North Texas animal shelters are joining forces to save animals displaced from Georgia shelters that were impacted by Hurricane Helene.
SPCA of Texas, the Humane Society of North Texas, and Second Chance Farm Granbury have all rescued animals from Wings of Rescue, a Valdosta, Georgia-based animal transportation center that transports pets from disaster areas and overcrowded shelters.
Wings of Rescue took to Facebook on October 1 to plead for help, saying, “Hurricane Helene severely hit Valdosta Georgia and Wings of Rescue needs [your] help as we have been asked to fly dogs and cats who were in the city’s shelters prior to the storm to safety THIS AFTERNOON! This way Valdosta’s shelters can take care of all the pets displaced by Helene until their owners can come back to their homes.”
Just 12 hours later, Wings of Rescue reported that the Humane Society of North Texas took in 65 dogs and cats from animal shelters in Valdosta that were severely impacted by the storm.
Many of Valdosta’s shelters were already at capacity before the storm hit, leaving them unable to accept stray animals that had been separated from their families.
Second Chance Farm Granbury, an animal rescue and rehab center, also took in pets from Wings of Rescue. The nonprofit has urged people to adopt pets, as it anticipates receiving more animals after Hurricane Milton makes landfall this week.
“We have been asked to help with some Florida shelter dogs probably this Wednesday,” Second Chance Farm Granbury wrote. “Once again, these are dogs already in shelters but they need to move some out to, hopefully, reunite some animals after the bad hurricane that is fixing to hit. We need some good adoptions. If you were ever thinking of adopting a dog, now is the time!”
The Humane Society of North Texas will host an adoption event for the transported animals on October 18 in Grapevine from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. All adoptions during the event will be free.
Texan animal lovers have stepped up to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The Texas A&M Veterinary Emergency Team was deployed to North Carolina, and their search and rescue dog team was specifically trained for natural disasters, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Although Hurricane Helene’s impacts are still being measured, it already ranks among the top 10 deadliest storms in U.S. history and the deadliest storm in North Carolina history.
Hurricane Milton is forecasted to slam into Florida this week. While the storm’s strength is everchanging, forecasters predict the hurricane will land as a Category 4 storm, with winds up to 145 miles per hour and storm surges from 8 to 15 feet.