Best Friends Animal Society helps save pets displaced by Texas flooding

Providing shelter space for pets left homeless by flooding in the Texas hill country earlier this month:

That was the job of Best Friends Pets Animal Society, which has a local branch in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Sophia Proler is Director for the South Central Region of Best Friends.

She says the immediate problem was that local shelters faced the very real prospect of being overwhelmed with pets displaced from their homes by the disaster.

Also, some of the shelters in the region had been flooded.

“We needed to move these pets to safety, so that the urgent pets out in this disaster can be brought into the shelter and hopefully be reunited with families,” Proler explains.

She says as soon as news of the disaster began to spread, Best Friends contacted Wings of Rescue and Austin Pets Alive!  That led to pets being taken out of the hill country by air.

On Wednesday of this week, the animals were loaded into a twin-engine turboprop plane.

“That flight that left had 127 dogs and cats on it that were able to be flown out of those disaster zones and into rescue organizations —  or go straight into foster families,” Proler states.

The pets first landed  in Ft. Worth, Texas  where 59 were dropped off.

The remainder were flown on to the Best Friends Animal Society’s Sanctuary in Kanab, Utah.

Wings of Rescue regularly responds to disasters and overcrowded shelter conditions throughout North America.  All Wings of Rescue planes are pressurized, temperature-controlled aircraft and all pets are medically cleared for travel and several safeguards are built in to avoid ever transporting a pet that is simply lost.

Since the flooding began, Austin Pets Alive! also has taken a lead role in animal rescue efforts, providing boots-on-the-ground assistance to Kerrville Pets Alive! and impacted surrounding communities.

Their work has included search and rescue operations, veterinary care and vaccinations, transportation of pets to APA!’s Austin location, and distribution of food, supplies, and other critical resources.

So far, the Austin community has helped place over 300 dogs and cats from Kerrville and other affected Central Texas shelters into foster homes.

Best Friends Animal Society is providing funding and supplies for shelters and rescues directly impacted by the flooding and to those helping with search and rescue in the Central Texas area.

To donate, visit bestfriends.org/TexasFloods or view Amazon Wishlist to purchase items most needed to aid the pets impacted by the floods.

“We would love support from all across the country,” Proler says.