Inspiring story about Mike Merrill and his wife, Kathy from Fla., who helped out after Hurricane Harvey, delivering thousands of pounds of dog and cat food to Houston and brought 17 dogs back to their shelter in Jacksonville. One week later, they were packing 25 dogs and nine cats into flight crates to be flown away from Hurricane Irma.
As president of Florida Urgent Rescue (FUR), Merrill understood the challenges they faced. “When you have a shelter full of animals, and our local shelters are very full, and then you get a wave of strays, there’s no place for them to go,” said Merrill. “The only thing to do is to kill a bunch of dogs or cats already in shelters to make room for the strays.”
To prevent that, FUR took 24 dogs and nine cats from shelters in Bradford, Baker, Clay and Putnam counties and flew them to no-kill shelters in Minneapolis and Indiana. Delta Air Lines provided free transport. Two pregnant dogs and two emaciated dogs remain in Fla.
During Irma, Merrill said he coordinated with other rescue groups, moving dogs from the hardest hit areas south and shelter dogs out of rural shelters.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2017/live-updates/weather/hurricane-irma-a-monster-storms-devastating-path/they-helped-rescue-animals-after-harvey-theyre-now-doing-the-same-during-irma/?utm_term=.fe06ef82297e