Two months after a historic hurricane battered Houston, Texas, one of the many dogs whose life was saved by Canadian volunteers has found a new home in Toronto.
Back in September, a blind dog named ‘SA’ made the lengthy road trip to Toronto alongside more than 50 other dogs displaced by Hurricane Harvey.
Volunteers with Redemption Paws, a local registered rescue group, travelled to the hurricane ravaged area to rescue pets that were already in Houston’s overcrowded shelter system. Their aim was to alleviate spaces in shelters to make room for animals forcibly displaced by the storm.
The rescuers also focused on scooping up dogs with disabilities and ailments – one of which being SA.
The white furred pooch is named after his former home, San Antonio, where he was about an hour away from being euthanized because of his disability.
Having lost both his eyes to an untreated infection, SA would typically have been deemed unadoptable.
“When selecting dogs for our program we pick the dogs least likely to be adopted. This involved a lot of heartworm positive dogs, multiple deaf and blind dogs (sometimes dogs that were both), or dogs with neurological deficits,” Redemption Paws founder Nicole Simone told CTV News Toronto.
“SA had zero chance of finding a home in Houston.”
Simone said it was actually SA who sparked the now months-long, cross country rescue effort.
A friend of Simone’s who runs Hot Mess Pooches Rescue and Sanctuary in Houston kept her updated on the storm and how their rescues – including SA – were coping.
“She’d give me play-by-plays during the storm,” Simone said. “I told her I would arrange to have some of her unadoptables sent here. It was just supposed to be a couple of her dogs, including SA.”
A couple dogs quickly turned into a few dozen and as of today, Simone said her team of volunteers has brought 63 dogs from Texas to Toronto.
Most of the dogs were quickly adopted, but SA and three other dogs, all of which require special care, remained.
That is until Jackie Van Hoorn and her husband Paul laid eyes on SA.
“When I saw the news about Redemption Paws, I went on their website right away and we saw SA’s photo and we just thought, ‘Let’s adopt him. Let’s apply to adopt him,” Van Hoorn told CTV News Channel.
“And then, when we met him, he just blew us away with love and kisses. That’s when we knew.”
Van Hoorn said she became “so worried” about the animals in Houston when she saw the Category 4 storm overpowering the city.
“All my friends and family know I’m a huge animal lover,” she said. “As soon as I saw everything that was going on, I just thought I had to do something. So I did.”
Simone said she’s “very happy” SA was adopted by the Van Hoorn family, who she described as the “right fit.”
Now, she says SA is “doing great” and slowly growing accustomed to a new home and routine.
Blindness aside, Van Hoorn said SA was given a clean bill of health by a veterinarian and has been a “blessing” to her family.
“Paul and I think he’s been with us forever,” she said. “It’s only been three weeks but literally he has welcomed our family and our friends into our home and he’s just been amazing.”
Though SA’s story has a happy ending, Simone said there are still a few Houston dogs who need homes.
Three dogs – Farley, Cullen and Scruffy – each have a disability of their own and are still looking for owners.
Simone said that number will soon rise as her team prepares another trip down to Houston at the end of the month to pick up another pack of needy pooches.
Van Hoorn urged would-be adopters to not overlook dog’s with special needs, saying all their unique qualities are “worth it” in the end.
“I’m sure you’ll fall in love with them just like we did with SA,” she said. “That’s SA’s message to everyone – please consider helping one of his other friends coming to Canada.”
