Brilliant way displaced pets are rescued and air-freighted to other states for rehoming in America

The news today about which I'm very pleased and impressed is that 28 cats which were displaced by Hurricane Helene have arrived at a Cape Cod shelter. And also, simultaneously, it's reported that cats rescued from the same hurricane have arrived in Cincinnati. Dozens of feline friends from Tift County Georgia are now at Cincinnati Animal Care.

And regarding the 28 cats displaced, referred to above, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals animal shelter on Route 28 received the animals on Tuesday, October 8 and they could be ready for adoption by the end of the week.

Cats are very resilient under these circumstances. But also, humans are very resilient and I'm referring here to Americans who do such a wonderful job of finding homes for cats displaced during natural disasters such as the one mentioned.

They do this over and over again and take in displaced and homeless cats out of one state and air freight them across the country to other states and other animal shelters where they can be rehomed. It's complex and it requires a lot of commitment, effort and time and money. And yet they do it obviously supported by many volunteers. These volunteers have hearts of gold as far as I'm concerned.

You don't see this kind of thing in Europe and in the UK where I live. It's is, it seems to me, specific to America where they have this well oiled machine which kicks into action. Perhaps it's partly due to the fact that they have lots of hurricanes it seems to me in America along a specific corridor.

Hurricane Helene was a devastating tropical cyclone that caused widespread destruction fatalities across the South-Eastern United States in late September 2024. It was the strongest hurricane on record to strike the Big Band region of Florida, and the deadliest advantage hurricane since Maria in 2017.

America's great rehoming process

In the United States, when natural disasters like hurricanes displace companion animals, animal rescuers, shelters, and organizations come together to relocate and rescue these animals. The goal is to ensure that pets left behind or made homeless after a disaster are brought to safety, cared for, and, ideally, rehomed. This type of large-scale animal transport is complex and coordinated, involving many steps and stakeholders.

Process of Companion Animal Transport After Disasters

1. Initial Rescue Efforts:
   After a natural disaster like a hurricane, local authorities, animal control, and rescue organizations begin by identifying and rescuing animals. This could include dogs, cats, and sometimes other companion animals like rabbits or birds. Many of these animals are either found wandering, trapped in homes, or surrendered by families who can no longer care for them due to the crisis.
2. Temporary Shelters:
   These rescued animals are typically brought to temporary shelters or staging areas. Here, they receive medical care, food, and water. Many times, these shelters are set up by national animal welfare organizations like the ASPCA, Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), and Best Friends Animal Society, along with local shelters. These temporary shelters often quickly reach capacity, especially in heavily impacted areas, and that’s where the need for transportation arises.
3. Assessment and Coordination:
   Rescuers assess the health and temperament of the animals to determine if they are fit for transport. Volunteers and coordinators from national organizations, local shelters, and transport groups create a plan for relocating the animals. The plan involves moving animals from the affected region to shelters in other parts of the country that have the space and resources to take them in. In many cases, a distinction is made between pets who were owned and need to be reunited with their families, and those who were strays or surrendered prior to or during the disaster. The former are often held locally for a period to allow families to reclaim them, while the latter may be transported sooner.
4. Air and Ground Transport:
   There are two main modes of transporting companion animals across the country:

• Ground Transport: Ground transport is typically coordinated using a network of volunteers or professional pet transport companies. They use specially equipped vehicles that can accommodate multiple animals in a safe and controlled environment. The trips are often long-distance and require careful planning to ensure the animals are kept calm, safe, and healthy during the journey.
• Air Transport: In more severe disaster situations, or when time is of the essence, air transport may be used. National organizations partner with airlines, pilots, or charter services to fly animals out of disaster zones to safer areas. Organizations such as Wings of Rescue, GreaterGood.org, and Pilots N Paws are frequently involved in this effort. After Hurricane Helene and other hurricanes, private aircraft, cargo planes, and even military planes have been used to evacuate animals.

1. Receiving Shelters and Rehoming:
   The animals are sent to shelters across the country that have capacity and resources to care for them. These receiving shelters might be in areas unaffected by the disaster, where adoption rates are higher or where the animals will have a better chance of being rehomed. For example, dogs from a hurricane-hit area in Texas may be sent to states in the Northeast, where there is a demand for adoptable pets. Once the animals arrive at their destination, they are often placed in foster care or in shelter adoption programs. The animals receive additional veterinary care and may be microchipped or spayed/neutered if necessary.
2. Public Awareness and Adoption Drives:
   Following the relocation of these animals, shelters and rescue organizations often launch public awareness campaigns and adoption drives. Highlighting that these animals are survivors of a natural disaster can attract attention and motivate people to adopt. These campaigns often have strong media coverage, drawing attention to the urgent need for homes for these pets.

