EDITION OF TUESDAY, OCT. 2, 2024 [PetPowellPress] It is no surprise that hurricane victims find their ways to North Texas — they’ll can count on help from kind souls and big hearts.
Many of you will remember August 2005 when Katrina hit New Orleans and brought people and animals to the Dallas/Fort Worth area in search of new homes, jobs and lives.
Those people and the animals probably took the highway to Texas. This time the path to Texas was on a flight-plan from Valdosta, Ga.
We got the info on this teamwork-of-hearts from Becky Adamietz-Deo, the Manager of Public Relations at the SPCA of Texas. Hurricane Helene really tortured Valdosta, Ga. [This cat and the dog below are two of the new arrivals.]
Becky’s note read, “The City of Valdosta, Georgia was devastated by Hurricane Helene last Friday night.
“In a plea for help, the Humane Society of Valdosta/Lowndes County reached out to Wings of Rescue and within 24 hours, Wings of Rescue had contacted the Humane Society of North Texas, SPCA of Texas and Second Chance Farm, all of whom agreed to help.”
And, on Oct. 1, Becky reported, “Wings of Rescue flew 62 pets to Fort Worth Meacham Int’l Airport where the pets were received by the 3 animal welfare agencies and taken into their care.”
And there’s this from the SPCA news release: “All these animals will be cared for in temporary holding until they are evaluated by clinical staff members and treated, if necessary, for any underlying conditions or maladies. Once healthy, the pets will be placed in temporary housing in the shelters and will be looking for loving, forever homes.”
The announcement also read, “It is the mission of the Humane Society of North Texas, the SPCA of Texas and Second Chance Farm to care for vulnerable animals in need and to help them find forever homes. When contacted by Wings of Rescue, all three organizations immediately said, “Yes” to helping the HSVLC and their beautiful pets.”
[LARRY ASIDE: These organizations will, no doubt, appreciate donations to help with these new arrivals. You can google them to keep up with the Valdosta Animal they’re helping — that’ll be key to finding new homes for the storm victims. Bless their humans “back home” and the people who worked to save the animals.]
CONTEMPLATIONS
THE CHALLENGES
OF AN OKLAHOMA RESCUE
Our longtime tipster from Burns Fla., Okla., the determined and tough Terry Lynn Fisher, has written a story of rescue that qualifies as a "Contemplation." Her email is [email protected]. And when Terry Lynn writes a tale of rescue, you can see the strong heart that’s been powering her efforts for years.
Here’s the story by Terry Lynn who has been helping animals for years in and around the far western town of Burns Flat.
“This week has been a hard one. I can say with all honestly I’m exhausted.
“Monday morning, I was called to go to a town about 50 miles south of me. A guy went to jail for animal cruelty and they thought there were nine dogs there.
“I gathered some food and some jugs of water because, they said, all utilities were turned off.
"When I got down there, my heart broke. There was a mama pit with three puppies that are approximately four months old. There were what I thought was four medium-sized dogs —turned out to be five of them, pretty sure they’re all either siblings or related in someway.
“When the police officers opened the door to the house, five little bitty tiny puppies came running out.
One of them was so weak. She was wobbling and couldn’t even stand up very long. She was the only one that didn’t eat.
“I had nowhere to put them. I ended up taking the runt home with me.
“She did not do well through the night. We got some formula in her, and we kept her on a heating pad because her body temperature was so low. These puppies were covered in fleas. I don’t mean a few fleas here and there; I mean they were infested so bad that there wasn’t a part of their body, not covered, The gums were all white, so I knew they were probably anemic from these fleas.
“The next morning, we plan to go down and get the rest of the puppies from the tiny litter and get them to the vet. We took the runt with us We were worried about leaving her alone. Sadly, she passed away before we even got all the way out of town.
“When I got down [to the rescue site], the mama Pit and her three babies were gone.
“I had met the chief of police that day, and he said yeah, somebody had taken her off her chain, and she took off, and her puppies were following her. They went looking and found them and brought them back. I left a lot of food, along with several jugs of water pouring into big bowls.
“We headed straight to the vet, which was another 35 miles and in the opposite direction … The tech there said that the dog tested positive for Parvo. I asked them what kind of treatment they did and they informed me they don’t treat Pavo.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve never never seen a vet say something like that, so I walked outside to call a vet I have used on an emergency case a couple of times, and he said ‘Yes’ bring them immediately.
“We headed over there and dropped the puppies off. They retested all four of them, and all came back negative. We decided to leave them overnight so they can give them fluids and bathe them and get the flees off of them.
“I went today [Tuesday] to pick them up, and it’s like four different puppies. Rambunctious, Hungry, eating and playing, pottied, just full of love and tail wags.
“Those four tiny ones — remember, most of them are under 2 pounds — , are now at my sister’s being fostered.
“But I still have nine dogs at that house.
“I drive the hour there and the hour back twice a day to feed in water them. I’m doing the best I can, and I’ve got to find boarding to put them in, but for now I’m taking care of them while they’re there.
“When I went and picked the puppies up [at the vet] all that remained on their balance was under $50.
“But I need to build up a little bit of credit there, because slowly I will take these remaining adult dogs over and get their shots. If we find Boarding for all of them, they cannot go without being on the shots, and I can guarantee you none of them have ever
Had any vet care?
“I’m including the vets name and number, if anybody can donate there, I would greatly appreciate it. It’s gonna take me probably the next week or so to try to find a place and get these guys all vetted and moved. They just need to be updated on their shots and we’re gonna get them bathed for the fleas.
“None of them were aggressive, but the medium-size dogs are pretty so it’s kind of iffy. They have learned that when my car pulls up it’s feeding time … They get very excited and happy to see me.
“Again, if anybody can help with vetting or anything, especially taking any, let me know. I can’t release to Rescue yet if one is found because they are part of a cruelty case. The Chief of Police is, however, going to try to get them released to me so we don’t have to keep them real long.
“And this part of Oklahoma, trust me when I say that the state doesn’t help with any of this.
“Again, to those of you that have helped already, thank you so much. Your help is what saved the puppies and your help is what is helping get these guys into Boarding
“I appreciate each and everyone of you, but we have a long way to go with them. Thank you, Terry Lynn Fisher.”
Here is the contact number for the vet: Dr. Jason Thorne, Territory Medicine, Weatherford, Okla., at 580-302-4601. Mention that you’re helping with the Terry Lynn Fisher account. Terry Lynn’s Paypal donation point is [email protected].
[LARRY ASIDE: One of the reasons I posted Terry Lynn’s appeal for all these dogs is so the folks who aren’t involved in rescue can see how many different challenges can come up when a rescuer starts out on what looks like it’ll be a simple rescue. And it becomes an adventure story with all sorts of challenges. Bless the hearts of all rescuers in Texas, Oklahoma and any other places that dogs and cats need help.]
—- Offer solid advice by clicking on ‘comment’ below or email [email protected] and make the subject line read ‘HELP THE RESCUERS RESCUE!’ —-
