Emergency response fund and Best Friends ground team and volunteers to ease suffering from Sandy
Transport and supplies right now the most pressing needs in the hardest hit areas.
November 4, 2012
Best Friends Animal Society, thanks to member support, is making funds available to help defray the extraordinary costs incurred by the companion animal rescue groups and other organizations saving and caring for pets impacted by Hurricane Sandy.
Supported by generous donations from the public and corporate partners, Best Friends’ relief efforts will target animals and shelters impacted by Hurricane Sandy across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Funds also will support the transport of displaced shelter pets to Best Friends Network Partners located outside of storm-affected areas, expected to begin in the next several days. Limited fuel supplies, road closures and driving restrictions in some affected areas are complicating factors.
The first such transport will be of animals from Animal Care and Control of New York City to Network Partners in New England and is expected to take place in the next several days. Animals will be moved in a Best Friends Emergency Response vehicle deployed for such purposes.
Shelters are eligible for micro grants to assist in repair and recovery from the storm, as are rescue organizations that have taken in animals from shelters impacted by the storm. Priority consideration will be given to shelters working with their community to achieve no-kill status. Details on how to apply for a grant can be found here.
Our Emergency Response specialists, John Garcia and Ethan Gurney, have been in the New York area since mid-week. John and Ethan are both expert dog handlers and have advanced certifications in animal search and rescue techniques that qualify them to work side-by-side with police, fire and National Guard human search and rescue operations. They are prepared to provide relief manpower as needed. The team also has a specially outfitted, climate controlled transport vehicle to move animals within the disaster zone and to distant receiving organizations outside the area affected by Sandy.
Soon, Best Friends volunteers will be helping to fill in work shifts at shelters, delivering pet food in Bergen County, N.J., Long Island and other areas, and provide pet supplies to a shelter in Woodbridge, N.J.
Our New York Programs team, under the leadership of Jamie Lyn Rubin, is coordinating our support of rebuilding efforts in the Tri-State area, which includes helping care for pets in an evacuation shelter and delivering emergency supplies to other flooded shelters whose supplies were destroyed. In the coming days, the team will:
Coordinate volunteers for the Sussex County, N.J. evacuation shelter to cover weekend and overnight shifts for the pet portion of the shelter.
Deliver wet food donated by our friends at Freshpet to the Bergen County Animal Shelter in Teterboro, N.J.
Organize shipments of dog and cat food, donated by Wag.com, along with other needed supplies to area shelters including the Bergen County Animal Shelter and the Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter on Long Island. Both shelters are caring for pre-storm shelter animals as well as additional displaced pets. They are also offering food to hard hit pet owners in their respective communities.
Provide pet supplies such as collars, leashes and toys to the Woodbridge, N.J. shelter which was evacuated due to flooding but which has resumed operations.
Special thanks to our online retail partner, Wag.com, which, in conjunction with Best Friends, has committed to donate a full week's worth of food for more than 200 dogs and cats, plus a week's worth of litter for more than 100 cats at the Bergen County Shelter, Town of Hempstead Animal Shelter, and Jersey City Humane Society. These much needed supplies are expected to be delivered to destination shelters by Best Friends volunteers today.
Wag.com is also launching a campaign starting today to raise funds for Best Friends’ ongoing disaster relief work. When a special promotion code WAGDONATE is included with orders, Wag.com will make donations to the fund up to $10,000.
If you would like to make a contribution toward our disaster relief work, please click here. Your gift will be used exclusively for our relief work to help animals during this and other disasters. Thank you.
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Best Friends Animal Society is working with shelters and rescue groups nationwide to bring about a time when there will be no more homeless pets. Best Friends operates the nation's largest sanctuary for homeless animals, provides adoption, spay/neuter, and educational programs, and publishes Best Friends, the nation?s largest general-interest animal magazine.
https://network.bestfriends.org/Communities/
Information by State!!!
For Recent Posts on Hurricane Relief:
http://network.bestfriends.org/hurricane/news/
10/16/06 Now working on International Campains and continue with domestic Outreach Programs!!
HISTORY - (contact info has changed)
Facility Name was: Best Friends Animal Society's Hurricane Relief Center at St. Francis Animal Sanctuary REAL
To learn more about our role in the hurricane relief effort, visit our website.
Best Friends is currently operating a rescue facility in Tylertown, Mississippi, at the St. Francis Animal Sanctuary. We are sharing supplies and resources with on-the-ground rescue groups in the disaster area.
Our command center at our sanctuary in Utah is coordinating requests for help and offers of help, including:
* Donations of supplies - making sure they reach groups needing specific items. Contact Jason Watt at jason.commmand@bestfriends.org
* Teams of volunteers to care for the animals evacuated to temporary shelters -ours and others. Contact Ed Fritz at ed.command@bestfriends.org
* Lost and found volunteers working to reunite displaced pets with their families. Contact stfrancis@bestfriends.org
* Placement of displaced Katrina pets into foster care. These animals are vaccinated, microchipped, and entered into the Petfinder database.
We maintain a large warehouse in Clinton, MS, where excess donated supplies are made available to rescue groups and pet owners in need. These donated supplies also help us operate our Tylertown rescue facility and provide for the animals in our care.