People aren't the only ones in need of help after Hurricane Helene, and the Humane Society is on the ground in hard-hit areas to make sure pets can stay safe and fed as well.
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00:00The Humane Society of the United States has deployed to Florida and Tennessee to help animals in need in the wake of Hurricane Helene.
00:08And joining us to talk more about their efforts is Kelly Donathan, Animal Disaster Response Director for the Humane Society.
00:16Kelly, you have an interesting and very important job. I appreciate that you're making time for us here.
00:21Yeah, well, thank you so much for having me.
00:23Absolutely. Well, we want to begin with a conversation about Florida. How have animal shelters there been impacted by Helene?
00:32Yeah, I mean, Florida, especially the Big Bend area, you know, this is not the first storm that they've had even just this year.
00:39They've really in the last past year, they've had Idalia and Hurricane Debbie come through.
00:44And so these these storms are these shelters are being hit multiple times.
00:48But thankfully, there has been a lot of ability to kind of shift animals around prior to the storm.
00:53There weren't many major damages to the shelters, but of course, still a lot of community needs.
01:00So being able to help support these shelters and their communities with pet food and supplies and things of those kind.
01:08And what services are you offering in Florida for community members and their pets?
01:14Right now, we have a team deployed in Madison County, northern Florida, and they are providing a pod, which is a point of distribution.
01:23So yesterday was our first day operational. We handed out about 10,000 pounds of pet food and other supplies.
01:31So we'll be active there throughout the rest of the week.
01:35It's just a drive through location. People can just come through and let us know what animal needs they have and we'll do our best to to stock them up.
01:43And then we also have a team deployed in Taylor County and Perry, Florida, providing free veterinary services,
01:50especially kind of those basic services that might be necessary after the storm,
01:55whether it be dealing with animals that aren't acting quite well, skin lacerations,
02:01any injuries or other sort of skin abnormalities like allergies.
02:05We see that a lot of times after some of these storms come through, the floodwater can really cause a lot of skin outbreaks on animals.
02:12And with the local veterinary clinics still not fully operational yet,
02:16we have a clinic there that people can come through and receive those services for free.
02:21And Kelly, as we head a little farther north into other areas severely impacted,
02:25some animal shelters in Tennessee were left uninhabitable by Helene's flooding.
02:29So how have you helped animals impacted in that area?
02:33Yeah, absolutely. Actually, as we speak, we have a team on the ground in Unicoi County, Tennessee,
02:38right there on the border with North Carolina in that mountainous area.
02:41That shelter was completely devastated.
02:44They were able to evacuate their around 100 animals during the flash flooding as it was happening.
02:50So major kudos to them for their bravery and risking all their animals.
02:54But now that shelter is completely useless and and the community still has a lot of needs.
02:59So we're there right now trying to figure out how best to help that shelter recover and as well as support the community.
03:06Well, Kelly Donathan, we really appreciate all that you're doing and your time with us here.
03:10Kelly works with the Humane Society as their animal disaster response director.
03:15Very important job. And you're helping a lot of creatures and people as they're concerned about their pets as well this week.
03:22Absolutely. Thank you so much. Thank you, Kelly.