Example: Hurricane Helene (or Similar Hurricanes)

Hurricane Helene, although not as notorious for animal displacement as other hurricanes (like Hurricane Katrina or Harvey), serves as a case study of how animals are moved in response to such disasters. After hurricanes, it is common for animal shelters in the affected region to be overwhelmed with stray or surrendered pets. Local authorities, overwhelmed by the number of displaced animals, seek help from national organizations.

For example, in hurricanes like Helene:

• Wings of Rescue or Pilots N Paws might arrange flights to transport animals out of affected areas.
• Shelters in unaffected states, like those in the Midwest or Northeast, would receive the animals. These shelters would prepare for an influx by recruiting extra volunteers, organizing adoption events, and reaching out to the public.

Key Organizations Involved in Disaster Animal Rescue

• ASPCA: The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is often one of the first organizations on the ground to help coordinate animal rescues.
• Humane Society of the United States (HSUS): They provide direct response teams and coordinate the evacuation and relocation of animals.
• Wings of Rescue: A nonprofit organization that uses air transport to relocate animals from disaster zones.
• Best Friends Animal Society: They often play a leading role in disaster animal rescue and relocation efforts.
• Pilots N Paws: A volunteer organization that uses private pilots to transport animals.

Challenges in Transporting Animals

• Capacity: Shelters in disaster zones are often quickly overwhelmed, and coordinating the transfer of hundreds of animals is a logistical challenge.
• Health Risks: The stress of transport and the animals’ exposure to trauma can make them vulnerable to illness or behavioral issues.
• Resource Constraints: Coordinating large-scale evacuations requires funding, volunteers, vehicles, and space in shelters across the country, which can be difficult to secure quickly.
• Reuniting Pets with Owners: While some animals are transported for adoption, others may need to stay in the area to be reunited with their original families. Tracking and identifying pets during a chaotic event like a hurricane can be difficult.

Through this process, companion animals are given a second chance at life, and many are adopted into loving homes across the country, far from the disaster that originally displaced them.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

Lily Allen's rescue dog "ruined her life" and she gave her back

Lily Allen and a (not the dog in the story) Maltipoo. Image credit for Allen at base of article.

The news today on the celebrity circuit is that Lily Allen returned her rescue dog to the shelter from where she adopted her (which I believe was a Maltipoo) because he or she ate her passport and the passports of her children. The latest is that PETA has criticised her publicly for surrendering her dog to the shelter in an open letter. AND she said that she has received death threats on social media. It is pretty bad. She did wrong. There is no doubt about it but she does no deserve death threats. And she did adopt a rescue dog rather than buying a purebred. Anyway...

This caused her a huge amount of disruption and distress mainly because she was unable to take her children to see their dad in England for four or five months. 

In response to suffering that disruption to her life she said the following: "And because the father of my children lives in England, I couldn't take them back to see their dad for, like, four months, five months, because this f***king dog had eaten the passports. And I just couldn't look at her. I was like: 'You've ruined my life.'"

As a consequence of telling the world that she felt that she had to return her rescue dog to the shelter from where she adopted her, she received criticism on social media. She told the world about it on the podcast Miss Me? which she hosts with the TV presenter Miquita Oliver.

The singer explained: "We rescued our puppy Mary from a shelter in NY and we loved her very much, BUT she developed pretty severe separation anxiety and would act out in all manner of ways.

"She couldn't be left alone for more than 10 mins, she had 3 long walks a day 2 by us and 1 with a local dog walker and several other dogs, we worked with the shelter that we rescued her from and they referred us to a behavioural specialist and a professional trainer, it was a volunteer from the shelter who would come and dog sit her when we were away, and after many months and much deliberation everyone was in agreement that our home wasn't the best fit for Mary."

One X user wrote: “Lily Allen is all that’s wrong with the world, got a puppy, used it for likes on Instagram, and then sent it back to the home because it chewed up her family passports that she left within its reach.” - A lot of people would agree with this.

Update: this is a picture of Mary. A black dog! It is from her Instagram page. I am not sure that this dog is a Maltipoo. She looks like a mongrel (mixed breed) to me. 

