'Pets Are Our Family': Shelters Stepping Up To Help Animals Find Their Homes After Last Weekend's Tornadoes

Several people lost their homes to the May 25th storm and were wondering where they would go next, let alone where to put their pets. 

Dogs filled many of the kennels at Claremore Animal Control. Some of them were displaced by the Saturday storms.

"This is a first time for us, so we truly don't know what to expect," said Claremore Animal Control Supervisor Jean Hurst. 

Jean said they also didn't expect to have so many bags of dog food donated, but said people were helping out where they could.

"People have been utilizing Facebook and the lost and found pages very, very well so I've seen a lot of animals reunited through Facebook. We've only had two animals brought in so far," Hurst said. 

While one dog waited for its humans, another had already been claimed, but even after finding their families, the pets don't always have a place to go. That's when a Tulsa non-profit came in.

"This is Zipper. This is our multi-use, multi-purpose trailer so it can respond to disasters. It's a mobile boarding facility," said Lawrence DePriest, the director of operations at the Humane Society of Tulsa. 

A couple of weeks ago, the organization was doing the same thing in Barnsdall. This time it was at the First Baptist Church of Verdigris to provide housing, resources and more to those who had their pets, but nowhere for them to go.

"Being able to offer this emergency sheltering situation just takes a little bit of burden off of the homeowner so they can focus on getting their life put back together," DePriest said. 

A life that only made sense when the whole family was together.

"Our pets are our family as well, so we want to make sure that they're taken care of," DePriest said.

Claremore Animal Control stressed the importance of having your animals microchipped so when events like this happen, they can easily identify who the pet belongs to.

The Humane Society of Tulsa will be at the church as long as it is needed. The mobile unit is open for people to visit their animals from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

People can also pick up bags of food from them or the Claremore Animal Control if they need it.