Once again, members of our Animal Rescue Team are taking action on the ground in the wake of disaster in a particularly brutal storm season. It never ceases to amaze me how quickly this team moves and how many places they go, including areas where there are so few resources. They endure considerable hardship, sometimes even having to camp out or sleep in their cars, eating and resting when they can, all to respond to the dire needs of people and communities who have often suffered unfathomable losses.
Over the past weeks, we’ve been responding in the U.S. and abroad. We’ve dispatched teams to communities in Florida and Tennessee hard-hit by the deadly category 4 Hurricane Helene. Creating pop-up veterinary clinics and setting up pet supply distribution drive-thru points, this team works all hours so that people can easily get the care they need for their animals while they are displaced from, or have lost, their homes. So far, we have four teams in four different counties in two different states—Cocke and Unicoi in Tennessee and Madison and Taylor in Florida. They are hard at work distributing thousands of pounds of pet food, as well as cat litter, pet bedding and other necessary supplies.
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We transported 39 dogs and three cats from the Smoky Mountain Humane Society, Cocke County Animal Control and Newport City to our care and rehabilitation center where they will soon be placed with our shelter and rescue partners. Helping to place shelter animals who were available for adoption before the storm helps shelters in local communities make space for displaced pets.
At least one shelter had to find new accommodations for all its animals. The Unicoi County Animal Shelter was devastated by flooding. All the animals there had to be evacuated, placed in foster homes and with the Sullivan County Animal Shelter. When we heard this, we sent a delivery of animal food to support efforts to care for these displaced shelter animals, and we now have a team on the ground assessing how we can best help this shelter recover while also supporting the many needs of the surrounding community. This kind of dexterous problem-solving is so important when so many structures of support for animals and people have broken down.
As always, with every deployment, I’m so proud of this team for their courage and skill in the face of this immensely challenging work. This deployment stands out as particularly powerful in part because it is happening even as we have teams involved in other animal rescue efforts all over the world at the same time:
- Our team is headed to Acapulco and Chilpancingo, Mexico, after Hurricane John. Acapulco was devastated last year by Hurricane Otis and is still recovering, while Hurricane John hit the state twice last week first as a Category 3 storm, then again as a Category 1, leading to worsening floods and landslides. We responded last year, and again we will be distributing pet food, providing veterinary care and assessing further needs in these battered communities.
- In West Bengal, India, our team is helping pastoralist communities after severe flooding. In the first two days, our team distributed 10,000 kilograms of feed and supplements to support more than 2,000 cows; such support is lifesaving for these animals, as there is otherwise nothing for them to eat. To prevent common disease outbreaks following floods, our team is also providing veterinary medicines and supplements to local veterinarians so that animal health is a priority in this massive response.
- Floods and landslides are devastating Nepal, and we are in contact with communities there, ready to send help if needed.
- Record-breaking, deadly flooding in eastern and central Europe has spurred us into action, as well; we are preparing to support these communities with resources to meet the needs of their long-term recovery.
- In the aftermath of a recent typhoon in Viet Nam that devasted northern parts of the country with wind damage and flooding, we supported the national disaster response partnership there with community assessments and supported animal rescue efforts with supplies, pet food and veterinary medicines.
- In Ecuador, which is experiencing never-before-seen drought conditions, we are supporting relief efforts to help indigenous communities and their animals.
Colin Hackley/AP Images for the HSUS
The spirit of response work like this is profound: It recognizes that one way of helping people in their time of need is assisting them in caring for the animals they love and maintaining some sense of normalcy in their families and their lives. Time and again in crisis situations, we see that the well-being of people is closely tied to the well-being of their animals. And it is immensely gratifying to see the palpable relief of families with pets, locally or regionally based animal shelter and rescue organization personnel, and others for whom life would be poorer were it not for the animals they know and have committed to protect and support.
We are grateful to all those who are working alongside our teams. In destruction so far-reaching, so many people working on the front lines from local agencies are also working to keep their own homes and families safe as they recover. Healing from this disaster may take a long time. We plan to continue to field requests for supplies and animal needs with local emergency management and animal services agencies in North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia.
Hurricane Helene and the many other severe natural hazards to which our teams are currently responding are reminders that preparedness can be so important in curbing hardship. With Helene, we saw unprecedented damage to regions not typically at-risk for such storms. Learn how to create a pet disaster preparedness kit here.
Donate to our Emergency Animal Relief Fund to support all our rescue and relief efforts and ensure that we are able to respond in times of emergency wherever, whenever, and however animals need us.
Follow Kitty Block @HSUSKittyBlock.
