Relief efforts are officially underway in eastern Tennessee where numerous rural communities have been impacted by Hurricane Helene.
The University of Tennessee’s College of Veterinary Medicine is coordinating efforts in providing pet food and livestock feed to those in need.
Over the course of the last two days, the university’s Associate Dean for Outreach says that they have hit the ground running, with one truck of supplies already making its way to Chuckey, Tennessee, about 90 minutes from Knoxville.
“We’re keeping track of how many different types of food and bag sizes. I’m guessing we’ve probably collected between two and three thousand pounds of animal food for dogs, cats, horses, and other livestock. And also, 21 square bales of hay and a couple bales of compressed hay, and the farm that donated this hay has already said that they’re going to get us some more here in a few days,” according to Dr. Marcy Souza.
She emphasized the need for these pets and livestock resources in heartbreaking situations like these.
“Sometimes people do leave animals behind, but what we’ve seen in previous disasters is a lot of times people will not leave those animals behind, and so if they have to evacuate those dogs and cats are coming with them, and they may not have food to feed them or some of their supplies has been swept away. So, a lot of the livestock, their hay has been ruined with all of these flood waters and so they need food for those cattle and sheep and goats and horses. And so, the horses and all those other animals that are really a part of our life and part of that human-animal bond that is so important to a lot of people,” she adds.
She says that as volunteers and animal lovers, this is just what they do, helping to support the people as well as the animals that have been affected in east Tennessee.
