DAVENPORT, Iowa — After 145 dogs and cats were delivered from Louisiana on Thursday, Sept. 9, they are now up for adoption at area shelters.
King's Harvest Pet Rescue, K-9 Kindness, and the Knox County and Jackson County Humane Societies all took in the rescue animals. King's Harvest received 14 dogs and five cats.
"We were really excited," said Assistant Director Elizabeth Corn. "Most of them are fairly young. They're anywhere between four months and I think the oldest one we got was three years. And then the cats are all under a year old."
These were animals that were already in shelters in Louisiana prior to Hurricane Ida. The shelters were rehoming them in order to make room for animals that were found or displaced after the hurricane so their owners can look for them.
"There's no risk that we accidentally stole somebody's pets," Corn said.
She said this is only the first or second time King's Harvest is assisting in hurricane relief. They were contacted by the Tulsa Humane Society and Bissell Pet Foundation who were working together to help the Louisiana shelters.
"They put it out to, I think, to most shelters, 'Hey, if anybody could take some hurricane pets, you know, we would really appreciate it,'" Corn said. "And we just made it happen."
The first day of adoptions was Saturday, Sept. 11. Corn said six of the dogs have already been adopted, with four of them already in their new homes.
"Yesterday was crazy, we had so many people here yesterday," she said. "A lot of families, a lot of people just wanting to see what we had available."
She added that there are meet and greets scheduled for Monday, but they are still accepting applications for the other dogs.
The cats have not been as popular; all five are still available.
"I haven't really had any interest in the cats yet," Corn said. "They are really cute though, a couple of them are bobtail, they're orange, kind of got medium like hair. I'm like oh they're so cute."
In fact, there are around 130 cats in the shelter right now, including some new kittens.
Corn hopes that the interest in the hurricane pets will also bring interest to some of the other animals that have been in the shelter for awhile.
"Larry's great, he's a pit mix. He's the cutest stuff in the world," she said. "He's still here and we just can't believe it because we just love him. Nathan's the same way. He's a big goofy chow mix that just loves to play."
Click here to view a list of adoptable pets and an adoption application.