Mary. Now returned to the shelter from where she was adopted. Image: Instagram.

Liliana lives in New York with her husband, the actor, David Harbour and her two children, Ethel Mary, 13, and Marnie Rose, 11. She added: "We actually did adopt a dog already, but then it ate my passport and so I took her back to the home. She ate all three of our passports and they had our visas in. And I can't tell you how much money it cost me to get everything replaced, because it was in Covid and so it was just an absolute logistical nightmare."

She didn't say which specific pet she was talking about but my research indicates that she was a Maltipoo, which looks like a little, fluffy white terrier-type dog. These are small dogs and small dogs are popular.

The dog was named Mary and she adopted Mary in 2021 from Animal Haven, a New York-based animal sanctuary. Mary had her own Instagram account.

Allen added in her frustration about this incident that "Passports weren't the only thing she ate. She was a very badly behaved dog and I really tried very hard with her, but it just didn't work out and the passports were the last straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak."

She said that she was keen to get another dog which the family had decided to name Jude Bellingham after the English footballer.

As mentioned some criticised the singer on X. For example, one user wrote the following: "That's her fault, not the poor dog's. She is clearly an idiot of the highest order for not keeping important documents away from animals."

Another added: "There are no badly behaved dogs only badly behaved owners. A dog did not ruin your life, you ruined your own life by not being responsible for your belongings."

My comment: these comments are essentially correct. And it's down to her as well to ensure that her dog is trained. This was a double whammy of arguably irresponsibility from Lily Allen in both failing to ensure that her documents were kept in a safe place and arguably in failing to ensure that her dog was properly trained before adopting her or training the dog after the adoption (but see below). 

I appears that the dog acted up due to separation anxiety. That points to the fact that she was not in a position to adopt the dog in the first place as she is away from home a lot it seems. I think that is the problem. She was not in a place to adopt a dog. It is said that dogs should not be left alone for more than 4 hours. Other people helped her keep Mary company but it did not work out.

I think that there is one good thing to say about Lily Allen regarding this incident: she had the courage to take the dog back to the shelter and admit her failings I presume at the shelter. She would have told the shelter that the dog was badly behaved but in doing so she was indirectly and by implication admitting that she had failed herself as well. I think that was quite courageous because some people don't have the courage to do that.

Lily Allen image credit: By Justin Higuchi from Los Angeles, CA, USA - Lily Allen 04/25/2018 #22, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=79414080

Update: Lily Allen is angry at PETA. She claims that the organisation has 'added fuel to the fire'.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Jack Russell stuck in pipe cost owner €10,000

FRANCE: A Jack Russell terrier owner has been sent a bill for €10,000, the cost of rescuing his dog from a drainage pipe by firefighters. It took nine hours.

The Jack Russell, Gaia, stuck in a pipe which cost her owner €10,000 to rescue. Image: The Times.

Aliane Chichi, the dog's owner, was on a holiday in Switzerland when his Jack Russell, Gaia, chased a fox. He searched for her. There were two other dogs with him and they led him to a manhole where he heard her barking.

He couldn't pinpoint her location and called emergency services. They discovered that she was trapped underground in a 20 cm diameter pipe.

In all, a dozen firefighters were involved in rescuing his dog who whimpered throughout.

He said that "They used a camera to find her and then they had to call in a contractor to drill down through the road the next day."

The firefighters warned him that he would have to pay because they had to bring in an excavator and road-drilling machinery and he is not a Swiss resident.

They asked him whether he wanted to stop the rescue and he refused. He said that he "wasn't going to leave my dog to die in that pipe. It was unthinkable."

He is shocked by the bill which equates to £8,700 ($10,555). He thought the rescuers were doing their work as a gesture of goodwill but doesn't want to speak badly about them.

In an interview on French radio, he said that he feels that the rescuers were using his distress at the time "to fill their pockets".

He's been able to raise about £2,000 and a crowdfunding appeal was successful enough to cover the rest of the bill with a surplus of about £900. He is donating it to an animal welfare charity.

My thanks to The Times of 27th Oct 2023.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Hamas massacres entire family leaving nervous puppy behind who was rescued (video)

NEWS AND OPINION: Fox News report of the plight of dogs on the Israel side of this war. The first is a sweet-looking and nervous puppy held by the journalist Trey Yingst. Hamas massacred his family. He was the only survivor. They lived near the Gaza/Israel border.  I have three feelings. First: great to see the news media focus on companion animals for a while although, secondly the Fox News anchor says that pets are less important than humans which is the conventional attitude but not for me!

