Shelter pet van destroyed in crash; prayers asked for injured Pinckneyville driver

Animal rescues and humane societies throughout Illinois are urging prayers this week for a 68-year-old Pinckneyville man who was seriously injured returning from transporting animals to no-kill shelters in northern Illinois.

Every Tuesday for 10 years Dane Caupert has been carrying animals from high-kill shelters in southern and central Illinois to Joliet, where representatives of no-kill shelters throughout northern Illinois pick them up and find homes.

On April 14 Caupert was on the return leg of his trip in the animal transport van, when he was involved in a serious accident near Springfield that destroyed the van and left Caupert unconscious in a Springfield hospital, said Perry County Human Society volunteer Tammie Hoffard.

Details of the accident are unknown, she added.

Caupert is a much-loved member of the team at Perry County Humane Society and the accident has devastated his friends and co-workers there.

What makes it even tougher, Hoffard said, is that given the COVID-19 restrictions, his family can't visit him in the hospital.

Caupert was transporting anywhere from 70 to 110 animals on one trip - mostly dogs and cats but also the occasional snake and rabbit, Hoffard said. The loss of the van is severely limiting the number of animals that can be rescued. A fundraiser is ongoing to replace the van. You can contribute here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/animal-life-saving-transport-van-replacement?fbclid=IwAR0-yx9clBqiUY0ktozUo8os7vcboMft3gf6NlejWLHIzYdrttwYZJwO-Ng.

"I like to say there were 175,000 lifesaving miles on that van," Hoffard said. "It was only five years old and it was in wonderful shape."

She said because of Dane Caupert and other volunteers, so many animals get a chance at life up north that they couldn't have here, because there aren't enough adopters.

"It's a lot of work, but it's amazing," she said.

Perry County Humane Society handled the maintenance of the van but it transported animals from facilities in 20 different Illinois counties and cities, including Pinckneyville, Marion, Herrin and Chester; and Perry, Williamson, Saline, Randolph, Jefferson and Washington counties.

Donations will go directly to the purchase of a new van and expenses related to transports.