News coverage of temporary animal shelter

Minnesota Daily: Makeshift shelters offer pets a safe haven from flood

Associated Press: Sit and stay: Pets wait out ND flood in shelters

Fargo to EARS: "What would we do without you?"

Submitted by Janell Matthies, UAN Emergency Services Manager

Even though the past few days have been incredibly chaotic and busy, the EARS volunteers here in Fargo, North Dakota are succeeding in taking absolutely wonderful care of the animals. The dogs and cats are cleaned and fed, soothed and comforted, walked and played with from early in the morning until lights-out at night. Somehow the volunteers even know all the animals by name. We’ve had a few owners come in to pick up their pets and all they have to do at the front counter is to ask for Bubba or Harley or Sammy or Princess and someone will say, “Oh, I know where he is! I’ll go get him. He just had breakfast/went for a walk/got a treat, etc etc.” The animals' owners are so immensely grateful for the care their pets are receiving. We’ve seen tears and laughter, stress and anticipation, but the overriding emotion is appreciation. I personally have been blessed by so many people coming in to visit their pets I feel sure I am going to heaven, at least for today.

Today we got to meet Davis and Delbert’s dad. We’ve all fallen in love with these two dogs over the past couple of days. Delbert is old and gentle and sweet, a perfect gentleman. Then there’s Davis. When you first meet him you would never know he was a working dog, he is all puppy (even though he’s three years old) happy and bouncy and wiggly. Their intake form noted they were seeing-eye dogs and we were wondering what was happening with their owner. He made it in today and spent about an hour visiting with the two dogs and many of the volunteers came over to introduce themselves and chat. It turns out he is also caring for his ill mother and her special-needs dog, in addition to helping his neighbors and their animals. He figured if they had to get out fast, he wanted to make sure Davis and Delbert were safe, so he brought them to us.

Fourteen-year-old Delbert is now his retired sight dog and Davis is his working sight dog. He told us he had another sight dog before Delbert, and when she passed away “a little bit of Delbert died with her." He got Davis so Delbert could retire, and they ended up becoming best friends. They now spend most of their off-duty time playing and snuggling. Their owner says “Davis saved Delbert’s life." How lucky we are to be caring for such wonderful animals! He kept saying he didn’t know what he would have done if we weren’t able to provide the service we do. That is a comment we hear over and over all day long: “I don’t know what I would do without you."

The dedication of our EARS volunteers is inexplicable. I am in awe of their kindness and compassion. Taking time off work, missing birthdays and vacations, sleeping at the shelter so they can keep a close eye on anyone they are worried about, and working non-stop for at least 12 hours a day once again proves the EARS volunteers' extraordinary commitment and selflessness. It is so obvious to the community when they come into the shelter, because they comment every time. And I think the animals know how lucky they are, too.

Helping flood victims in North Dakota

On Friday, March 27, UAN deployed a team of Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) volunteers to Fargo, North Dakota, to help care for animals being evacuated in advance of the potential catastrophic flooding in the Red River Valley.

A dozen EARS volunteers are now caring for more than 100 dogs and cats at a temporary shelter set up by the Fargo-Moorhead Humane Society at the Red River Valley Fairgrounds. The always-ingenious EARS volunteers even made cat hammocks (pictured) from blankets and towels to keep the displaced felines comfortable in their temporary cages.

UAN's Emergency Services Manager Janell Matthies reports that evacuees are able to visit their pets at the shelter, and the work the EARS volunteers are doing is immensely appreciated by everyone in the city.

Read our press release for more details.

Get information about the temporary shelter at the Red River Valley Fair Web site.

Check back often for updates from Janell and the EARS volunteers in the field!

An eerie silence

Submitted by UAN Emergency Services Manager Janell Matthies

Everyone has officially left the shelter and the silence is strange. Just yesterday it was filled with barking, yipping, howling, meowing and chirping. The turtles were the only ones not making much noise. Today it is silent and the wind is blowing through the barn, making the puppy potty pads blow around. We are pretty much done breaking down everything and the trucks are loaded up. Again, the silence is almost eerie. It doesn’t seem possible that 24 hours ago the place was filled with 361 animals.