Thirdly it is tremendously sad to see this traumatised puppy. One hopes that he gets over it in due course.

In the second part another rescued dog is presented to the camera by Barak Levi Segal. The dog is a survivor of a kibbutz that was invaded by the Hamas terrorists. He is very scared for obvious reasons. 

The dog is peaceful and small. He got lucky because he was fortunate to be found by a person sympathetic to dogs. The journalist rescued three dogs in all and the families of two were reunited with their dog after the rocket attacks. He also states that dogs were shot dead by Hamas.

The short video tells the story of the Hamas attacks on the villages near the border with Israel. It is a different perspective and I like to see it. Although as mentioned it is sad to see.

Dog rescued from the Hamas terrorist attacks on a village and Kibbutz in Israel near the Gaza border. This puppy was the sole survivor of an entire family massacred by Hamas terrorists.

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Note: please forgive any typos. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Cat adopts an American volunteer for K9 Rescue International in Ukraine where things are getting better

NEWS AND VIEWS - UKRAINE: This is a nice letter from an American man, Tom Bates, who has been in Ukraine since March 2022, volunteering his services for K9 Rescue International. His letter is published on the Key Peninsula News website. He's been rescuing and evacuating animals; bringing food to hungry animals and travelling through many zones of conflict dodging Russian rockets and artillery fire. 

MacDonald's to reopen some restaurants in Ukraine. Image: Shutterstock.

When he first arrived in Ukraine things were bad, he says. It was grim and he still can't speak decent Ukrainian which doesn't surprise me because it takes a long time to learn a foreign language.

But some good things have happened. Firstly, a cat adopted him he says. He named the cat Bob. And he says that when he returns home to America, he is bringing Bob with him. I like that. He's rescued a cat in need in a war zone and he is going to give the cat a good life in a good country. That is about as good as you can do in terms of animal welfare as an individual person doing their bit.

The second bit of good news is this: things are beginning to get back to normal despite the war continuing. I guess this is the case because the war is confined more and more to eastern Ukraine and in the south. The other areas, thankfully - and I hope this continues - are fairly normal such as life in the capital Kyiv. Although Putin has hinted that he might try and take Kyiv a second time. Although that would be a new mobilisation which would be incredibly unpopular and it might fail bearing in mind that around 300,000 men left the country last time they were mobilised.

Another good sign that things are returning to normal and I hope it stays that way (there is no certainty) is that McDonald's restaurants are beginning to reopen across Ukraine.

When the war started, MacDonald closed every restaurant in Ukraine and donated all their food to the military. They continue to pay all employees their full wage. Pretty amazing. But now the stores are opening again of course the employees can come back and the general public are very thankful because Bates says that "Cars wrap around several blocks for the drive through. Lines of people flow out the doors for 100 yards. Every table is full."

Ukrainians have missed their McDonald's. Car dealerships have cars on show and some checkpoints have been dismantled. People are smiling more and of course the warm weather helps.

This is just a little glimpse of life from the point of view of a volunteer helping out with animal welfare in a country ravaged by death and destruction to both animal and person. But as mentioned it is focused on certain areas so the mood has lifted.

It is said that it will cost around $500 billion to rebuild the country. As I understand it, the West has frozen almost $400 billions of Russian assets which can be used.

Weird dog picture signals horror cat treatment

I am not going to talk about this a lot because it is too distressing. But in the photograph just below this paragraph you see a very strange, indeed weird, situation. You see lots of dogs clambering around the driver's and passenger's seat in a van parked in Hampton, Oakland, New Jersey, USA. It is just not the kind of picture you see, ever. It caught my eye and as expected it reveals a horror story behind it.

Dogs inside van packed full of dead and sick cats and dogs. Image: Fox News.

Looking at the picture you can see that the unamed woman who owns these cats and dogs was living on a shoestring. They've repaired the dashboard with duct tape. It looks very grimy. The dogs look very sad and confused.

We are told that inside the vehicle there were 38 dogs and eight cats. Rescuers made the discovery last Saturday, April 8. The vehicle had been parked for two days at least. There were dogs running around the parking lot. A foul odour emanated from the vehicle unsurprisingly.

The dogs were soaked in urine and faeces. The vehicle was packed with animals.The cats and dogs inside the truck were terrified and huddled in all corners. 

Rescuers pulled them from the vehicle one by one. There were dead animals inside the vehicle which was soaked in urine, faeces and where there were animal remains. It is truly a ghastly, horrible and a horror story. It is the worst kind of animal abuse and animal hoarding.

The hoarding woman had decided to put all her animals in the van because her home in Virginia had been damaged in a fire. This had apparently forced her to live in the van with her large entourage of animals. She'd driven from Virginia to NJ.

It is such a relief, though, that they've been rescued and can start living normal lives with people who care. Ironically, then, that the person who did this thought that she was caring for them when she achieved quite the opposite. It is quite sad really. I feel for her despite the abuse she delivered to her animals. Often hoarders are borderline mentally ill.

Different rescue organisations were involved in this big job. It was Hampton animal control which were the first responders. They stayed into the late hours to rescue the animals and ensure that they had safe placements.

The identity of the driver has not been released. The information comes from Fox News Digital. They say that they have reached out to local police to seek more details.

Video of dog pulled from rubble 60 hours after earthquakes hit Turkey

This could just as well have been a cat or any other animal which is why the video is relevant on a cat website. It is remarkable and nice to see attention being given to an animal during this disaster which has claimed upwards of 20,000 people. The numbers are being constantly updated and the figures you see on news media are out of date at this time. They will continue to climb. Update: I have added a video of a cat rescue.

Many animals have been killed. I'd like to see a bit more focus on them.

The video gives a warning but it is not that bad. Nothing too unpleasant. In fact, it is an uplifting video of success and animal welfare. It almost seems fabricated as the video starts with the dog's head poking out of the rubble. What happened before that moment? The dog must have been covered in rubble in which case he would be covered in dust but he is not.

I think it is genuine but I believe that the dog was never totally under the rubble. It fell on him/her and covered part of their body which explains why their head is not covered in dust. But you never know these days as there are tons of fake animal rescue videos on social media. It is horrible. The world has become a big fake factory.

Note: these embedded videos sometimes disappear as they are removed from Twitter. Sorry if that has happened. They have a limited lifespan.

This innocent dog was just rescued after more than 60 hours underneath the rubble in Turkey.. 🥺

Via @Goodable pic.twitter.com/MZPMZsbhyO

— Buitengebieden (@buitengebieden) February 9, 2023

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When a local rescue team found university student Kerem Cetin under rubble in Turkey's Hatay, the earthquake victim immediately asked them to save his cat before pulling him out #earthquakeinturkey
pic.twitter.com/HsKJfuondk

— OSCAR (@oskcrr) February 9, 2023

Aircraft transporting 56 rescue dogs crashes on Wisconsin golf course

There are many aircraft criss-crossing America transporting rescue cats and dogs from and to various animal rescue centres in order to facilitate rehoming. In this instance a plane carrying a crew of three and 53 rescue dogs from Louisiana crashed last Tuesday morning on a golf course outside Milwaukee. Apparently, they lost an engine and had to crash land.

Dog rescued from plane crash. Screenshot / CBS 58. Note: the red coloration that you see on the dog's body is the lady's gloves and not blood.

The crew were not seriously unharmed (described as not life-threatening injuries) and the good point about this story is that the general public has rallied around as there have been hundreds of offers to adopt the lucky survivors.

The Humane Animal Welfare Center of Waukesha County (HAWS) said that they had been inundated with enquiries and donations about the dogs. They were being flown from Louisiana to Wisconsin.

A communications spokesperson for HAWS said:

"Our phones haven't stopped ringing all day. The response from our community has been absolutely overwhelming. We've had so many people that have enquired about adopting. Or is there some way they can help with donations or come in to help with the dogs - bringing in towels and toys and treats and that kind of thing. Our faith in humanity has been restored because of the care and compassion that we've seen today."

It appears that the dogs were not substantially harmed either and around 24 HAWS staffers and volunteers were waiting to pick them up from the airport and therefore they were not that far away from the crash site and were able to get there quickly.

There were concerned when they heard the news that the aircraft had made a crash landing at a golf course. But, fortunately, perhaps because of the pilot's skills, none were seriously harmed.

HAWS quickly achieved donations of more than $2,600 in a Facebook fundraiser in addition to $2,000 from other sources.

The amount they raised in a matter of hours was equivalent to what they would raise in weeks normally. The dogs are being treated for injuries and their personalities assessed. They are also being assessed for any mental trauma that they may have acquired because of the crash landing.

