Hurricane Harvey has left all animal lovers concerned for the pets lost in the flood waters. Even before landfall, humane organizations in Texas and around the country had started coordinating a series of transports that would move out unowned animals waiting for adoption in Houston-area shelters to make room for the expected thousands of pets that would need rescue from the hurricane.
I reached out to friends in organizations across the country to ask how animal rescues plan for such a natural disaster and what lessons have been learned from the past.
Nikki Moustaki (Twitter @nikkimoustaki) is a freelance writer and editor who lives in Miami, Florida:
In August, 1992, we lost our entire home and every single thing that we owned to Hurricane Andrew. I came out of that storm with the clothes and shoes I was wearing and a radio. That’s it. We had, very unfortunately, left our three cats in the house, which suffered 7 feet of flooding inside. We eventually found the cats and they were OK. But, because we were displaced, I had to bring two of the cats to my friend’s garage, and one of them, a sweet Burmese named Gladys, got out. I called the Miami Herald to take out a lost pets ad, and they were going to charge me $30! After I explained the situation, they said they would not charge anyone else for a lost pet ad. I also put up posters. We were distraught. Finally, someone who took in my cat called me and we were able to get her back.
So I want the people of Houston to know—and mostly the rescuers—that displaced pets are not necessarily unloved just because people couldn’t evacuate with them or they got lost. Those pets should not be rehomed right away. All efforts to find their previous owners should be made. And those pets should not be euthanized, for goodness sakes! I wish that people would reach out to foster these pets until their owners can be found. I will foster when I get back to the States if I am needed.
People remember how many pets were separated from their owners in previous disasters and many, like Nikki Moustaki, are hoping that the animal outcome of Hurricane Harvey is better for all concerned.
People like Donna Breidenbach, who lives in Spokane, Washington, have been working to make the response to disasters involving animals the best it can possibly be:
My name is Donna Breidenbach. I am the current president of the Humane Evacuation Animal Rescue Team (HEART). We are an all-volunteer nonprofit group that became active after Hurricane Katrina. We are a Spokane County Animal Rescue Team (CART) and respond when properly invited within the Incident Command System by SCRAPS (Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service) locally—as well as by the American Humane and ASPCA national organizations under mutual-aid agreements already in place—to care for animals in a time of disaster, whether man-made or natural.
We never again wanted to stand by helplessly watching news footage showing animals being left behind, separated from their owners in a time of crisis. We have spent innumerable hours over the past 10 years training and responding to other smaller “disasters” to have the experience and expertise to ensure that animals get proper care in any disaster, but certainly in catastrophic disasters. Not only are we helping the animals, but we are also helping their owners by providing proper care for their pets and farm animals until they can be reunited with them when it is safe to do so. You can learn more about our organization by visiting our website: https://www.heartofspokane.org/
I do not have inside information about how the transport of animals is currently being done from the Texas area, but I can tell you how it has worked in the past. Shelters with animals in their care awaiting adoption call similar organizations around the country that are not affected by the disaster to ask if they can take these animals. This opens kennel space so local owners’ animals can be housed and cared for as close as possible to their people. Other shelters with space respond, and arrangements are made to move the adoptable animals.
That is done in different ways, depending upon the number of animals involved. Some possible ways are by personal vehicles, organization vehicles, or planes. Commercial carriers such as UPS oftentimes offer their planes to transport animals longer distances. There are also businesses—such as Microsoft in our area—that sponsor an employee with a private plane to retrieve and transport some of these animals. This is always done with careful attention to paperwork so medical history and as much behavioral information as possible follow the animals to ensure the best outcome for them . . . which of course is to be adopted into a new “forever home.”
Jody Epstein, MS, CPDT-KA, is the Behavior & Training Manager of the Santa Maria Valley Humane Society in Santa Maria, California (a community at the north end of Santa Barbara County):
The Denver, Colorado, Dumb Friends League coordinated with the Houston ASPCA in Texas to reach out to my executive director, Sean Hawkins. Mr. Hawkins then coordinated with the Santa Barbara Humane Society, Woods Humane Society, and Animal Shelter Assistance Program (ASAP)—all rescues in the Central California coastal area. We arranged for our four shelters to accept 200 animals among us (dogs and cats).
The animals we are receiving were already available for adoption and housed either in shelters or in foster homes in and around Houston. The purpose of relocating these adoptable animals is to make room in Houston’s shelters and foster homes to house owned pets who either become separated/lost from their people during the storm, or who simply cannot stay with their people because of pet restrictions at shelters set up for the environmental refugees.
Our plan is to find excellent homes for all the animals that come through our doors. Our first arrivals included eight dogs (including two sets of bonded pairs) that happened to be in foster care just prior to the hurricane. A wonderful Santa Barbara resident, who owns his own jet, was in Texas and agreed to transport the eight dogs on his jet upon his return to Santa Barbara. A care team member and I drove our shelter’s van down to the Santa Barbara airport to meet the plane on the tarmac and transfer the pups from the plane to our van for the final leg of the journey back to our shelter.
