The picture shows 40 cats and dogs in crates who were being taken north to Washington from South Carolina in order to avoid Hurricane Florence.
They had a rough trip north because the van broke down after about 90 minutes into their journey. Then Facebook came to the rescue. The team transporting the dogs, Lucky Dog Animal Rescue based in Arlington asked for help on Facebook last Wednesday afternoon.
The response was impressive. About 50 volunteers from Looney’s K9 Rescue Transport, in Lexington, South Carolina arrived at a gas station along Interstate 95 near Fayetteville North Carolina. They unloaded the cats and dogs from the stranded vehicle and got them into air-conditioned cars while they waited for a new van.
It’s a great team effort because many volunteers also brought water. All the animals were safely rescued and made it to foster homes in the D.C. area. The Washington Posts says that this Sunday at PetSmart some of the rescue cats and dogs will be available for adoption.
In the meantime the van has been repaired by a good Samaritan who paid to replace the van’s alternator. This allowed it to be driven back to South Carolina. The Washington Post says that 55 people were involved in this rescue. What an amazing team effort. Cat and dog rescue brings out the best in people.
Path of hurricane
The part of Hurricane Florence follows a route from Charleston to Pittsburgh to Yarmouth. Is predicted to get to Yarmouth at 2 AM on Wednesday. It hit land at Charleston at 8 AM on Saturday.
What happened to the animals’ owners?
What I wonder about is whether the cats and dogs that we see in the carriers in the photograph have owners. The report says that they are going to be adopted which implies that if they do have owners these people will lose their cats and dogs. I find that surprising.
Proactive
Alley Cat Allies provided excellent advice before the hurricane struck stating that wherever possible cat owners should take their cats with them. That sound like common sense but I recall that in past natural disasters a good number of cat owners did not take their cats with them. Becoming separated it is quite difficult to reunite them. This is why it is also helpful to keep a good record of your cat or dog i.e. in the form of photographs so that it is easier to reunite owner with animal when the disaster subsides.
