Hurricane Harvey pups among pets at JCARL adoption event

MONROE — CJ’s Bar & Grill opened Monroe’s American Legion Hall Sunday to two very special guests and their five friends.

Gunnar and Little Bit are both Chihuahuas. They are also refugees from Houston who came to the Jasper County Animal Rescue League due to overcrowding in local animal shelters, a direct result of the aftermath last month’s Hurricane Harvey.

The two pups joined five other canines at a JCARL microchipping and adoption event hosted by the Monroe pub.

According to JCARL director Rachel Long, the dogs arrived through the Newton shelter’s partnership with the Houston nonprofit Day of the Dogs. The Texas organization coordinates and selects the animals for JCARL based on temperament, personality and what kennel space is available.

In the last two months, JCARL has received 16 dogs from hurricane effected areas of the United States. Sunday’s event was to promote JCARL’s services, and raise awareness that JCARL is currently at capacity.

Long said the shelter would be interested in doing more adoption and microchipping events if they had more venues willing to house pets.

“We do events as often as we can get people who are interested in hosting us,” she said. “That’s generally the biggest challenge, is getting spaces who want to host, that can have animals in their building so we can bring them along.”

One of the biggest issues with refugee animals from Houston and Florida, Long explained, is heart worm infection. Currently two Hurricane Harvey dogs have been placed in foster care to separate them from the rest of the JCARL population while they go through heart worm treatment.

“Down south it’s becoming more of a problem because (heart worms) are transmitted by mosquitoes,” she said. “All it takes is a mosquito that’s been infected to bite your dog. If they’re not current on prevention, they’re at risk, especially in an area that has mosquitoes. You go further south, they get worse and worse.”

CJ’s owner Carolyn Daniels said she hosted the event simply because she “has a thing for animals.” She tried to organize a similar drive around the holidays last year, but a snow and ice storm kept the animals from traveling to Monroe.

“I wanted to clear out the shelter for Christmas but it fell through,” she said.

But with the news of dogs fleeing the hurricanes and a puppy mill which was recently cleared out south of Jasper County, Daniels wanted to try again.

PCM High School students were invited to the event to volunteer for their graduation community service hours and all proceeds from a hot dog lunch were donated to JCARL.

For questions regarding any pet adoption, contact JCARL via email at jcarl@iowatelecom.net or call 641-792-5407.

JCARL dog adoptions are $150 for large breed and $200 for small breed. This cost includes spay or neuter of the dog, flea treatment and microchipping.

Contact Mike Mendenhall at mmendenhall@newtondailynews.com