Anna Struhs

Story by Jeremiah Kalb On a chilly evening in March, Anna Struhs loaded a bag of slip leashes and dog collars into her Honda Pilot in preparation for a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Utah. The following day, two furry animals named Misty and Queenie waited at the I-15 Exit 344 in Ogden for the next three legs of their “freedom ride,” and Struhs was their driver. In the “rescue world” where Struhs has played a part since 2019, a “freedom ride” is a magical carpet ride out of an animal shelter and eventually into the loving arms of a new owner. “They are there because some human failed them miserably, by surrendering or abandoning or dumping them,” Struhs says. Approximately 3.1 million dogs enter U.S. animal shelters nationwide every year. About 390,000 of those dogs are euthanized each year. For this transport, Struhs received a text asking her if there was...