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Pet Rescue Hotline Created for Hurricane Victims

Pet Age Staff//September 13, 2017//

Pet Rescue Hotline Created for Hurricane Victims

Pet Age Staff //September 13, 2017//

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In an effort to make disaster pet-rescue efforts even more effective, Adopt-a-Pet.com has launched RescueMyAnimal.org and 1-833-RESCUE-8 to provide a simple way for hurricane victims whose pets are in danger to alert all animal welfare organizations that are conducting rescue operations in their area.

Hurricane Irma is expected to cause significant damage, and there are indications that many people were unable to evacuate or evacuated and left their animals behind. In the aftermath of a disaster of this magnitude, evacuees may not be able to return to feed or provide shelter for their animals. Complicating matters is the fact that local animal welfare agencies may find themselves to be non-operational after the hurricane.

“After the storm, national and local animal welfare organizations will be operating in Florida doing what they can to provide resources to help rescue, house and return pets to their homes when possible, but there has been no clear single place where people can alert them to pets need of their assistance. We have quickly launched RescueMyAnimal.org and 1-833-RESCUE-8 to give people who are desperate to have someone rescue their animals a simple way to make that request,” Adopt-a-Pet.com cofounder and CEO David Meyer said. “Although we cannot guarantee that any agency will be available to help, we will immediately pass the information on to all agencies operating in the area.”

Adopt-a-Pet.com, a nonprofit animal welfare organization that specializes in technology to help pets and people, is working with all of the major national and local animal welfare organizations. The organization has launched a variety of tools to assist hurricane victims, including FosteraHurricanePet.org to assist people in need of temporary homes for their pets.

Best Friends Animal Society is one of the organizations that Adopt-a-Pet.com worked with to develop the new hotline, as the nonprofit has been leading the charge on unifying the animal welfare movement around using a consistent set of tools to work more efficiently, effectively and ultimately save more lives.

“There’s long been a need for a centralized place to report an animal in need of rescue, as well as a way to efficiently connect emergency responders with pets in need,” said Marc Peralta, operations command for Best Friends Animal Society. “RescueMyAnimal.org/1-833-RESCUE-8 gives everyone one single point of contact to help our team on the ground rescue as many animals as possible.”

“We expect the volume of pets in need to exceed the limited capacity of animal welfare agencies to operate given the expected level of destruction and the vast areas affected,” Meyer said. “But at least we can make it easier for people to request help and do all we can to be sure that the organizations who may be able to help are aware of the request. Our goal is to give people and their pets the best chance of both surviving and being eventually reunited.”