Originally Published: 20 FEB 23 12:25 ET

By Corderro McMurry

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (KRIS) -- An animal shelter in Alice is trying to get dogs out of the Coastal Bend to give them forever homes out of state.

Sam Mullin is the founder of Shelteramutt and said even though they are in Alice; they help animals from shelters all over the Coastal Bend.

“We have had busses where we have gone and taken the entire shelter. All the dogs, we take them right to our shelter to get them processed, serviced, spayed, and neutered. And then we send them to rescue partners,” Mullin said.

Mullin said he is trying to secure a new, used bus for the animal shelter that would be able to transport more dogs and help get them to a safer place out of Texas.

The van they have right now, he said, they’re able to drive about 40-45 dogs at a time, depending on their size, every two weeks.

That’s about 90 dogs a month or 1,080 dogs a year being treated throughout the Coastal Bend.

But, he said, with this bus, they can double the number of animals they are able to help.

“It’s probably got a value of $43,000. They’re asking 15; we are asking 20, so we can make sure the tires and everything are ready to go so we can put it right on the road,” he said.

Mullin told us this bus comes equipped with three A/C’s, a ramp, and more space for them to be to continue their mission. But the hardest thing about having these buses for animal shelters is maintenance.

“There is never any money to pay the people, and just to keep them up and running is an ordeal. We’ve always got something going on,” Mullin said.

Mullin said he is looking to sell the current buses and put those money towards a new one.

“It’s been checked out; it seems like it’ll be more durable than a gasoline engine in the long run,” he said.