(WHAS11) — Stranded on the road and saved by local animal groups. 

Thirty-five dogs are safe Thursday after local volunteers jumped to their aid when things could have turned ugly.  It turns out these animals were rescued twice. 

A second chance at life came twice for these dogs and puppies.

“Them breaking down in the cold weather or the extremely hot weather is horrible but we always try to help people out,” said Trish Roehm with Southern Indiana Animal Rescue. Wednesday afternoon a group of volunteers from Tennessee was taking 35 dogs, some of whom were sick, to a shelter in suburban Chicago.  The dogs were heading to a no kill shelter to escape euthanasia.
 
“We got to the scene and it seemed as if there was an animal van that had broken down and they had 35 animals or so there,” said David Hall, with the Floyd County Animal Shelter. Hall and Roehm rushed to I-65 near Memphis, Ind. and helped to give the dogs food, comfort and shelter. 

Roehm offered her van and volunteers to the group and they drove the dogs the rest of the way to Illinois.  “We don’t even hesitate when it comes to driving where we need to drive when it comes to getting them out of harm’s way,” Roehm said.
 
“It’s neat for us to be able to come in and support other agencies.  We are not here to do the jobs by ourselves,” Hall said.
 
The dogs saved are known as transport dogs. Groups nationwide transport dogs to no kill shelters across the country. Hall says it’s an underground network of people working to save animals and what happened yesterday shows they will do anything to protect animal lives