AUSTIN, Texas — Nearly 18,000 pounds of emergency supplies arrived in Austin on Thursday as part of a relief effort to help pets and families displaced by deadly flooding in Central Texas.
Best Friends Animal Society, working with Wings of Rescue, Humane Society of North Texas, Operation Kindness and SPCA of Texas, coordinated the flight, which landed at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport around 8:30 a.m. The shipment included water, dog and cat food, crates, leashes and other supplies for both animals and the people caring for them.
Tim Perciful, senior manager for emergency response at Best Friends Animal Society, said the effort was aimed at supporting entire communities, not just pets left homeless by the floods.
“We’re not only helping animals, we’re helping their families and the entire community with both humanitarian supplies and supplies for animals,” Percival said.
A volunteer unloads bottled water and pet food from the cargo hold of a relief plane at Austin-Bergstrom International Airport on Thursday, as part of an emergency supply delivery for flood-affected communities. (Photo: CBS Austin)
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After the plane was unloaded, the supplies were moved onto a semi-truck and driven to a staging area at an animal shelter, where they were divided into smaller vans for delivery to hard-hit communities including Kerrville, Uvalde and Dilley, Perciful said. Some supplies were expected to reach local shelters and residents as early as Friday, with distribution continuing over the following days depending on need in each town.
Perciful said the demand on the ground was significant.
“There’s a desperate need for some of these supplies,” he said. “People have lost a lot of their supplies during the floods.”
He said the goal was to help local shelters build up reserves so residents returning home could access food, litter and other essentials in the weeks ahead.
Best Friends has also flown displaced animals out of the region in recent days to make room in local shelters, Perciful said. Thursday’s flight was the group’s first dedicated specifically to delivering supplies for people and pets remaining in the flood-affected area.
The relief effort is part of a broader response involving Border Animal Mission, Footbridge Foundation, Hill Country Humane Society and Austin Pets Alive!, according to Best Friends. The organization said donations to its Emergency Response Fund help support food, medical care, transportation and shelter for communities affected by disasters.