Here’s How to Help Animals Affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in DC-Area Shelters

Here’s How to Help Animals Affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton in DC-Area Shelters

Photo courtesy of Homeward Trails Animal Rescue.

As hurricanes of unprecedented magnitude destroy the lives of people in the American South and Appalachia, organizations are responding to the disaster with trucks of aid, donation drives, and, from animal rescues like Homeward Trails Animal Rescue, a safe evacuation for pets.

When a disaster is soon to hit, people and their pets evacuate the area, but what happens if an animal is left behind? Or in a shelter experiencing power outages? Groups like the national animal rescue nonprofits The Bissell Pet Foundation and the Best Friends Animal Society gather animal rescues across the country to pitch in and support.

This is how the local group Homeward Trails found itself on the ground in Yancey and Mitchell Counties in North Carolina loading a van with 84 cats and dogs, which accounted for only around half of the animals that needed to get out. The rescue transported the pets to Virginia and distributed them to other local rescues in the DC area, keeping around 28 animals at its adoption center in Fairfax.

More animals are coming. Homeward Trails expects 30 pets from an affected shelter in Galax, Virginia, to arrive Wednesday, right before Hurricane Milton is expected to make landfall in Florida. The rescue anticipates even more pets will arrive in the DC area later in the week. “When you’ve got another large hurricane barreling down, the more animals we can get out of that area, which we know will be impacted, the better,” says Sue Bell, the organization’s founder and executive director.

With the influx of pets coming up north, local shelters need all the help they can get, Bell says. Local rescues like the Middleburg Humane Foundation and the Animal Welfare League of Arlington collectively took in nearly 50 cats and dogs—and now, shelters are facing overcrowding. Here’s how people in the DC area can help:

 

Attend an adoption event

Several local animal shelters that are taking care of animals from Hurricane Helene host adoption events and open adoption hours every week. Homeward Trails will host an adoption event at Old Town Books in Alexandria on Saturday from 11 AM to 1 PM, but also has open adoption hours every weekend from 10 AM to 4 PM.

Homeward Trails is offering discounted and waived fees for certain pets—you can check the cost of any pet in their bios, and those with “Hurricane” before their name have come up from areas affected by Helene and Milton. It will also waive adoption fees and provide free food, toys, crates, and beds for active military and veteran families who adopt through the organization.

 

Volunteer at a shelter

Despite the higher volume of animals in local shelters due to the hurricane, the number of staff remains the same. Bell says one way to help is to volunteer to walk dogs, take them for a car ride, or even bring them home for a sleepover. “Physical exercise really keeps these animals’ mental health in check. Which is huge, because this is a very, very stressful time for them,” she says.

 

Make donations

While monetary donations are always accepted, rescues also need supplies like dog and cat food. For many rescues, like Homeward Trails and the DC foster home-based shelter Lucky Dog Animal Rescue, donated funds go directly to taking care of the animals and placing animals that exceed the rescue’s capacity in temporary doggy daycares.

 

Foster an animal

Possibly the most important way to help, Bell says, is to offer your home to foster a pet. Even bathrooms, garages, or spare bedrooms can make good foster homes for some animals, like mother cats and their kittens. Shelters provide the food, supplies, and money for medical care for the animals, and most places are looking for homes that can make at least a two-week commitment.

Plus, you might find your next best friend through fostering— Homeward Trails matches pets to their ideal foster home. “You tell us what your capacity is, and we’ve got an animal to fit that,” says Bell. “We’ve got animals of every size and every need. So we’ll find an animal to fit whatever you’ve got going on.”

Molly SzymanskiMolly Szymanski

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