Bridget Bowhay – Director of Content and Social Media at Cuddly
March 9, 2021
Mariah McCulley – Director of Operations at Animal Friends Alliance
March 16, 2021
Over Valentine’s Day weekend, the polar vortex brought freezing temperatures to locations across the United States. Texas was one of the hardest-hit areas, with cold temperatures bringing the state to a standstill and causing power outages across the state. Animal rescuers jumped into action and many animals were successfully transported out of Texas—including forty cats that came in the back of my father’s Suburban to our local shelter here in Fort Collins, Colorado.
This week I spoke with Clare Callison from American Pets Alive! about the crisis and how American Pets Alive! is still working to address it:
Walk us through what it was like over Valentine’s Day weekend in Texas when temperatures plummeted.
It was definitely a stressful time, full of uncertainties, and the situation definitely escalated quickly. At first, the focus was really on how to keep animals warm and safe during the below-freezing temperatures, but it quickly became more serious as there were massive power outages and loss of water. I felt we were all living hour by hour, not sure what to expect next. Many people lost cell phone service in addition to everything, so the loss of communication, transportation, power, and water—it was a frightening time overall.
What has American Pets Alive! been doing to address this situation?
We were initially focused just on providing solutions for the below-freezing temperatures, ramping up our rescue efforts to assist with the most vulnerable, open-air Texas shelters. However, the situation certainly became even more serious very quickly with the massive power outages—and many shelters had suffered damage with burst pipes, and a loss of water. At that moment, we were all hands on deck and created a Facebook group for central Texas to connect and receive . . . donations and support for people and their pets. This group allowed people to offer help, support, and donations, and quickly connect with people that needed these items. AmPA also initiated a transport “hub” program out of Austin Pets Alive, where dogs and cats are housed temporarily before being transported to rescue partners. We have established a goal of saving at least 1,000 animals in Texas within the few weeks following the storm, and we are in the midst of reaching that life saving goal. We are doing everything we can to save as many lives as possible.
What is the situation like now and what are the greatest challenges you’re facing now?
Although the weather has greatly improved—and that is a surreal experience, in and of itself—many shelters are still recovering from the repercussions of being out of commission for a week. We have many shelters in the state that have experienced a surge of animal intake, an increase of calls for help, and shelters are at maximum capacity. The consequences when many shelters become full is an increase of euthanasia and we are working hard to minimize that as much as possible with our APA transport hub program. We are faced with the challenge of securing the actual transportation piece and having enough space on transports to accommodate the volume of animals in need.
In recent years Texas has faced several weather events. What have past events taught you about saving animals in crisis?
The importance of partnerships and working collaboratively with other organizations. During a crisis, we know that we can’t do the work alone, and we are much stronger as a collective than we are working alone. The impact we can have and the number of people and pets we can help is much greater when all of our organizations work together. Also, the importance of working quickly, creatively, and communicating frequently with our team as much as possible. During a crisis, the situation can change hour by hour, so at the peak of this event, we were holding quick check in calls one to two times a day with our team. I’ve learned that going into these events, expecting change and being ready to pivot at a moment’s notice, or launch a new initiative based on the current needs, is imperative.
What can readers of our blog do to help you?
The best way readers can learn how to help is visiting the Austin Pets Alive site.
Originally from Colorado, Krista Beucler received a Bachelor of Arts in creative writing at the University of Mary Washington (UMW) in Virginia. She was the editor-in-chief for Issue 7.2 of the Rappahannock Review, the literary journal published by UMW. Krista’s creative work has been published in From Whispers to Roars literary magazine. She is spending COVID-19 at home with her cats.
