Hurricane Dorian has had a devastating impact on the Bahamas and its people over the last few days. Many citizens and tourists have been left homeless—that includes our four-legged friends.
Natural disasters pose a significant threat to abandoned and homeless animals, especially those who have been left behind by their families during evacuations. With animal shelters already overflowing on any given day, there are few places where these pets can go to take cover from bad weather.
Chella Philips has taken it upon herself to help as many of these animals as she possibly can.
Phillips runs The Voiceless Dogs of Nassau refuge in New Providence.
When Hurricane Dorian hit, she decided that she would bring a few dogs to her home in order to protect them from the storm. However, “a few” dogs quickly turned into many, many more.
“97 dogs are inside my house and 79 of them are inside my master bedroom.”
“It has been insane since last night,” she explains in a Facebook post, “Poop non-stop but at least they are respecting my bed and nobody has dared to jump in. We have barricaded the refuge and nobody is outside, the music is playing in all directions of the house and the AC is blowing for them.”
A few locals were able to donate extra dog crates to help with the less mobile dogs.
“I managed to bring some less fortunate ones and I really appreciate some of you donating for crates,” her post continues, “I really needed it for the scared ones and the sick ones. so Thank you!”
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Phillips also brought up the importance of remembering that rehabilitation AFTER a hurricane can be the hardest part.
“We may not get hit as hard as other islands and the saddest part is that after the hurricane leaves the Bahamas, some islands will take a long time to recover,” she writes, “Each island has abundance of homeless dogs, my heart is so broken for the ones without a place to hide a CAT 5 monster and only God can protect them now.”
Oddly enough, the day of the hurricane was the fourth anniversary of Phillips’ refuge opening.
“Today is the Fourth anniversary since the refuge opened its doors to homeless and abandoned dogs,” she writes, “And we have cared for nearly 1,000 of them which we are very proud that we managed to give them hope so they could all be happy at last.”
“Please pray for the Bahamas!”
It is very likely that most of the dogs who have been brought in during Hurricane Dorian will soon be up for adoption. You can keep updated on the dogs and Phillips’ refuge at The Voiceless Dogs of Nassau, Bahamas .
h/t: Daily Mail
