Southwest Michigan animal lovers who have watched with deepening sadness the hurricane relief efforts in Texas following Hurricane Harvey and bracing for Irma’s potential strikes in Florida and along the eastern seaboard can help rid themselves of that feeling of helplessness thanks to the Humane Society of Southwestern Michigan.
Our local Humane Society is helping with Hurricane Harvey relief by taking in scores of homeless dogs from the State of Texas.
Texas animal shelters are soon to be overrun by dogs and cats that have lost their homes to Hurricane Harvey. In anticipation, several Texas animal shelters have asked the Humane Society to help by accepting some of the homeless dogs already living in those shelters. The Humane Society has opened its doors to this plea and will accept as many refugee dogs as space allows.
Volunteer pilots with Pilots N Paws will be flying the homeless dogs from Texas to Michigan where the Humane Society is partnering with Noah Project Muskegon to welcome these dogs and to find them forever homes. The first batch of six homeless Texas dogs arrived on Wednesday, September 6th. More are on the way, and the Humane Society is on stand-by waiting for their arrival.
Jill Svoboda is Executive Director at the Humane Society of SWM. She says, “Although our primary focus is always the health and welfare of homeless cats and dogs in Southwest Michigan, we must also help on a national level when emergencies arise.” She adds, “The devastation from Hurricane Harvey in Texas is overwhelming, and the Humane Society will help Texas animal shelters respond to the crisis.”
The Humane Society is accepting homeless dogs that were already in Texas animal shelters prior to the storm; it is not taking dogs that became lost due to Hurricane Harvey and whose owners may be looking for them.
The Humane Society shelter here is located at 641 S. Crystal Avenue in Benton Harbor. It became a No-Kill facility in 2008. Its mission is to provide food, shelter and medical care for the homeless, abused and unwanted cats and dogs in southwest Michigan. It provides medical exams, standard vaccinations, and routine blood tests for every animal.
The dedicated and compassionate staff and volunteers pride themselves in finding “forever homes” for all of the adoptable pets. When selecting “forever homes,” the staff is diligent in searching for the best suitable home for each animal through the adoption application process.
Don Blackmond serves as President of the local Humane Society’s Board of Directors. He says, “Our current shelter is small, with limited capacity, but we will do our part to help the people and animals in Texas.”He also notes that, “Right now the Humane Society is building a new, modern shelter at 5400 M-139 in St. Joseph. The new shelter is almost three times the size of the existing shelter, and will double animal capacity. If it were completed and operational now, we could do more to help the homeless animal crisis in Texas.“
The Humane Society receives no financial support from taxes, dog license revenue, government agencies, or national humane organizations. It relies solely on private donations to pay operating expenses.
The Humane Society needs your help, even if you’re not in a position to adopt one of the Texas animals. They ask that you please consider donating money or supplies to help care for the newly arriving homeless Texas dogs. You can make a difference by donating money, dry dog food, canned dog food, treats, bleach, laundry soap, trash bags, paper towels and similar materials. To donate; you can visit their FirstGiving donation page at this link: https://www.firstgiving.com/13994/texasdogs
Or, you can visit the local society’s website at this link:
