Kerrville Pets Alive! working to reunite missing pets after deadly floods
KERRVILLE, Texas (Nexstar) -- The front room of the Kerrville Pets Alive! command center is filled with pictures of missing pets that are still being searched for, a week after the deadly floods in Kerr County killed almost 100 people, with the death toll still rising.
Search and rescue teams are still searching for more than 160 people who are still missing. The team of volunteers at Kerrville Pets Alive! is searching for the missing pets that were separated from their families in the rushing waters. So far, their efforts have brought closure to many families.
Karen Guerriero, the president of Kerrville Pets Alive!, said her team has been able to reunify 25 pets with their families, but has also recovered 25 pets that died. Other pets were found injured and sent off to vets.
"Some of them received surgery, amputation, things like that," Guerriero said.
The non-profit currently has a running spreadsheet of all the lost and found pets in the area. They are asking community members to fill out a form if they find a loose animal in the destruction area.
There are currently 75 pets on the spreadsheet, but Guerriero expects that number to grow as the days progress.
"I hate to say it's the calm before the storm, but it's kind of a lull right now, and people are really starting to focus on pets, and see pets that run away and things like that," she said.
Guerriero explained her team is scanning for microchips in animals that are found to try and find their owners. For animals that were found dead, they are also helping the families with cremation, if the bodies can be recovered.
Reunification efforts range from giving a pet back to its owner or sending the pet to the family of a victim that passed away in the floods. Guerriero said some families are coming into the area searching for their loved one's pet to find a sense of closure.
Currently, they are looking for a black cat that belonged to one family's grandmother. "They just want their mom's cat back," Guerriero said.
The non-profit is also providing food, medicine, and other pet supplies to everyone who was impacted by the floods. At this time, they are not looking for any more donations after receiving what they said was an "epic" amount of support.
Kerrville Pets Alive! also received a $150,000 grant from the Community Foundation of the Texas Hill Country to help with their efforts. That money was part of the $30 million donated for flood relief from more than 100,000 people all over the world.