Animal shelter volunteer says that they have never been so busy on intakes

NEWS AND COMMENT: An animal shelter in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland, has never been busier. They are experiencing their highest ever demand to rehome cats and dogs in receiving 55 calls to taking unwanted companion animals in just one day.

One volunteer, Janice Porter, said that the Grove Hill Animal Trust has never seen it so bad in terms of intakes and she's been volunteering there for 20 years. By 11 AM on Monday she had received 20 calls to take in cats.

Janice Porter a volunteer at Grove Hill Animal Trust, a N. Ireland animal shelter. Photo: Belfast Live

What's behind this? She thinks there are two reasons (1) people who acquired cats during the Covid lockdown failed to spay and neuter them due to inexperience and (2) the cost-of-living crisis is making it harder for owners to fund the keeping of a companion animal. It appears that people are cutting their living expenses and one of the things to go is their pet. There is a third reason: people returning to the office after working at home under artificial circumstances.

This, it has to be said, points to the same problem of not spaying and neutering and in adopting during the Covid pandemic in order to keep yourself company. These are adopters who were not really committed to caring for their companion animal for the life of the animal. That's the root of the issue.

The Covid pandemic distorted our lifestyles. It has created some long-term problems in many areas. There was actually a prediction that there would be a flood of cat and dog abandonments after Covid for these very reasons.

RELATED: More cats than dogs abandoned during coronavirus pandemic.

There was certainly a huge surge in dog adoptions in particular because millions of people had time on their hands to do nothing while they received furlough money (UK). They thought they would adopt a dog and take him or her for a walk in the park to occupy themselves. That sounds great but it is not the best way to prepare for a lifetime of care of a companion animal. It might work out but as we can see too often it doesn't.

Many of the cats being abandoned to this shelter are aged around 2 to 3 years old. This once again points to adoptions made during lockdown.

And perhaps there are other issues at play here. Let's say a person adopts a cat during lockdown and then let's them wander around and in effect abandons that cat so that he or she becomes a stray. Another person feeds the stray and because they are not spayed, they are going to mate with a stray tomcat and produced kittens in quite large numbers over a couple of years. This sort of thing is happening as well. The kind person who fed the street cat is then going to take them and their kittens to a shelter for rehoming.

It is sad to see this surge in abandonments but it was predictable.

Cat and dog rescue from Tornado Alley after the deadliest tornadoes in history

The world has read about the deadliest tornadoes in history at a location in central America called Tornado Alley where they are most frequent. Kentucky is in Tornado Alley. We've seen the pictures of flattened houses. Utterly destroyed. Homeless people. Ninety-four people confirmed dead across six states. It has been described as one of the largest storm outbreaks in history devastating the Midwest and South.

Cat and dog rescue from Tornado Alley after the deadliest tornadoes in history. Photo: Zak Bennett for the Daily Mail.

They believe that 30 tornadoes ripped through Tennessee, Missouri, Mississippi, Kentucky, Illinois and Arkansas. It is now time to pick up the pieces in respect of companion animals.

Fortuitously, and perhaps remarkably, the Mayfield-Graves County Animal Shelter in Kentucky withstood the tornadoes and remains standing which is why they have had a huge influx of animals displaced by the catastrophe.

There are hundreds of injured animals and displaced pets at the shelter currently. They decided to move a little over 100 animals to other rescue organisations to make more room. They been taken to Massachusetts for adoption. Specifically they been taken to shelters in Boston, Methuen, Centerville and Cape Cod.

These animals were taken to Massachusetts before the tornado struck in preparation for the projected large influx of displaced pets after the tornadoes.

Volunteers do vital work in cat and dog rescue. Photo: Zak Bennett for the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail newspaper online say that they 'got a first look' at the displaced animals being held in crates waiting for their owners to pick them up. It appears that they will also remove some of these animals to Massachusetts and other states to cope with the ongoing influx.

I'm told that they are micro-chipping the animals. The idea behind that is that when their owner returns to pick them up they can properly keep track and identify them at the reunion. I think it's a way of identifying and managing the large number of rescued animals so that they can keep a handle on where they are and what is happening.

They expect to take in more animals in the coming days. David Spalding, Board President of the Mayfield County Animal Shelter spoke to DailyMail.com. He said that the animals don't have a place to go back to but they are out there amongst the carnage. He thinks it'll take awhile for them to calm down and come out at which time they will become visible. This will allow volunteers to catch them and bring them to the shelter.

