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SALT LAKE CITY — More than 100 dogs and cats arrived at Utah Dog Park from flood-ravaged southeast Texas on Monday to make room for pets displaced by Hurricane Harvey.
The animals coming were already available for adoption at Austin Pets Alive, a no-kill shelter, prior to the storm or were surrendered by flood victims in the past week because they were too overwhelmed to take them back.
"None of these were animals that were actually displaced by the hurricane," said Temma Martin, Best Friends Animal Society spokeswoman. "The idea was to get the animals out of the area shelters to make space for the animals that were actually displaced by the hurricane."
Best Friends paid for the trip from Texas, while Community Animal Welfare Society or CAWS volunteers drove four vans down and back to retrieve the pets.
No-Kill Utah Coalition members Rescue Rovers, Paws for Life, Second Chance for Homeless Pets, Cache Humane and the Community Animal Welfare Society will take in dogs, cats and puppies, and West Valley City Animal Services will take about a dozen cats.
All the dogs and cats will be quarantined, examined by veterinarians, treated if necessary, vaccinated and spayed or neutered, Martin said. Many of the animals will be available for new homes at the No-Kill Utah Super Adoption on Sept. 22-23 in Farmington.
Best Friends has more than 30 staff members on the ground in Texas helping with rescue and recovery, shelter support and animal care.
Best Friends and the Montgomery County (Texas) Animal Shelter have set a rescue and reunite center for residents in the greater Houston area who have lost their pets. The animals will be there for pickup for at least 30 days, Martin said.
Monday's arrival of dogs and cats could be the first of many to Utah.
"There's a long road ahead," Martin said. "We figure this is the first of many transports because after that 30-day period is up, if there are animals that need to start being moved out they're going to end up all over the country."
Martin said animal organizations have learned a lot since Hurricane Katrina, during which rescued pet owners were not allowed to bring their animals with them. Tens of thousand of pets were left behind.
Congress has since passed a law allowing the Federal Emergency Management Agency to bring out people's pets. Far fewer animals were left behind in the wake of Harvey, she said. Email: romboy@deseretnews.com Twitter: dennisromboy
