When Amada Chussler saw the aftermath of the deadly tornado in Oklahoma, she immediately thought of the animals.
“I called Animal Care and Control of Oklahoma City,” Chussler, assistant director of the no-kill Tri County Humane Society in Boca Raton, said.
Her counterpart in Oklahoma started crying. She had been getting calls from people who had found animals on the street or from people who had lost their pets. So, Chussler decided to take several staff members and their two cargo rescue vans and drive to Oklahoma City to pick up as many animals as they could fit.
Jon Gary, a unit operations supervisor with the Oklahoma City Animal Welfare Division, said groups from Chicago and New York had also picked up animals that had been at shelters to make room for displaced animals.
Gary said more than 120 animals were taken in after the tornado and about 50 have been reclaimed by their owners. The ones that haven't been reclaimed will be held for 30 days, so that owners have time to get back on their feet and come claim them.
Click here to see photos of some of the animals and volunteers.
The Boca group left for Oklahoma on Saturday, arrived Sunday and made five stops to shelters. They brought pet food, blankets and other supplies.
“There was nothing left. The was just rubble,” she said. “ Fortunately, they were still positive. They were all leaning on each other. We had messagess on Facebook
thanking us for reacting so quickly.”
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Chussler said the group has travelled to take animals before including after Hurricane Katrina, but this is the farthest they have travelled.
“We took 65 dogs and 15 cats, animals that were already there, not lost ones,” Chussler said. “We just went to make space for the found animals … When we made space for them, they were able to house animals found on the streets.”
They took breeds that people look for in South Florida, but might overlook in Oklahoma City, she said.
“We took the hardest to adopt. The ones people kind of look over,” she said. “There they need hunting dogs.”
The group returned to South Florida on Wednesday night and the trip home was tiring. They had to stop every two hours to walk the dogs and it took about that amount of time to walk all of them. She said they took frequent stops, put on the air conditioning and turned up the classical music.
“And you just drive,” she said.
The dogs still need several days to relax and be treated for any problems they may have. Then they can be adopted. Click here for the group's website or call them at 561-482-8110.
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