Spalding said that he was overwhelmed but was managing. He said that he has not slept that much.

Kat Rooks, the Initiatives Director at the Kentucky Humane Center, was in one of the three vans that left Louisville to pick up 27 dogs and a cats from the Mayfield shelter (see photo at top of page). She said that it would take a long time to recover, remarking:

"Animals are coming in surrendered by good Samaritans. Animals coming in as strays. [Workers] are going out and assisting search-and-rescue teams and helping to remove animals from properties that have been devastated. They are already seeing an influx and expect that to continue. There were a lot of tears on Saturday. These are my friends, people that I know, I work with closely. People that I know lost everything there."

Foreign Office official Raphael Marshall claims British government prioritised rescue animals over people when evacuating Kabul

Raphael Marshall, who has now left the Foreign Office but who at the time was a junior civil servant, has made some pretty tough claims against the British government's handling of the evacuation of Kabul after the Taliban took over the country. And they are anti-animal claims too. Or human-centric.

Raphael Marshall. Pic in public domain.

What he is saying, in essence, is that British troops were used to support the evacuation of Nowzad cats and dogs (mainly dogs) from Kabul when they could have been used to help the evacuation of people instead. And because of this he claims that some people were left behind to be murdered by the Taliban. This claim is strongly denied by Dominic Raab the Foreign Secretary. Also many people with a good reason to be evacuated to the UK were not for many reasons which are not connected to the animal evacuation. One of them is the claimed disorder and even chaos at the Foreign Office at the time. Raab was on holiday for example although in close touch.

Marshall's claim is also strongly denied by Mr Paul "Pen" Farthing who ran the Nowzad animal rescue shelter. You may remember that at the time he was quite vociferous and outspoken, which he had to be, in order to successfully achieve the near impossible and get his rescue animals out of a chaotic Kabul. At the time, Mr Farthing felt that the British government wasn't doing enough and he was being jerked around. That alone flies in the face of Mr Marshall's claims.

Let’s make this bloody crystal clear & on the record. NOT 1 single British soldier was used to get me or the @Nowzad #dogs & #cats into #Kabul airport. This whistleblower lied to Parliament #nowzad supporters paid for cargo flight not the useless British government #operationark

— Pen Farthing (@PenFarthing) December 7, 2021

Note: This is an embedded tweet. Sometimes they are deleted at source which stops them working on this site. If that has happened, I apologise but I have no control over it.

In fact, Mr Farthing has tweeted his response (above) in saying that not one single British soldier was used to get him or his animals out of Kabul. He claims that Raphael Marshall is lying. He alleges that Mr Marshall lied to Parliament and that Nowzad supporters paid for the evacuation flights.

RELATED: 25-30 cats at US Embassy Kabul have been abandoned.

In response Marshall says that this isn't the point. The point is that British troops were used to help evacuate the animals when they would have been better used evacuating people. Mr Marshall claims that he is not accusing anybody of lying. He says that he is simply correcting the facts.

He says that he received an instruction from the Prime Minister to use considerable capacity to transport Nowzad's animals out of Afghanistan. He also claims that there was "no justification for concluding that Nowzad's staff were at significant risk". And that "the protection of domestic animals was not a UK war aim in Afghanistan".

RELATED: Whistle-blower's claim of direct trade-off between animals and people evacuating Kabul is wrong.

A man concerned with campaigning for the evacuation of the animals has spoken to LBC radio and said that he is sure that both Boris Johnson and his wife Carrie Johnson personally intervened in getting the animals evacuated. Boris Johnson has strongly denied that. 

However, Boris has gained a reputation for being a liar among the voting public. I think they have judged him harshly to be fair but he brings the problems upon himself. A lot of them are sick to death of his shenanigans as they see it. There is a current claim that he lied about the Christmas party last Christmas. 

It appears to have happened against the then Covid lockdown policy and to have been organised by staff at Downing Street but he denies it happened. There's a recording of employees talking about it and laughing, which has been aired on the radio. However, it is not clear that the party existed. The recorded gossip may have been about a fictional party.

A leaked letter suggests that the Foreign Office covered up PM’s involvement in animal airlift from Kabul, MP claims.

RELATED: Breaking news: Nowzad animals and staff cleared to evacuate to the UK - Aug 28, 2021.

