Hundreds of displaced dogs, cats coming to Delaware from weather-stricken South

More than 100 dogs and cats are scheduled to arrive Sunday in Delaware on a Wings of Rescue mission from Fort Worth, Texas, where extreme and deadly winter weather conditions helped cause widespread power issues and left millions without electricity for days.

The animals are being received by the Brandywine Valley SPCA  and were in shelters before the winter storm issues. They are being relocated to relieve three Fort Worth-area shelters struggling with issues such as power losses, limited access to water and dangerously low temperatures for the animals. Any pets lost during this week's cold snap are being held in the local area to be reunited with their families, BVSPCA said.

The arrivals from Texas are in addition to a previously scheduled flight arrival on Saturday carrying nearly 80 dogs and cats from Louisiana.

Two flights are scheduled to arrive Sunday, one in Georgetown carrying 40 animals and one in New Castle carrying 70 animals. Those flights are both coming from Texas. The dogs and cats will be housed at the Animal Rescue Center in Georgetown and across the BVSPCA’s Delaware campuses in Georgetown, Dover and New Castle.

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The dogs and cats on the flights are all vetted and health certificated, the BVSPCA said. They will be evaluated and spayed or neutered as needed and begin going up for adoption starting on Tuesday. 

Animals arriving from Louisiana on Saturday will be available at the BVSPCA West Chester, Pennsylvania, campus starting Sunday.

“We are one of the few shelters in the region with the rescue infrastructure to handle such large emergency intakes,” Adam Lamb, CEO of BVSPCA, said in a press release. “This many intakes in a weekend will require us to use every bit of our available resources, but we see it as our responsibility to help other communities during critical times of need.”

The BVSPCA says the community can help in three ways. 

• Donations can be made at bvspca.org/texas-freeze.
• People may visit the shelter to adopt.
• Or, if they aren’t in a position to adopt, they can share the news of this large intake to reach families that have been considering adoption.

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Contact Jeff Neiburg at jneiburg@delawareonline.com. Follow him on Twitter @Jeff_Neiburg.