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Big Dog Ranch Rescue sends teams to Texas to assist in pet rescues

Posted at 3:34 PM, Sep 03, 2017
and last updated 2017-09-03 22:19:25-04

LOXAHATCHEE, Fla. -- The largest "no kill" dog rescue in the southeast headed to Texas on Saturday morning to deliver supplies and help rescue dogs.

Big Dog Ranch Rescue deployed two animal rescue teams and two units to aid in recovery efforts.

They'll meet up with a team already in Texas.

The team will also deliver pet supplies to hurricane recovery shelters.

12 dogs from Texas arrived by plane in Pompano Beach Sunday afternoon. They headed from there to Big Dog Ranch Rescue, where even more dogs will arrive by van from Texas over the next several days.

Those dogs are a portion of the 56 dogs Big Dog Ranch Rescue plans to take in from a rescue in Dayton, Texas, which was flooded during the storm. The dogs were already living at the rescue when the hurricane hit.

“The barn had four feet of water. The dogs were in kennels. They were swimming in their kennels," said Lauree Simmons, president and founder of Big Dog Ranch Rescue. "They actually had to swim in and get the dogs out and get them into a boat and get them to higher ground before they brought them over to the fairgrounds for us to bring them home."

The dogs will be ready for adoption within the next couple of weeks.

Big Dog Ranch Rescue also has more than 300 dogs available for fostering or adoption. The rescue is asking for more foster families right now to make space for the dogs from Texas as well as financial donations to help care for them.

Find out more about how to donate here: http://www.bdrr.org/

The rescue plans to help more rescues and shelters in Texas make room for the influx of animals surrendered by homeowners, who can't keep the pets while recovering from the disaster, Simmons said.