We’ve sent three additional grants to Texas adoption groups to help them recover from the recent winter storm and resulting power and water outages.
Athens Animal Rescue Shelter in Malakoff was fortunate — it did not lose power and only lost water for one day, although it did spend time under a boil-water notice. “This was lucky, because we had just received 79 dogs and puppies from a single trailer home,” says President Lanette Ainsworth.
The Petfinder Foundation grant will help it recover the costs of paying for kennel-staff overtime and purchasing tarps, extra heat lamps, and extension cords. “In addition to voluntarily sleeping on the shelter floor in case we needed to respond to a power or water outage,” staff worked overtime insulating kennels, getting shelter pets into temporary fosters, and boiling snow for cleaning, washing dishes, and serving the animals, Ainsworth says.
“To prepare for the freeze, we distributed crates to so many pet owners who normally keep their pets outside in hopes it would save the lives of chained and outside dogs,” says Houston Humane Society’s Katie Fine.
“During this disaster, our shelter lost power and our generator malfunctioned and required repairs,” Fine says. “We had several pipes burst that required expensive repair and replacement. Finally, our well pump malfunctioned due to multiple power surges, so that entire apparatus had to be repaired.”
San Antonio Pets Alive! experienced power outages, loss of running water, and sub-freezing temperatures. The shelter had to temporarily close its doors, but staff drove or walked in dangerous weather conditions to care for its resident dogs and cats. Our grant will help offset the costs of extra blankets, water, dog beds, dog clothing, weather mats, and heating pads.
