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All of us have been watching Mother Nature at work with horror. We want to be able to help our friends, family, and their pets in Florida and Texas. One thing to remember is to not forget that there will be need weeks and months from now. So of course donate now, but think about donating later this year and early next year 2018.
I saw this first hand when I went to New Orleans post Katrina. I worked with Alley Cat Allies helping shelter and return cats back to their owners. The need did not stop 1 month after the storm.
Most of the rescue groups are requesting funds and not blankets, cat litter, or food at this time. Keep your eyes and ears open if the requests do change, but at this time cash donations are greatly appreciated.
The American Veterinary Medical Foundation (AVMF) is issuing grants to veterinarians who are taking care of displaced animals. For veterinarians, Texas is offering temporary licenses for those that want to help. Click here for more information
If you would like to make a donation to support this work use AVMF Code: “Disaster Relief” when completing the donation form.
If you wish to support the many other AVMF programs that help veterinarians help animals, please visit www.AVMF.org/donate
The Texas Veterinary Medical Foundation (TVMF) is another organization to consider sending your donations.
The Veterinary Information Network Foundation (VIN) is taking donations that will be going directly to the TVMF.
This is a first hand account from a good friend of mine in Houston.
“Just getting home. It’s a huge mess. It will take Houston years to recover from this. Apparently estimated to be a 2 billion dollar rebuild.
My home and clinic are still dry and we still have power. I feel blessed to this point, but we are not out of the woods. We have 30+ cats at the clinic. We had a woman with 5 cats show up this morning begging us to take her cats in as her home was flooding and she was trying to get some things handled prior to evacuating. I finally had to post on our clinic FB site that we cannot take any additional shelters and are operating on a limited basis because only 4 of my 14 staff members have managed to get into work, only 1 of which is technical staff. When I asked how Blue Pearl (the local 24 hour facility) was fully staffed I was informed that it’s because they had mandatory staff staying at the facility. They are feeding them, but they were not allowed to go home. I suspect there would have been a mutiny if I tried that at my facility.
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Harvey headed back out over the gulf. It crossed Matagorda Bay earlier today and is now headed back on shore after building up a bit of strength again. Our hope was it would skirt a bit east which would put us on the cleaner side, but instead it is looking to come back in over Houston with an additional 10 inches of rain expected tonight.
The San Jacinto river is out of its banks and Spring Creek, which runs through The Woodlands, has crested at over 169 ft. This is the same area that flooded in 1994 when the hurricane hit the west coast of Mexico and then that system moved across Texas and spun and spun and dumped water for over a week. Because of these rising waters, they are having to perform controlled release from several dams which is flooding homes unfortunately, but it’s a flood 10 to save 10,000 sort of situation. The dams will break if water is not released. One of my staff is seriously affected by this with 6 horses and a bunch of pigs she is trying to evacuate as the water level has risen 10 ft covering her whole pasture, past her barn and getting very close to her home.
We are just doing the best we can to take care of the cats that are housed at my facility as well as fielding calls, seeing the most emergent cases for our regular clients and just trying to not become too despondent with all the devastation surrounding us.
I appreciate the emails and thoughts. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to respond before now. It has been a learning experience in disaster preparedness even after 32 years of practice and several hurricanes and tropical storms.”
Since the passing of the hurricane, she has been donating her time, products, and blood to help others. A truly inspiring woman showing the best of humanity.
On the flip side of humanity, one of my classmates who owns a clinic in Fort Lauderdale had their emergency generator stolen prior Irma’s arrival. Yet in the face of tragedy, some good Samaritans saved the day. From their Facebook page “Yeah!!! Thank you Marilyn and Alan Auty for dropping off a generator and Melanie for shipping one enroute. Thanks everyone for your prayers. Family Pet Medical Center”
We will be updating this blog as we learn more about how we can help Florida.
Stay safe