RESCUE RESPONSE WITH AN EXTRA BONUS—HOW BALTIMORE HELPED ANIMALS AFFECTED BY HURRICANE MATTHEW
Sanford. Shiloh. Rylan. These are names of dogs that have a new chance at life because of Hurricane Matthew. That’s confusing, right?
Let me explain.
We all know that natural disasters like hurricanes and flooding leave behind tragedy and hardship. One of the difficulties people face when displaced from their homes is being reunited afterward with family pets.
We also know that rescue organizations help bring those people and pets back together.
But you might not know that these efforts have an added bonus: helping animals that were already homeless before the disaster.
According to Kim Alboum, Director of the HSUS Emergency Placement Partner Program, during Hurricane Matthew’s flooding in North and South Carolina, rescue groups needed to get animals out of harm’s way and into area shelters where their owners could eventually find them.
But shelters in the area were already full of animals needing homes. There was not enough cage space to handle the crisis.
So, HSUS and other groups took animals out of those shelters to make room, and sent them to shelters elsewhere that had space.
The day before Hurricane Matthew hit, HSUS began moving 300 dogs and cats out of shelters in North and South Carolina.
Those animals went to HSUS shelter partners in Virginia, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, New York, and Maryland. Among the shelters receiving dogs in our state was the MD SPCA in Baltimore.
It was a win-win. Shelters in the Carolinas had room for pets belonging to those affected by the storm. And animals transported to other states had a new opportunity to find forever homes. It didn’t hurt that there was lots of media coverage of their arrival, which brought many adopters and fosters to claim them.
Of the seven dogs transported to the MD SPCA, three have been adopted. Four have medical needs and will be fostered while they’re in treatment.
Says Alboum, “I love the fact that HSUS is literally helping shelters to help other shelters.”
MD SPCA Community Affairs Director Katie Flory is thrilled to be part of this effort. “We can’t imagine what the communities in North and South Carolina have endured,” she says. “We’re happy that we can not only help the animals transported to our shelter, but also make it easier for owners to be reunited with their pets.”
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue is another group that helped clear shelters before the hurricane. It sent four dogs to the Baltimore Humane Society.
Check out this short video about these amazing efforts to bring displaced families and pets back together, and, in the process, offer a new life to homeless animals.
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