LEVERETT — Dakin Humane Society is helping with hurricane disaster relief efforts by taking in southern “dixie dogs” and cats displaced in South Carolina, Texas, and elsewhere.
Leading up to Hurricane Harvey’s landfall in Texas a few weeks ago, “12 animals came prior to the storm. Since then we’ve taken in 10 to 15,” said Carmine DiCenso, director of Dakin Humane Society, which has facilities on Montague Road and in Springfield.
From a South Carolina shelter, Dakin has taken in another two dozen or so homeless animals to make room elsewhere for dogs and cats in need of emergency shelter. All of them have been adopted.
“This is not unusual. If a dog is here for more than a week, it’s surprising,” said Lee Chambers, a spokeswoman for the agency.
“We’ve had so many calls and inquiries about helping a hurricane animal,” DiCenso said. “Anytime you adopt an animal, it’ll have that ripple effect. You adopt an animal from Leverett or Springfield, that opens up a cage where we can take in an animal from a disaster or another place.”
Dakin, which can keep 300 animals between the two facilities, another 200 in foster homes, has a working relationship with animal shelters throughout the nation.
About 400 out-of-state animals are taken in each year regardless of natural disasters. But in the case of disasters, there’s a system in place to handle the sudden influx of rescued animals, displaced by rising water and destroyed homes.
“There are usually several stages. Stage one is when shelters reach out (beforehand). Phase two is moving animals who are truly homeless,” DiCenso continued. That opens cages in affected shelters to handle the coming emergency.
Phase three, which hasn’t happened yet, is finding homes for animals that shelters in affected regions “have been temporarily holding with hopes to get them back to their families,” DiCenso said.
For those who can’t adopt, there are other ways to pitch in. Donations are helpful because more animals need more money, DiCenso said.
Whately residents came up with a more creative way to help animals in need through hand-made cat toys.
S. White Dickinson Memorial Library Director Candace Bradbury-Carlin brought two baskets full of “irresista-balls,” made from paper towel rolls, and “flingy-rings,” created with strips of fabric and hair ties.
“I keep a fabric supply at home,” Bradbury-Carlin said. The crafts coincided with the library’s Summer Reading Program theme, “building a better world.”
“A lot of the kids loved the idea of giving to animals,” she noted.
For more information on how to give, or to see profiles of animals available to adopt, visit www.dakinhumane.org.
The center located in Leverett can be visited from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. every day but Monday at 163 Montague Road.