Animal lovers across the region are scrambling to find homes for hundreds of dogs from Texas shelters amid Hurricane Harvey’s wrath.
Rescue groups have been frantically sharing posts on social media, chronicling heartbreaking scenes of people and their animals in flood-ravaged areas of Texas.
That’s how Queens-based animal rescuer Phyllis Taiano connected with overwhelmed Texas rescuers and agreed to take five dogs that are being transported in later this week.
“It’s very frustrating to see images of animals drowning in water. You feel useless,” Taiano said. “If we free up cages down there, then there will be space so somebody can be reunited with their pet.”
Taiano works for the nonprofit Four Paws Sake NYC, and has been coordinating with Kellye Robertson of the Dallas-based Paws of Love Animal Rescue.
Robertson is working to get 100 dogs to New Jersey by the end of the week via two trucks. Taiano is taking five dogs from that group — including two Chihuahua mixes named Rosie and Peachie and a poodle mix named Nemo. She hopes to find them forever homes.
In return, rescuers will fill the trucks with donated supplies for people and animals to bring back to Texas.
Robertson pointed out that all the animals being moved out of state were already in shelters or rescued prior to the storm. The groups need more space for animals that are being picked up now with the hopes they can be reunited with their families.
Some owners will also need a place to surrender their animals since they no longer have homes.
“It’s so bad — we have people missing, seniors displaced from their homes, animals floating dead,” said an emotional Robertson. “I’m watching my friends posting from roofs begging for help to come.
“It’s like a third of our state is gone and Texas is huge,” she said. “It’s unbelievable.”
The Humane Society of the United States helped relocate 78 dogs to New Jersey on Tuesday — what they described as the first animal flight to the Northeast out of the disaster area. New Jersey rescue groups will help find new homes for those dogs.
“We all want to help,” said Taiano, who encouraged people to share information on social media. “Just one share of a post about a dog that was found can help get that dog home or get that dog some help.”
