Cape shelter rescues dogs from Louisiana hurricane

Canines directly in the path of Hurricane Ida are now safe in Cape Girardeau after two vans organized by the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri made a 16-hour round trip this weekend to rescue them.

"We got home Sunday morning with 10 dogs," said Tracy Poston, HSSEMO's executive director Monday, who added her agency is a partner in the Best Friends Network -- which pulls together U.S. animal welfare shelters in a coordinated effort to get animals out of harm's way when natural disasters strike.

Poston said she joined three other local people in traveling to Cara's House, a shelter in Sorrento, Louisiana -- a small town between the state capital of Baton Rouge and New Orleans.

"We thought we could handle seven dogs in the two vans but when we saw the Sorrento shelter had more than 300 pets, we decided to do more, to do what we could to make a difference," she said.

Poston, whose agency is planning to move into HSSEMO's new 12,000-square-foot shelter on Boutin Drive in November, suggested the conditions at Cara's House were troubling.

"(The Sorrento shelter) is an open-air, fairground situation and all the dogs and cats were in wire crates with a Category 4 hurricane coming," Poston said.

"My heart broke for the (agency's) workers who were moving heaven and earth to move as many animals out of harm's way as they could. I don't know how they were awake, working round-the-clock in the Louisiana heat."

Poston was grateful the long journey was uneventful.

"Luckily, we timed (the trip) perfectly. It was getting cloudy and icky looking, but we were able to get in and get out before (Ida) really started moving in," she said.

The Humane Society of Southeast Missouri undertook at 16-hour round trip over the weekend to save 10 dogs from Hurricane Ida. This resuced canine is pictured Sunday at HSSEMO's shelter in Cape Girardeau.Submitted

The dogs

"All 10 (canines) are available for adoption," Poston said.

"We did end up taking three heartworm-positive dogs even though financially it didn't make good sense to do. We want to tell their stories and explain to people why we couldn't leave them (in Louisiana), and hope people will donate money."

The leader of the shelter on Boutin Drive in Cape Girardeau said several of the dogs need veterinary attention.

One of the 10 dogs rescued from Hurricane Ida by the Humane Society of Southeast Missouri is pictured Sunday at the shelter's headquarters in Cape Girardeau.Submitted

"One dog is blind in one eye, another had previously suffered a seizure, still another has ear issues -- common medical things that can be dealt with. I suspect (these problems) are the reason some of the canines we brought back were still there because they needed (treatment)," Poston said.

No cats

"We currently don't have any room for cats at all in our (current) facility. We wish we could have helped Cara's House by taking (felines) but there is no place to put them," Poston said.

Follow-up

"We'll definitely reach out (to Sorrento) sometime Tuesday and see what their need is. They were able to move a large volume (of animals), but I can only imagine after Ida hit that things are completely overwhelming now," Poston said. She added HSSEMO took multiple cases of bottled water with them to Louisiana plus several cat carriers.

"I will tell you these are 10 very special dogs. They kind of knew we were there to save them. On the ride back, they were so good and so quiet."

To help HSSEMO, visit www.semopets.org/donate.