The last 60 days have been incredibly challenging for many in our area. Thousands of people have worked tirelessly to clean away debris and help those that have been forced to start their lives over. The animals are no different. Sixty-percent of the animals displaced following the May 2013 tornadoes were reunited with their owners, but that still left a lot of cats and dogs in our disaster relief care looking for a new family. For those of you that were not able to be on the ground here with us, we would like to share a little bit of background on how it worked.
All displaced animals were kept in a temporary disaster relief shelter managed through the Department of Agriculture for 30 days. Each shelter had a reunion center set-up with photos and identifier sheets so they could hopefully be matched up with an owner that was looking for their animal. OK Humane operated a dog housing facility and a cat housing facility. After 30 days the animals were released from disaster relief care into adoption programs. OK Humane elected in the very beginning to hold the animals in our care for a total of 45 days to give the owners as much time as possible to find their missing pets. We moved the majority of the animals into foster homes after the 30 day time frame so they could play in the grass and enjoy life in a home again, but we still allowed owners coming forward to view the photos of animals in our care. After many days of no reunions, OK Humane hosted “Hope After The Storm”, a private adoption event on July 13 to find loving forever homes for animals that were not reunited following the tornadoes that devastated parts of central Oklahoma.
“Hope After The Storm” Adoption Event Video
Adopters from across the country pre-registered on our website for a chance to attend the adoption event and see if they would fall in love with a new best friend. Many of our foster parents also decided to adopt their temporary refugees at the event! We are happy to report back to our supporters that the majority of the animals found loving homes at the event. The animals not adopted at the event will continue to be cared for in our Adoption Program until the right family comes along for them.
Folks waited for several hours to meet these sweet animals in need of a family!
Love at first sight
This adopter is showing a note from her new dog’s foster family! She drove 12 hours from Texas to attend the event and adopt Gracie.
Marvin and his new family!
Many human-animal bonds were created on July 13!
We still have a few tornado survivors that need a home to call their own, including Heather a beutiful 9 year Lynx Point Manx.
Heather is still looking for a family to adopt her!
If you or someone you know are interested in adopting Heather, please call (405) 286-1229 ext. 4.
Want to find out ways you can support OK Humane’s work in central Oklahoma? Check out www.okhumane.org/donate!
P.S. We just found out we are a Top 5 Finalist in the Oklahoma Gazette’s Best of OKC contest! Please take a few minutes to complete this survey and vote for us as “Best Place to Volunteer” and “Best Non-Profit” in OKC so we can continue to serve and help more animals in central Oklahoma.
Click here to vote for us by July 29!
