HUNTSVILLE, OH (WLIO) - Many who lost their homes to last month's tornado are still without stable housing, but what does this mean for their pets? One local business owner has stepped up to care for those four-legged survivors.
"We had all our dogs and we slept in the car, and then we found this on Facebook, and we brought our dogs here. She just loved bringing them in for us, and we've just been so relieved about not having to worry about them because we know she's in great hands here, both of them are," said Patrick Riley, who is staying in a hotel with his girlfriend Paula Gambrell after their trailer was destroyed.
Since the March 14th tornado, the Home Away From Home Pet Care Facility has taken in around 80 pets. All have been reunited with their owners, and so far about half of them have been able to return home. Thanks to countless donations of money, food, and other pet supplies, the business has been able to shelter the dogs and cats at no cost to their owners while they work on finding a place to live.
"I really didn't know why were spared because it went about 200 yards behind our house. And then I realized we have an open building, we need to help the pets. We need people to be able to bring their pets here because there's so many houses that got leveled down there that they don't have a place for their animals," said Gina Wenger, the owner of Home Away From Home.
Plenty of people have also donated their time to helping care for the pets, from veterinarians treated the ones injured in the storm to people taking on less glamorous tasks like cleaning up after them.
Some volunteers also come to play and spend time with the animals to help them unwind from the stress of being away from their family in an unfamiliar place.
"There's a few that were kind of gun shy at first, that's what I would call it, just shied away from people. But I've been out with them like I said all weekend, I was here all weekend and they're getting really warmed up to me," said Kevin Smith, who has been volunteering with the pets at Home Away From Home for several weeks.
Many displaced Indian Lake residents are staying in temporary housing such as hotels, like Gambrell and Riley. Getting back to normal will take time, but for now they're happy to have made it out safely with their dogs or cats, who unlike a home, can't be replaced.
"Like my girlfriend and her kids, they're family. Yeah, they stick with us no matter what. Because she was running down the hall trying to find the brown one, and then her daughter said no get back in the bathroom, and about that time Coco started running down the hallway in the trailer and made it to the bathroom in time before the tornado actually hit," Riley recalled.
