VIDEO: Dog Found Covered in Tar, Unable to Move

A dog was found covered in tar, unable to move. He was stuck to the ground when rescuers found him.

He had fallen into a pool of hot tar that smothered his body and became rock-solid.

A passerby saw him struggling and called a help-line.

After three hours of massaging vegetable oil into the thick layer of tar, the dog was finally free!

Here are 15 facts about pet rescue and adoption, provided by logicalexpressions.com.

1. Animal rescue groups offer an alternative way for people to adopt a homeless animal if they don’t want to go to an animal shelter or don’t have one in their community.

2. Rescue groups work with shelters and “pull” animals out of the animal shelter environment. Most rescues work with both no-kill and open admission shelters.

3. After the rescue group has taken an animal out of a shelter, they work with a network of “foster” families who care for the animal in their homes until the pet is adopted.

4. Rescue animals in foster care enjoy a more home-like environment, more time to find a new home, veterinary care, and often behavior modification or training.

5. Rescue groups often focus on one breed or type of animal. Rescues exist for virtually every breed of purebred dog, cats, rats, ferrets, horses, rabbits and more.

6. Many rescues post their pets on Petfinder.com or other online pet adoption Web sites.

7. According to the Humane Society of the United States, up to 25% of dogs entering shelters are purebreds. Animal shelters working with purebred dog rescues often direct prospective adopters to rescue if they want a specific breed.

8. Most rescues are 501c3 nonprofit organizations, and many are small grass-roots organizations with only a few volunteers.

9. Many rescues are started because of love for a type of animal. Some are associated with breed clubs.

10. Rescues may require a “home-check” and ask a lot of questions about the ability of people to care for the pet for its entire life.

11. Some rescues have been criticized for adoption policies so strict that almost no one can qualify. (Prospective adopters have been quoted as saying it’s easier to adopt a human baby than it is to adopt a dog.)

12. Some pet rescue groups will adopt animals long-distance and some can help with transport to the new home. They may ask for photographs or videos of the new home in lieu of an in-person home visit.

13. Many rescues operate as more of a hobby and the founders have little business knowledge. They fail to market and promote animals effectively and although they have the best intentions, in the worst cases rescues can turn into hoarding situations or simply shut down.

14. Statistically, only about 20% of US pets are adopted from animal shelters and rescues. If more people adopted pets, animals stop dying in shelters. No-kill advocate Nathan Winograd claims that if only 3 percent more people adopted pets, all savable pets would have homes.

15. Rescues are in a unique position to help end the killing of homeless animals. When rescues pull an animal out of an animal shelter, it frees up space. The shelter then doesn’t have to euthanize a healthy animal for “space reasons.”