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Mercy Full Project via Facebook <\/p>\n
TAMPA, Fla. – A Tampa Bay<\/a> rescue founder is pleading for fosters and volunteers after what she calls an “overwhelming” surge of owner surrenders, stray dogs<\/a> and urgent cases. The influx includes 10 puppies from an accidental litter\u00a0found living in a backyard kennel in Dover.<\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n Heydi Acuna, founder of Mercy Full Project, wrote in a Wednesday night Facebook post that her team has been “run down to the ground” for months and finally reached a breaking point. She said the rescue asked other organizations for help\u00a0and “the answer was mostly no,” prompting her to take the plea directly to the community.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s just sharing that we are going through a crisis\u2026 it\u2019s happening right here in Tampa Bay,” Acuna told FOX 13. “With the overwhelming amount of animals\u2026 my takeaway is that (we need people who) want to adopt, want to foster, want to donate, and truly support organizations like Mercy Full Project\u2026 We cannot fight this alone.”<\/p>\n 10 Puppies in Backyard Kennel <\/p>\n Acuna said the puppies had been surviving in a backyard kennel\u2014 “very dirty,” she told FOX 13 News\u2014 and her team bathed them after picking them up. She added the puppies\u2019 mother is underweight.<\/p>\n Mercy Full Project via Facebook <\/p>\n READ MORE: Bill addressing animal cruelty involving children, expanding on Dexter’s Law moves forward<\/a><\/p>\n “The people were feeding them,” she said, adding the family reached out for help because they couldn\u2019t afford veterinary care for the dogs. “They just did what they could\u2026 until they figured something out.”<\/p>\n Acuna said her rescue is already stretched thin, which is why she reached out to other organizations for assistance.<\/p>\n “I truly ask them, like, \u2018Can somebody help me because I\u2019m drowning?\u2019” she said. “And the response is always no.”<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n In her post and when speaking with FOX 13 News, Acuna emphasized her frustration wasn\u2019t an attempt at finger-pointing, but at increasing local support\u00a0and stopping the cycle of unwanted litters.<\/p>\n She said when she looks online, she often sees posts about puppies being transported to Florida from other states while dogs in the Tampa Bay area still need placements and resources.<\/p>\n Mercy Full Project via Facebook <\/p>\n “I\u2019m questioning why we\u2019re doing that instead of maybe helping them with resources,” Acuna said, adding she wants to see more partnerships that expand spay-and-neuter access,\u00a0vaccinations and basic veterinary services for families who can\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n Acuna also pointed to the ongoing impact of unplanned breeding, especially for dogs like pit bulls that often struggle to find homes.<\/p>\n Watch: Dog reunites with owner after surviving 43 days alone in Colorado<\/a><\/p>\n “With the pit bull, the problem is that they\u2019re roaming around the streets\u2026 and just reproducing,” she said. “We\u2019re not stopping the source of the problem, which is having them have unwanted litters.”<\/p>\n Dig deeper:<\/p>\n While the puppies sparked the latest urgent response, Acuna said her rescue is juggling multiple medical cases, including a dog named Beatrice, who she said was rescued from a backyard situation and is still recovering.<\/p>\n “She had a huge mass\u2026 her eye is sadly damaged,” Heydi said. “She\u2019s the one that I woke up thinking of\u2026 now it\u2019s her chance to just have a better life.”<\/p>\n Why you should care:<\/p>\n Acuna is urging people to foster, volunteer, adopt or donate, saying foster homes are the immediate need.<\/p>\n READ MORE: Pasco County fire inspector trains search and rescue dog to join ‘Task Force Four’<\/a><\/p>\n “It\u2019s super easy to connect,” she said. “You can go on our website<\/a>, submit applications to foster, volunteer, adopt.”<\/p>\n Mercy Full Project via Facebook <\/p>\n She added the rescue is moving quickly to place the puppies and said the group is hosting an open house\u00a0for potential fosters. As of the interview, she said they had received applications but no committed fosters yet\u00a0for the case.<\/p>\n “If you believe animals deserve better, please stand with us,” Acuna wrote in her post. “Because real change only happens when a community decides enough is enough.”<\/p>\n The Source: Information in this story comes from a FOX 13 interview with Mercy Full Project founder, Heydi Acuna, as well as details from Acuna’s Mercy Full Project Facebook post requesting community help.\u00a0<\/p>\n Hillsborough County<\/a>Pets and Animals<\/a>Tampa Bay<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"article Mercy Full Project via Facebook TAMPA, Fla. – A Tampa Bay rescue founder is pleading for fosters…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,629,115,8713,135,1526,137,136,628],"class_list":["post-180625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","tag-news","tag-pets-animals","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/mercyfull-pups.jpg\")
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