Marshall says that there was limited ability to get people out of the country and as a result thousands of Afghan friends of the UK were at risk of being murdered. Many people were rejected for evacuation flights due to limited capacity. He claims that "this capacity was subsequently used to transport animals".

Further, he said "There was a direct trade-off between transporting Nowzad's animals and evacuating British nationals and Afghan evacuees, including Afghans who had served with British soldiers."

There it is: he is making a clear claim that in saving the lives of animals Britain jeopardised the lives of people and in some cases he has implied that people left behind who were friends of the UK have been murdered.

In light of Marshall's claims some Afghans who made it to the UK but who left behind relatives in danger of Taliban reprisals have chipped in and said that they are disappointed.

Mr Mohammed, an interpreter who was evacuated, said: “Dogs and cats have a life too and should be rescued. But in my opinion, the priority should be humans and more should be done to help those facing danger in Afghanistan.”

Comment: I don't want to comment on the claims about people being prioritised over animals unjustifiably. I would just like to make the point that in my opinion the animals deserved to be saved. It wasn't as if there was a huge animal airlift out of Kabul. This was quite a small contingent of animals and they were all rescue animals under a very high profile animal charity. Pretty well all the work was conducted by Mr Farthing and his supporters. He had to struggle to get the British government to pull their digit out to help them. And for me, it's a wonderful success story. I commend Mr Farthing. You can't prioritise people over animals exclusively all the time. You have to give some respect and some status to animals if we are to create a balanced balanced and compassionate world.

Camilla Long doesn't know the difference between Pen Farthing and Joe Exotic

Camilla Long is a well-known journalist writing for The Sunday Times. She comments on the news and I guess anything that interests her. Today, she has written something which irritates me. I'm sure she doesn't give a damn. In fact it probably pleases her because her provocative articles are meant to irritate and delight at the same time. She is a consummate writer, very bright, Oxbridge educated and blah blah blah. She is talented. But she's got this completely wrong.

Camilla Long. Photo: Twitter.

She is criticising animal lovers and "animal people" who, I presume, are the same species of human. And she can't tell the difference between the behaviour of the well-known animal rescuer, Pen Farthing, who was until the mass evacuation based in Kabul, Afghanistan and the obnoxious but made-for-television personality, Joe Exotic.

I'll tell her what the difference is. Mr Farthing saves the lives of unwanted and discarded animals. He shipped many dogs from Afghanistan to America. This is because American military personnel rescued dogs in Afghanistan and became close to them. When they came to the end of their deployment and returned to America they had to leave their dogs behind. Mr Farthing rectified that problem. He raised considerable funds to ship these dogs to America for a reunion and to allow the dogs to live out their lives happily. He saved lives and did good work. He also ran a vet surgery in Kabul. He founded and ran the best animal rescue organisation in Afghanistan for years. He alleviated pain and distress in animals.

RELATED: Taliban likely to ban dogs but accept cats

He bent over backwards and struggled enormously to save the lives of about 200 cats and dogs during the mass evacuation when the Taliban took over. Camilla Long criticises him for euthanising 32 older dogs at that time because they weren't enough crates to transport them all, she said. She also criticises him for the death of six cats who were tear-gassed after a suicide bomb went off at the airport.

I'm sure Mr Farthing reluctantly euthanised the dogs that she mentions. Sometimes rescue animals have to be euthanised despite best intentions. Under the most dire and critical conditions, Mr Farthing saved lives. If he euthanised these dogs it would have been an absolutely last resort that he was compelled to take. It would have been a humane decision.

RELATED: 25-30 cats at US Embassy Kabul have been abandoned

By contrast, Joe Exotic, for many years, ran the biggest private zoo in America and exploited big cat cubs for financial gain on a treadmill basis. They were used for photo shoots but when they grew up they were redundant. They were surplus to requirements. There were sometimes shot. Basically he was exploiting animals in the most abusive way for many many years. And he is serving a 22-year sentence for plotting to murder Carole Baskin, one of the world's 'animal people'. He is a thoroughly obnoxious individual.

These two individuals are in stark contrast to each other. You cannot say what Camilla Long has written about them which is as follows:

What's the difference between Farthing and the execrable human beings who run roadside tiger parks in America?

Well, I agree about the execrable human beings who exploit big cats and abuse them in the process but as mentioned there is a big difference. There's a big difference between exploitation and saving lives. In fact, they are at the opposite end of the spectrum of our relationship with humans.