppies and mom dogs and prevent them from being euthanized where they were at."
She said when the rescue didn't have space, they sent food, vaccines and supplies to shelters to help them keep puppies longer until they could rescue them.
"We don't know what this coming year will look like," she said. "We are thankful to have gone to the Puppy Bowl, where hopefully we can raise more awareness of our rescue, expand our community and help equip us for whatever this year brings."
The Lifeline Rescue puppies are:
Kali, Team Fluff
Siberian husky/German Shepherd mix
Storm, Team Fluff
Border collie/dachshund mix
Storm and fellow competitor Raven are siblings who were born at their foster home soon after their mother was rescued from a kill shelter in June, Hampf said.
Raven, Team Ruff
Border collie/dachshund mix
Raven will have a friendly family rivalry with sibling Storm, who's on Team Fluff.
Marlo, Team Ruff
Siberian husky/German shepherd mix.
Lifeline Puppy Rescue has rescued more than 44,000 puppies and mother dogs from high-kill and overpopulated shelters in the Rocky Mountain region since 1993.
You can also support the rescue by purchasing one of their Puppy Bowl T-shirts featuring the four pups. The fundraiser ends on Jan. 26.
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