The day before the most devastating storm on record hit Western North Carolina (Hurricane Helene, Sept 2024), Brother Wolf Animal Rescue staff orchestrated an emergency evacuation of 100 animals from their shelter in just two hours utilizing emergency foster homes for quick placements. Anyone in the community, no matter if they had fostered for Brother Wolf in the past or not, could show up, talk with the team, complete critical paperwork, and walk out with a foster animal in under 15 minutes. Only because Brother Wolf had processes and procedures formed ahead of time for how to do this could the organization enact that lifesaving plan. Two-thirds of the homes who took in foster animals that day had never before fostered for Brother Wolf. That emergency evacuation saved lives -- the shelter took on 12 feet of water less than 24 hours later, destroying the facility. Brother Wolf Animal Rescue staff wants to help other shelters prepare to take this lifesaving measure - if ever they were to need to - as we're seeing the instances and severity of natural disasters increase. This recent webinar with Shelter Animals Count includes information about how shelters can prepare for emergency evacuation into foster homes and how critical it is to have those plans in place ahead of time (starts at 40min mark): https://www.shelteranimalscount.org/webinar-recap-mobilizing-foster-care-unlocking-the-power-of-community-based-support/
#DisasterRelief#FosterPrograms------------------------------
Leah Craig Chumbley
Executive Director
Brother Wolf Animal Rescue
NC
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