Shock, then gratefulness. These are the emotions residents around Natchez, Mississippi are experiencing when they learn UAN volunteers are running a free emergency shelter for pets living in the path of the flooding Mississippi River.

Submitted by UAN volunteer Debbie Ferguson of Kildeer, Illinois

Submitted by UAN volunter Debbie Ferguson of Kildeer, Illinois

It has been a hectic week for the ten UAN volunteers who traveled from across the United States to assist with a flood response in Kennett, Missouri. With the Mississippi river at an all-time high, residents in southeast Missouri were warned of imminent evacuation orders and many were proactive and took their animals to a local shelter for safekeeping.  It soon became clear that the shelter could not handle all of the animals, so the ASPCA was called in to assist.

As floodwaters, saturate parts of the Midwest and Southeastern United States, UAN's Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) volunteers are hard at work taking care of hundreds of animals evacuated in Southeast Missouri.