San Antonio’s ACS helps transport animals to create space for pets affected by Guadalupe River flood

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Animals affected by the Guadalupe River floods are getting some relief from volunteers. San Antonio Animal Care Services (ACS) is helping transport animals from the Williamson County Regional Shelter to San Antonio to create space for incoming animals from the flooded region.

Animal Care Service Director Jon Gary said his team expected more than 50 animals to arrive in San Antonio on Wednesday.

“We are going to house them in a facility that’s next door to ours until Friday morning, and we’re working with the Bissell Foundation to actually put them on a plane, and they’ll be flown to some space up [in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, and New Jersey],” he explained.

Gary added that ACS needs volunteers to care for the animals until they are flown out.

“It’ll be extra cleaning and care of the animals while they’re here. And so we’re looking at volunteers to help us do that. Some of the animals will actually have to be kept in crates while they’re here. And so we need to make sure they get out, they’re walked and they’re exercised until we can get them to get them flown out. So the volunteers are mostly providing support to us here on campus, just to provide care,” he said.

Any of the animals impacted by the flood will be brought into the Williamson County Regional Shelter. 

April Peiffer, the community engagement coordinator at Williamson County Regional Shelter, explained that “what we are doing is caring for the animals that come to us and who do not currently have families able to assist them. For instance, if a pet is found lost and wandering, they may be brought to us, and we’ll care for them.”

Williamson County Regional Shelter also helped evacuate two different shelters between last Saturday and Monday.

Peiffer said the number one goal is to reunite the animals with their loved ones.

“We have extended our hold time for pets who have been found in Georgetown, Leander and Liberty Hill, because those were the areas affected by the flooding up here in our jurisdiction,” she added. “And we are holding on to them for an extended time so that those families have the opportunity to either come and reclaim their pet or get in touch with us and let us know that they are in the process of working on a plan to be able to do so, since we know that they may be displaced.”

Families seeking their pets from the flood affected areas can use the national pet image matching website Petco Love Lost. 

“A family can upload their lost pet to that website, and then, if that lost pet is found by somebody, the person who finds them, they can upload a photo of that found pet to Petco Love Lost,” she explained. “And Petco Love Lost technology will do image comparisons to try to match the lost to found pet.”