I just received a call from Bella Vista Animal Shelter with an update on my buddy, the Akita. They have named him Ben (as in "Gentle Ben"). They took him to his indoor/outdoor run yesterday and showed him how to go through the extra-large doggie door to the outside. He cautiously stepped through the door and started to investigate. After making his rounds and peeing on a few things, he plopped down, put his nose in the air and smelled the wind. He stayed like that for hours, just letting the fresh air blow around him. The staff tried to get him back inside for the night, but he didn’t want to go. They think he was worried he may not be able to come out again. They put some blankets outside and left him there for the night. This morning when they went to check on him, he was still outside, sound asleep on his blankets.

Ben has quickly won over the staff at the shelter and approaches everyone. If they stop petting him, he noses them and asks for more. One of the girls gave him a little piece of roast beef last night and he could not figure out what to do with it. He’d pick it up and put it down, sniff it and move it around before finally eating it, then deciding he wanted more. They plan to move him into the office during business hours and back to his “quarters” at night. He is definitely a character and I’m so very thankful to everyone who made it possible to give this boy a real second chance.

Saying goodbye

Submitted by UAN Emergency Services Manager Janell Matthies

Yesterday was in an incredibly busy day. We started at 7 a.m. vetting the animals who had not been checked yet and organizing to get the first load of transports out. SPCA of Texas showed up with a huge truck full of crates. We started loading and loading and loading. Of course many of the dogs were frightened and it was a long walk down rows of barking dogs. So they preferred to be carried, even if they weighed as much as some of us. We got the truck loaded, figured out the paperwork (a daunting task) and got them on the road in about three hours. We also made multiple trips to the airport throughout the day to load animals on planes headed for the Denver Dumb Friends League. It was a long day of getting scared dogs out of the crates, calming them, and getting them out to the trucks.

I kept taking my big boy Akita out on a leash to get him comfortable walking on a leash with me. I wanted to make sure his journey out of the shelter was less stressful than his journey in. The wonderful folks from Bella Vista Animal Shelter came to get him and a couple of us took our time and got him to walk outside. He sniffed, stepped and dropped, sniffed, stepped and dropped. It took a while, but we weren’t in a hurry, so we moved along at his speed. So amazingly trusting for a blind dog. We finally got him to the van, where he put a paw inside the door and scooched himself right in. It was a very calm, nice way for him to leave us…

Bella Vista has a perfect area for him where he can go inside and out. Lots of room for the big guy that he is, but small enough that he can get familiar with it quickly. He should be very comfortable there while he waits for his forever home.

On our way back to the EMPTY shelter to finish breaking down crates and cleaning up…another long day ahead, but it’s wonderful to know so many animals are now on to much better lives thanks to all the individuals who worked so hard to get them there.

Making friends

Submitted by UAN Emergency Services Manager Janell Matthies

HSUS and Logan County Animal Control were able to reach an agreement with the owners and ALL ANIMALS were surrendered!

Today we worked from before dawn until long after dark preparing for and receiving around 300 dogs, 15 cats, 30 miniature horses, 1 regular sized horse, 5 red eared sliders (aquatic turtles), 5 tortoises, 5 cockatiels … 361 animals all told. The property was over 82 acres, so as the rescue team was loading up they were discovering more and more animals. Many of the dogs are pregnant and we expect our population to increase even more over the next couple of days.

As always, UAN's Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) volunteers were amazing. Even with all the activity today, they were able to care for, comfort and get to know many of the dogs. As Ruth said when she asked to be assigned to her same row of dogs tomorrow, she’s “already made friends over there." We all know about the pug who sings, the two Yorkies who were “obviously on the bottom” (row of kennels at the facility…their fur is horribly matted with feces) and Yorkie-town (18 Yorkies who were living in a shed together on the property.)

Many of us have developed a soft spot for the one large dog on the premises: a beautiful, absolutely humongous Akita who is incredibly sweet, even though he is completely blind. He had a hard time coming in as he didn’t know how to walk outside and was terrified. We helped him along and he’s now resting comfortably in his cage. He even ate his dinner.

It’s getting late and we are starting extra early again tomorrow to hopefully finish vetting all the animals, so I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

EARS volunteers bringing 400 puppy mill dogs from crisis into care

Volunteers with United Animal Nations' Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) are currently assisting with the temporary shelter of nearly 400 neglected dogs rescued today from a Logan County, Arkansas puppy mill by The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) and the Humane Society of Missouri. Twleve EARS volunteers from Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Missouri and Kansas deployed to the emergency shelter to care for the animals.

This photo of EARS volunteer Judi Burnett courtesy HSUS.

Read more and check back for more posts from the emergency shelter.