Written by Teresa Opeka
carolina journal
Asheville Humane Society cats are transported to the Wake County SPCA in Winston-Salem after Hurricane Helen. Source: SPCA of Wake County, used with permission of BISSELL Pet Foundation.
Many animal rescue organizations are coming to the rescue of pets and other animals in shelters affected by Hurricane Helen in Western North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida.
One such organization is BISSELL Pet Foundation’s Animal Incident Management.
Founded in 2011, BISSELL Pet Foundation is best known for its shelter emptying program and launched its Animal Incident Management (AIM) initiative in February 2023 in partnership with Animal Search, Rescue, Training and Response (ASAR) I did.
“This actually came into being last February, but we’ve been doing disaster and crisis work for quite some time,” said Brittany Schlachter, marketing and public relations specialist at Bissell Pet Foundation. told the Carolina Journal in a phone interview Thursday. “After Hurricane Ian in 2022, we realized there were some gaps.”
AIM takes action through partnerships with professional animal welfare organizations across the country, from animal search and rescue, pre-event planning to post-event recovery, shelter support, and humanitarian efforts to support people and animals. We provide resources to emergency management teams and local communities. together.
They work to rescue animals from puppy mills and storage cases from disasters such as hurricanes.
Schlachter said state emergency management officials called for teams to come to the state to assist with search and rescue efforts.
Kim Albom, director of shelter assistance and policy development, and Eric Thompson, executive director of AIM, which also operates ASAR, are supporting efforts in the western part of the state.
Thompson worked with search and rescue teams during last year’s Maui wildfires.
He said their team is working in conjunction with other national organizations like the ASPCA, sharing the work as needed.
On Thursday, Thompson and his team rescued horses from a completely inaccessible property. The old owner was with them all the time. The dog was also scheduled to be removed from the home on Friday. The family was not present when the flood occurred, but is receiving medical attention.
Horses rescued after Hurricane Helen. Used with permission by AIM’s Animal Search and Rescue Team and ASAR Training and Response.
At the same time, AIM is transporting pets from affected shelters, including the Asheville Humane Society, Yancey County Animal Shelter, Mitchell County Animal Shelter, and shelters in Polk, Henderson, and Rutherford.
“After the storm, they were left without electricity, water or supplies. We worked to remove pets from those organizations because it was clear they couldn’t care for them.” Schlachter told CJ. “We work with our network of partners to think about who has the space to take how many animals and split it up to help cover shipping costs, even if it’s a plane trip that happened on Monday. We’ve had some things happen today, but we’re also doing ground transportation, so those vans are moving pets as well.”
She emphasized that the pets being relocated are not stray or local pets, and most likely not someone’s lost pets, but ones that were already homeless before the storm hit.
Most of the pets are transferred to other shelters in North Carolina, including the SPCA of Wake County and the Forsyth Humane Society. On Monday, the Bissell Pet Foundation flew nearly 100 animals from Asheville to Winston-Salem for free.
The Forsyth Humane Society is the organization’s home base at the Winston-Salem airport, where animals can be divided among other shelters based on need and space.
Cats rescued from the Asheville Humane Society head to the Forsyth Humane Society. Used with permission from BISSELL Pet Foundation.
Mr. Album, a North Carolina native, coordinated the efforts on the ground and served as a chaperone on the plane journey.
“While this speaks volumes to the cooperation and resiliency of the entire North Carolina community, one of the most amazing things I have seen is the donation of supplies to affected shelters in these communities. It’s about how we create it,” Schlachter said. “The Forsyth Humane Society actually worked to fill the plane, and we made some donations and filled the plane with supplies for the Asheville Humane Society, so we had 1,000 pounds of We flew supplies in and brought home two pets, about 100 in total, on Monday.”
Shelters in other states, including the Broome County Humane Society in Binghamton, New York, adopted 10 dogs from the Pasco County Animal Shelter in Florida on a Bissell Pet Foundation flight. In return, the Broome County shelter loaded a plane with food and supplies to all affected shelters in North Carolina.
Used with permission of Broome County Humane Society (NY), BISSELL Pet Foundation.
She told CJ that AIM will continue coordinating pet transportation and rescues next week and possibly longer because the need is great.
“Not only are we in this community doing this work with them, but our hearts are with these families, their pets, and everything they’ve seen. This is what we imagined. It’s different than what we used to do,” Schlachter said. “The Bissell Pet Foundation and Animal Incident Management exist to respond to situations like this. We exist to respond to the unimaginable.”
If you would like to donate, please visit bissellpetfoundation.org/donate and click on the Crisis and Disasters tab.
“The best thing about donating to the Bissell Pet Foundation, and what sets us apart from many other large organizations, is that 100% of all donations to the Foundation save lives, so we don’t have to worry about overhead costs or board members. There’s no compensation or anything like that,” Schlachter said.
She added that in addition to donating to the foundation, people can check affected shelters and see needed donations from their wish list. It will also free up critical space within shelters that is desperately needed, allowing people to foster or adopt pets at shelters in North Carolina or anywhere across the country.
Teresa Opeka is a government reporter for the Carolina Journal.