We rearranged our resident dogs to clear out our largest building (26 kennels) so we could take in at least 26 dogs and house them separately from the rest of the population while we ensure they are healthy. (Unfortunately, heartworm is prevalent in Texas, and a few of these new arrivals are in various stages of treatment for heartworm.)
The Santa Maria Valley Humane Society is a nonprofit shelter that opened in 1982. We network with other shelters across the state of California to take dogs and cats who have trouble finding homes in other shelters. We also are a selective-intake facility for local residents who cannot keep their pets for a variety of reasons.
My knee-jerk reaction when I learned we were going to be helping was two-fold. I thought it was wonderful that we are in a position to help during the crisis and ease the burden on Texas shelters. And, if I’m being honest, I was a little overwhelmed that we might double our resident dogs in just one or two days! But we have the space and the capacity to do this, and we shouldn’t do anything less.
We are also prepared to take as many as 20 to 25 cats from Texas, though we only received dogs in this first round. We are expecting to receive another 160 animals combined (for all four shelters we are working with here in California) by September 15.
Our first group of dogs arrived yesterday and are settling in well. They are lively and friendly and eager to engage with us. I expect that once our vet clears them medically and we make them available for adoption, they will be snatched right up. We actually had three separate families visit with them at their kennels today and one family has already asked how they can ensure they adopt a specific dog from the Houston group.
Pia Hallenberg, Development Director for the Spokane Humane Society, a privately funded animal shelter in Spokane, Washington, reported back after a hot day welcoming new arrivals to our area—animals that had also been in Houston shelters before the hurricane hit:
Spokane Humane Society was founded in 1897. It’s the oldest animal protection facility in Spokane and one of the oldest nonprofit organizations in Washington State. Funded by private donations, we receive no government funding.
Today, we received about 40 dogs from Pets Alive San Antonio! These are dogs that were in Texas shelters before Harvey hit. Their owners could not be found in Texas and they have been shipped out of state to make room in shelters for storm survivors.
The dogs are settling in fine. All were of course happy to get out of their crates and into the kennels here. We had water and food, a treat, and a bed ready for everyone. There was one litter of large puppies and we kept those three together.
People have been calling all morning asking to adopt, so I think it will go well.
I want to thank all our volunteers who came out here on a hot Saturday to help unload and get everyone settled. Our volunteers also filled the trailer from Texas with donations of dog food, kennels, dog beds, cleaners, and every other supply known to man that had been dropped off here at the Humane Society for the dogs in Texas.
Please encourage readers to follow us on Facebook and to visit our website at www.spokanehumanesociety.org. We always welcome donations of pet supplies, time, and of course cash.
What’s it like on the other end of animal transport, in Texas?
My name is Matt Montes. I’m the Executive Director of Mission: Miracle K9 Rescue, Inc. (MMK9). We are a welfare-first animal rescue that is foster-based in the San Antonio area. We were formed by a group of behavior consultants and trainers with the intention of filling the void for training in the rescue community. We provide training and behavior support to local rescues, consult with and train shelters and their staff, and provide free or low-cost training to the community.
I began transport operations ahead of the hurricane with the first load of 26+ dogs being picked up out of Houston and taken to Austin Pets Alive! (APA!) on Friday, August 25. APA! had put out the call on Thursday, August 24, saying it would be assisting with clearing space in local shelters so those facilities could take in displaced animals. We had the equipment and the training, so I immediately offered our support.
I am a behavior consultant with LOMA Behavior and Training in San Antonio now, but I’m a trained paramedic with an emergency management background, I’ve held certifications in swift water rescue and mountain rescue, and I have some FEMA training. I’ve not experienced a disaster of this magnitude, but I couldn’t sit by on the sidelines. Honestly, I didn’t have any hopes or fears. I had a job to do.
Our organization transported before and during the storms. We were the advance party that set up the Animal Emergency Operations Center.
Today, the animals are vetted, cared for, and either in foster homes or emergency shelters, depending on whether they need stray-hold [a waiting period allowing owners to locate them].
We know they will be well cared for and find good homes. APA! is one of the best shelter/rescues in the country and they are working closely with Best Friends Animal Society as well as the City of Austin and City of Houston.
How’s it going so far? Ordered chaos. Incredibly well, considering the intense need, number of moving parts, and the fact that something like this has never been attempted at this level. Exhausting, yet so incredibly uplifting. The overwhelming response and support from the international community has been truly humbling.
What is the plan for the animals? All animals that were displaced and cleared stray-hold in shelters, etc., prior to the disaster were placed in fosters or at APA! for adoption. Every animal that may potentially have an owner or was otherwise displaced by the storm is being held for up to six months for owners to find them. Systems will be put in place to allow owners to search, and information on that system will be announced on austinpetsalive.org when it becomes available.
How can you help? Contact your local animal shelter—even if they don’t have Texas pets for adoption. Shelters always need pet food, toys, cleaning supplies, old towels; shelters also always need volunteers. Have you been planning to adopt a pet? Visit shelters that have taken on the Texas transports, like two of our shelters here in Spokane. Any animal you adopt, whether from Texas or not, means more room for the transports. Want to donate money? It’s always welcome, of course. Decide which organizations have done the job you would want them to do and support them now. There are always scams after natural disasters, so be wary: do the research before you donate!
