![]() ![]() ![]() The work is exhausting, the plight of the animals sad. On most days, a half-dozen veterinarians are at the shelter tending to the wounded. More than 100 volunteers from across the country, many from other shelters, are in Joplin helping out - cleaning cages, providing veterinary care and exercising the animals. "If all of them aren't adopted, we'll start looking to rescue organizations and ways to get some of them to larger cities where they have a better chance at adoption," she said. A gravel parking lot outside a former used appliance store has been converted into an owner's waiting room, with plastic chairs and Polaroid snapshots of unnamed animals stuffed into thick three-ring binders.Īquino said none of the pets left homeless by the tornado will be euthanized. To handle the additional cats and dogs, the organization fixed up two vacant warehouses next to the shelter into air-conditioned kennels. We have posters at food and donation distribution points, public service announcements on radio and TV, ads in the newspaper - everything we could think of to let people know their pets might be here if they're missing." "We feel we've exhausted every avenue to get the word out," Aquino said. "They've lost everything."Įxecutive director Karen Aquino said it's not that the Humane Society hasn't tried to find the owners. "The reality is, a lot of these people aren't in a position to come get these animals," said Joplin native Tim Rickey, a field investigator for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. To that end, it plans an "Adopt-a-thon" the weekend of June 25-26, when animals that haven't been claimed by their owners will be given away free to good homes, after being spayed and neutered. In some cases, the owners - scrambling to find housing for themselves after 7,000 homes were destroyed, leaving nearly one-third of the city's 50,000 residents homeless - have simply given up their pets.īut the Joplin Humane Society is determined to find a home for every cat and dog. One way or another, the pets became separated from their owners in the chaotic aftermath of the May 22 twister that tore through this town, killing 153 people. ![]() Since the tornado, the Humane Society has found itself overflowing with animals, with about 900 now calling the shelter home - three times its usual inventory. (AP) - Hundreds of dogs and cats peer out from their cages at the Joplin Humane Society, some with cuts, infections and broken bones from the deadly tornado that turned their lives, like of those their owners, upside down. ![]()
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