 |
| Arnelia Birchfield |
HSUS Tenn. State Director Leighann McCollum (left), Peg
Petrelli (Humane Society of Sumner County), Dr Louis
Graham (Graham Animal Hospital in Hendersonville) and Coltrain. |
The HSUS's Leighann McCollum lives in Sumner County, where eight people were killed in the tornadoes that hit the southeast on Feb. 5. More than 50 people were killed—32 of them in Tennessee.
McCollum, along with HSUS Disaster Services Director Scotlund Haisley and volunteers, helped to rescue 43 frightened and injured animals—four cats and 39 dogs.
Q: Where were you when the tornadoes hit?
A: One of the tornadoes that killed five people hit about eight miles from my house. It was a pretty scary night. My husband was out of town, and I was curled up in bed with all three dogs listening to the wind howl and the hail beat the windows.
Q: What did you see in the morning?
A: I turned on the news and saw that there were areas of complete devastation. When we got to the disaster zone, we saw dogs who were chained outside that were literally torn apart or crushed under debris. It’s a sad reminder that animals left outside in storms don’t fare very well.
We had a report of one lady who had 40 cows in her pasture who were just gone—nobody ever found them.
Q: How did The HSUS get involved in the animal recovery operations?
A: I called the Tennessee State Disaster Animal Response Team coordinator to ask if they had any needs as far as companion animals were concerned. HSUS Disaster Services Director Scotlund Haisley came to Tennessee to evaluate the needs, and we met with representatives from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the assistant state veterinarian, who invited us to deploy our DART team and assist with companion animal recovery.
A large number of HSUS staff members were deployed and assisted for many days in response to this disaster. We made some great new friends in the wake of so much devastation.
Q: What steps did you take to recover animals?
A: Wilson County DART began rescues the night of the tornado and initiated set-up of a temporary shelter for companion animals. Nashville Humane Association brought its mobile adoption units to set up a pet-friendly shelter for people housed at the Red Cross shelter in Lafayette, Tenn. HSUS assumed operations of the rescue shelter on Friday, Feb. 8. Ray Goad, who is president of the Macon County Fairgrounds, allowed us to use two buildings to set up a headquarters and shelter the animals.
We had two shelter and operations trailers coming from Florida and Maryland with the disaster team. While we were waiting for that equipment, we borrowed a pickup truck from HSUS volunteer Jane Berry, who operates the Sterile Feral. Scotlund, Jane, and I began searching for displaced pets and bringing them to the shelter.
As we drove around the devastated areas and searched through rubble, animals were coming out to us. A golden retriever was scavenging for food at a busy intersection, and as we tried to catch him, he led us back to his friends who were still chained in the rubble.
State troopers were flagging us down, and people were calling the number we had set up to report animals in need. We left food for animals we couldn’t catch and went back for them later.
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| The HSUS/Leighann McCollum |
| Scotlund Haisley with Toto, who fell from the tornado. |
Q: Tell me about some of the animals you rescued.
A: There was a Jack Russell terrier mix we called Toto because the person who brought him in said, “He just fell out of the tornado into my yard.”
A shepherd mix puppy survived the tornado but then wandered into the road and was hit by a car. He has a broken pelvis and is currently recuperating at my house. He’s limping around, but still trying to get my dogs to play. We’re calling him Murphy—as in Murphy’s Law.
I’m also fostering a cat whose owner is staying with family until her emergency housing trailer comes and she can take him back home.
While Scotlund and I were driving through the disaster zone, we got a call that there were puppies under a demolished church. It was about 20 degrees outside, and I couldn’t stop thinking about them out there alone. We found the church, and as we were walking around with a flashlight, an adult beagle came running toward me. Her tail was tucked and she was shivering. She hugged me when I picked her up. I put her in the car to keep her warm and went to look for the puppies. We found them hiding in a corner under what was left of the church.
We also had a black and white border collie mix called Coltrain. After the tornado came, his owners ran outside and saw that the barn had fallen over onto the dog kennel and demolished it. The owner found a black lump in the dark, and he thought it was Coltrain and that he’d been killed.
They left and came back two days later to sift through their belongings. All of a sudden Coltrain came out of the woods. He had a 14-inch gash on his side, his two bottom canines had pierced his muzzle, and he had a 3-inch gash on his shoulders. They didn’t know how they were going to help him; they had just lost everything.
He is now being boarded at a vet’s office, and The HSUS is providing financial support for Coltrain’s 24-hour medical care. He is still struggling.
There were a lot of tragedies. One family in particular came in every day looking for their dog, Baby Girl. She was a Chihuahua who was the constant companion to a man killed in the tornado. HSUS Field Operations Director Jeff Eyre found Baby Girl’s body in the rubble. Jeff visited the family to let them know he had found her. It wasn’t the outcome we hoped for, but at least they had closure. Their son came the next day to thank Jeff and tell him how much his personal attention and sympathy meant to their family.
Q: What is the status of the recovered pets?
Sixteen have been picked up by their owners so far. All 43 unclaimed animals were moved to three shelters: the Humane Society of Sumner County, the Nashville Humane Association, and Rutherford County PAWS. In accordance with Tennessee DART regulations, animals rescued during disasters must be held for 30 days, so these animals will remain at the shelters until March 7. If they are unclaimed after that, they will be placed for adoption.
