TULSA, Okla. — The Humane Society of Tulsa is making preparations to help at a hurricane disaster site. They await the final word on whether to head to North Carolina, recovering from Hurricane Helene, or to Florida, bracing for Hurricane Milton.
They use “Zipper” at disaster sites. It’s an animal shelter on wheels, the size of a semi-truck.
The Banfield Foundation funded its creation for the Humane Society of Tulsa. Banfield will make the final call on HST’s destination.
Zipper has kennels all along the cab, HVAC units and a generator. It was built with disasters in mind.
“If we’re able to hit the road and assist, we do,” Rachel Ward, manager of HST’s adoption center said.
As soon as Banfield gives the final word, she will be part of Tulsa’s convoy to the disaster site.
“It’s so easy to push the animals down the priority list,” Ward said, “So many organizations – amazing organizations – are coming in to take care of the people and a lot of times the pets can get left behind.”
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The folks from HST will make sure pets at one of the two disaster sites will get top-notch care. They got assistance from Tulsans, who donated water bottles, dog toys, food and more. All the donations will be loaded up into the rig and taken to the site.
HST will accept donations during regular business hours until they leave for the disaster site.
Ward says Zipper is one of the few rolling shelters in the country. She bets there are less than 10 in existence.
These Oklahomans have a unique chance to give people peace of mind.
“They’re put in a really sticky situation because a lot of the human shelters don’t allow those humans to come into the shelter,” Ward said, “What our rig enables us to do is let them house their animals on there, and then they can go inside and take care of their needs without having to worry about their animals.”
The Oklahoma Standard doesn’t care about species, it cares about help.
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