RedRover Responders update: Arkansas and south-central United States tornado situation

Beginning Monday morning, as the deadly tornadoes struck the regions of the South and Midwest including Arkansas, Oklahoma and Iowa, RedRover Emergency Services Manager Beth Gammie has been reaching out to offer RedRover Responders‘ support to our partners and animal shelters in the area.

In any natural disaster where animals are in crisis, RedRover actively monitors conditions on the ground to assess whether our assistance is needed: through direct outreach to affected agencies and communities, social media reports, contacts with local volunteers and reaching out to partners in the area.

At this early stage, local authorities and agencies are conducting search and rescue and assessing both human and animal needs. Working within the FEMA Incident Command System, RedRover Responders stands ready to deploy to the affected regions when requested by appropriate authorities.

Additionally, as a founding member of the National Animal Rescue and Sheltering Coalition (NARSC), RedRover is participating in NARSC’s communications with other animal rescue and sheltering leaders, receiving up-to-date information on animal welfare needs and coordinating with animal welfare partners to provide support for victims of the midwest tornados.

In the meantime, RedRover has compiled an animal resource list for those affected by the tornadoes: www.RedRover.org/TornadoHelp

One of the resources available include RedRover Relief grants to provide financial assistance for veterinary care to animals injured in this storm. Please share this resource list widely and repost it via Facebook.

At this time we do not know when we will begin accepting donations that we can directly earmark toward the animal victims of this horrific tornado; we are unable to earmark donations for the Arkansas and Midwest response until RedRover Responders receives an official request from authorities to deploy.

Until then, you can help provide a clean, temporary shelter and loving care and attention for animals rescued from future crisis situations like tornados and floods or large-scale cases of neglect and abuse by contributing to our Emergency Response Fund: www.RedRover.org/EmergencyFund

Thank you, as always, for your personal commitment to helping animals in need.