Animal Shelters Team Up In Rescue Efforts After Hurricane Harvey
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A dog up for adoption through Hunter’s Dog Rescue in Seguin, Texas. Photo Courtesy of Hunter’s Dog Rescue, Inc.
By Janee Law
jlaw@longislandergroup.com
Local volunteers have embarked on a mission to bring Texas shelter dogs to Huntington so shelters in storm-damaged areas can free up space for pets displaced by Hurricane Harvey.
Little Shelter Animal Rescue and Adoption Center and the Town of Huntington Animal Shelter have teamed up to lead the effort, which sent two volunteers down to Texas Wednesday afternoon, said David Ceely, executive director of the Huntington-based Little Shelter.
“This is what we do. We want to make sure that animals aren’t dying or getting put to sleep unnecessarily,” Ceely said. “We really want to make sure that the animals who got lost in the storm, and probably suffered enough, don’t have to suffer anymore and can reunite with their owners.”
Little Shelter originally teamed up with Rockwall Pets, a nonprofit animal rescue in Rockwall, Texas — a half hour outside Dallas — to have dogs and cats brought to Huntington. However, the animals didn’t have health certificates, meaning they couldn’t leave the state legally or go to another nonprofit, so the plans were delayed, Ceely said.
Instead, Ceely said he reestablished another connection with Hunter’s Dog Rescue in Seguin, Texas, a smaller rescue organization around 150 miles west of Houston. The plan is to have the volunteers bring back at least six shelter dogs that were up for adoption.
The purpose is to make room in the shelters for animals that have been separated from their owners during the storm, Ceely said, adding that the idea was adopted after Hurricane Katrina when animals were rescued, taken away from their homes and back to other shelters, and then adopted out to new owners.
“That’s not what we want to do,” Ceely said. “We want to make sure we’re helping the shelters down there so that they could do the right thing and give those owners the opportunity to find their pets.”
He added that Hunter’s Dog Rescue just doesn’t “have the means or the connections to arrange a transport. It’s important for us to help and we have the ability to make the trip down there, so if that’s what we have to do, we’re more than happy to do it.”
Ceely also hopes to send volunteers on three more trips to help rescue a total of 50 dogs and cats. Little Shelter can house between 50-70 dogs and 300 cats at any given time, and have prepared 10 dog runs for Texas dogs, according to Ceely.
Once the dogs are brought up to Little Shelter, which will be at the end of this week, they will be quarantined for a two-week period to make sure they’re medically and behaviorally stable, Ceely said. They’ll be spayed, neutered, vaccinated, and microchipped, he added.
“We’ll know more about them after that two week period and get them the perfect home,” Ceely said.
The Town of Huntington Animal Shelter will also be taking in three dogs from the rescue.
“You don’t see that happen, where a municipal shelter helps with rescue efforts down there so it’s a big deal that they want to help out with that,” Ceely said. “We’re proud to work with them.”
