A “miracle rescue” is what Jane Ammon, Dothan animal activist, called the rescue of 25 dogs from the home of George McBride on Thursday.

“You won’t see anything like this happen often,” Ammon said. “Christina Tatum and Faithful Paws Mission and Jeanette Peterson’s Furever Friends Rescue (North Alabama) made it happen and it was a miracle.”

Ammon said for a large number of dogs to be “rescued” by one organization was highly unusual and not what she expected to happen when she arrived at the McBride home near Josie.

“George McBride reached out for help through his Internet posts and Faithful Paws Mission was able to provide a miracle rescue by taking all of animals,” Ammon said.

“For Christina to take all of them was quite a stretch, especially with that many dogs of mixed breed. When she said that she was prepared to take all of them, I was taken aback and I’ve been in this rescue business for 20 years.”

Ammon said “rescuing” such a large number of adult dogs and puppies wasn’t an easy task.

“The adult dogs were friendly and they were easily handled but we were like mud wrestlers crawling under the house and everywhere trying to roundup the puppies,” she said. “They were scared of us and we had a hard time getting them. It took almost three hours to get them all.”

Ammon said that the dogs that McBride “rescued” after they were “dumped” at his house over a period of time had been fairly well cared for.

“They were well fed and were as well kept as the average dog that lives outside,” she said. “It was not a bad situation. I’ve seen better and I’ve seen worse.

“The positive thing was that George had taken the dogs in and cared for them and he did so as long as he could. When he could no longer care for them, his Internet post was a desperate crying out of help. He didn’t want his animals euthanized.”

Ammon said often the best help for animals in peril comes from small, private shelters.

“The small shelters go out and do good work, like the work that was done by Faithful Paws Mission and Furever Friends on Thursday,” she said. “George McBride was lucky. People pulled together to make it happen for his animals. It was everyday people doing the right thing.”

Now, these animals need to be adopted into forever homes.

“As of right now, the ones up for adoption are one male black lab, two Shepard mixes, and, if all goes well the other three dogs from George’s house,” Tatum said. “All other dogs have been committed to a rescue.”

Those who would like to make a donation to Faithful Paws Mission in support its Josie (Banks) rescue efforts may do so at www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/the-banks-project/73060.

Faithful Paws Mission is dedicated to providing foster care placement and education resources in order to save dogs from shelters, abuse, neglect and death.