Soddy Daisy resident Raven Close and her dog, Crowley, were among the dozens of area residents seeking new pets who came to the Humane Educational Society in Chattanooga on Saturday. Mrs. Close, who recently lost her 14-year-old Yorkie, is hoping to find a medium size female dog to be a companion for Crowley.
photo by Judy Frank
It’s been a rough year for Piper, a 12-year-old shepherd mix. In June, she arrived at the Humane Educational Society in Chattanooga with a cyst on her stomach so large it almost dragged the ground when she tried to walk.
This weekend, however, Piper hit the doggie lottery.
For her birthday, 16-year-old Tina Astacio wanted a dog.
Saturday afternoon she and her mother, Linda Astacio, joined dozens of other eager potential adopters at HES which – trying to make room for animals rescued from shelters in the path of hurricanes Harvey and Irma – is offering free adoptions throughout the weekend.
Before long they discovered Piper who, oblivious to the 5-inch-long scar on her tummy where the benign cyst had been removed, literally wriggled with excitement when they approached her.
It was love at first sight.
Just like that, Tina Astacio found her dog, Piper found a home – and HES had one more empty space for an animal rescued from a shelter in the path of the devastating hurricanes in Texas and Florida.
All told, 57 cats and dogs – including a handful brought here from shelters in Texas trying to make room for animals left homeless by Hurricane Harvey – were adopted Saturday, according to Bob Citrullo, HES executive director.
Approximately 15 more found homes earlier, on Friday. And this afternoon, when the shelter will be open from noon to 4 p.m., he expects still more will be claimed by their forever families.
Good news? Yes. But that doesn’t mean things are likely to slow down anytime soon at HES, Mr. Citrullo said.
Even before the hurricanes hit and desperate animals began arriving here, he noted, approximately 500 animals were in HES.
Last week, 34 Harvey dogs – including some with medical issues such as mange, and a half dozen that are heartworm positive – arrived here from Oklahoma, where animals were taken initially and then dispersed to shelters around the nation. Eleven of those will leave today for Indiana, their final destination.
Now, he said, HES is on standby, waiting for shelter dogs displaced by Hurricane Irma in Florida to begin arriving.
The transported animals, all of which were already in shelters before the hurricanes hit, are being moved to make room in those shelters for cats and dogs uprooted by the storms.
Keeping animals displaced by Harvey and Irma close to their homes, rescuers theorize, will enable many of them to be reunited with their owners.
At HES, handling the influx hasn’t been easy, Mr. Citrullo said, and HES workers and volunteers are scrambling to keep up with the workload.
All of the shelter pets arriving from Florida will require vaccination, heartworm testing, spay and neutering as well as care for any additional medical needs they may have, he noted.
Keeping enough supplies on hand has also been a challenge, he said.
Some needed donations are obvious: dry cat food and dog food, for example, and crates – lots of crates. Others, just as urgently needed, often aren’t on donators’ radar. For example, he said, “Paper towels and latex gloves – we can’t get enough.”
Most urgent of all, he added, is money. “I know people would rather give something tangible, I’ve done it myself,” he said. “But we are paying overtime like crazy. The money has to come from somewhere.”