Emergency Animal Rescue Service Volunteers Helping Pets Displaced by Iowa Flooding

Financial Assistance for Flood Victims Also Available

SACRAMENTO, CA (June 15, 2008) – Today California-based United Animal Nations (UAN) began deploying dozens of trained volunteers from across the Midwest to help care for animals who are displaced by the catastrophic flooding in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

EARS volunteers like Dawn Frary of Iowa City are feeding, walking and socializing the animals displaced by the flooding in Cedar Rapids until they can be reunited with their families.

Volunteers with UAN’s Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) will care for animals who were evacuated or rescued at a temporary emergency shelter on the Kirkwood  Community College campus in Cedar Rapids. More than 300 dogs, cats, birds and other pets are at the shelter now, and that number could increase by as many as 100 per day as rescue crews bring in animals recovered from the flooded city.

“Our EARS volunteers are trained in emergency sheltering, and they are ready, willing and able to come to Cedar Rapids at a moment’s notice to help care for the animals who have been put in harm’s way by this disaster,” said Diann Wellman, a Regional Director for the EARS program who is at the shelter.

UAN’s EARS volunteers will provide shelter management, routine animal care, and general upkeep and cleaning of the shelter for the duration of the situation. Many of the EARS volunteers have significant experience operating emergency shelters and caring for animals during natural disasters.

Read our blog for updates and photos from this response.

With more than 4,000 trained volunteers, UAN can deploy its Emergency Animal Rescue Service  when communities become overburdened by a crisis involving large numbers of animals. In its 21-year history, UAN has responded to more than 80 natural disasters and other crises, including Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005; the Greensburg, Kansas tornado in 2007; and the major Midwest flooding in 1993.

UAN is also offering LifeLine Crisis Relief Grants to help victims of the flooding with expenses for the following:

• Veterinary care to treat injury or illness caused by flooding
• Temporary boarding for those whose homes are damaged or destroyed
• Transporting pets to a temporary living situation for those whose homes are damaged or destroyed

To apply for a grant or make a donation to support UAN’s disaster response efforts, visit www.uan.org .

United Animal Nations (UAN) is deploying EARS volunteers to Cedar Rapids at the request of the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Services to assist Cedar Rapids Animal Control. Other organizations involved in rescuing and sheltering the animals displaced by the flooding include Pet Smart Charities, The Humane Society of the United States, the Humane Society of Missouri, Cedar Valley Humane Society and Code 3 Associates.

Founded in 1987, United Animal Nations (UAN) is the nation’s leading provider of emergency animal sheltering and disaster relief services and a key advocate for the critical needs of animals.

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