In the panic of evacuation from major hurricanes and other natural disasters, people often forget about their animals or are unable to rescue them in the chaos. One woman has made it her mission to think about the animals first. Sali Gear lives in Virginia Beach but grew up on the Virgin Islands which have been devastated by Hurricane Irma and most recently Hurricane Maria.
Gear specializes in air rescues for dogs and co-owns Island Dog Rescue, an organization that rescues dogs from the U.S. Virgin Islands. After Hurricane Irma hit, Gear had planned to slowly move dogs over a period of a week to the continental U.S. so that she could get them ready to be adopted by someone. Then news that Hurricane Maria was going to follow the same path as Irma and devastate the Caribbean again surfaced, and Gear’s plan to slowly rescue animals turned upside down. Her marathon became a sprint. She now had to figure out how to move 300 dogs in a matter of days instead of weeks. Instead of backing down in the face of uncertainty she stepped up to the plate.
Her solution was to charger a flight, but where do you get such a plane in just two days? She and several donors ultimately paid $112,000 for a flight from Miami to the islands to rescue the animals. They also paid $5,000 for carriers for the animals. This cause means a lot to Gear demonstrated through her passion and advocacy for this rescue. According to pilotonline.com, she said that the rescue was “a sprint, not a marathon” and she is “exhausted emotionally, physically, but spiritually, I’m not.” These feelings being stirred by the fact that in her several visits back to the Virgin Islands since Irma she noticed that most vegetation was wiped out and there weren’t even scraps for the dogs and cats to try and live off of.
The animals finally arrived in Norfolk at Gear’s farm at 2:00 in the morning last Tuesday. There were plenty of volunteers to help with animals, but since the animals would still be fairly nervous from the effects of the storm, there were notes warning handlers to be gentle and patient with them.
The dogs seemed adoptable despite the trauma they experienced. Adoption agencies have flown from all over the country to take the dogs so they could be adopted into loving homes. Many volunteers have come forward to help out with the dogs by giving them walks and playing with them, so they get some time out of their kennels.
Rescuing all of these pups was a huge feat and now 300 dogs will be safe from the horrible devastation of the islands. They will be able to be adopted into loving homes thanks to Gear and her 250 volunteers. It’s amazing what can happen with some dedication, volunteers, and a lot of heart. Times of tragedy are terrible, and we hope they won’t happen, but they also have a way of bringing everyone together and uniting us for a cause.
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Source: The Virginia Pilot
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