Midwestern States Receive ASPCA Grants to Help Animals and Pet Owners During Disasters

New York, N.Y.—The ASPCA^® (The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals^®) today announced the recipients of this year’s ASPCA Midwest Disaster Resiliency Grants—a program that provides much-needed funding, training, and expertise to local communities to better serve and assist animals and pet owners during and after disasters.

The ASPCA Midwest Disaster Resiliency Program enables the ASPCA to work with communities in disaster-prone areas to enhance their ability to respond to animals and pet owners affected by disasters. The program targets animal welfare organizations and government agencies in the Midwest, an area of the country which experiences a high frequency of disasters, yet often receives little attention or support.  

“Our goal is to help these vulnerable Midwestern states prepare themselves,” said Lacie Davis, ASPCA disaster response manager. “During the recent floods across the Midwest, we saw many animal shelters nearly reach capacity with displaced pets. Luckily, the flooding was not as severe as predicted, but the next big disaster could happen at any time. These grants will help prepare communities to rescue, shelter and care for their animals when disaster strikes.”

The ASPCA is providing a total of nearly $60,000 to the groups below:

• Animal Rescue League Of Iowa* (Des Moines, Iowa) for large animal rescue training and equipment.
• Burge Bird Rescue (Grandview, Mo.) for avian and exotic animal disaster response supplies.
• Cabot Animal Shelter (Cabot, Ark.) for additional sheltering supplies to increase intake capacity during a disaster.
• City of Sherwood Department of Humane Animal Services* (Sherwood, Ark.) for an emergency response trailer.
• Enid SPCA* (Enid, Okla.) for rescue supplies and equipment.
• Heart of the Valley Animal Shelter (Bozeman, Mont.) for disaster response training and emergency planning assistance.
• Heartland Humane Society (Yankton, S.D.) for additional sheltering supplies to increase intake capacity during a disaster.
• Horse Feathers Equine Rescue (Guthrie, Okla.) for large animal rescue training and livestock sheltering equipment.
• Humane Society of Kandiyohi & Meeker Counties (Willmar, Minn.) for a disaster response trailer and supplies.
• Humane Society of North Central Arkansas (Mountain Home, Ark.) for additional sheltering supplies to increase intake capacity during a disaster.
• Kansas SART, Inc.* (Wichita, Kan.) for a disaster response training exercise at Crisis City involving emergency management agencies from across Kansas.
• Oklahoma Large Animal First Responders (Edmond, Okla.) for a disaster response trailer for large animals.

* = also received an ASPCA Midwest Disaster Resiliency Grant last year

The ASPCA Field Investigations and Response team frequently responds to natural disasters around the country, including the South Carolina floods and California wild fires of 2015, Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and the Joplin tornado in 2011, in addition to being called upon by state and municipal governments and other animal welfare partners to lend expertise during large-scale animal rescue operations.

Organizations interested in applying for funding or assistance through the program in the future should contact [email protected]. States eligible for the program include: Arkansas; Minnesota; Montana; Oklahoma; Kansas; Iowa; South Dakota; North Dakota; Missouri; and Nebraska.

Organizations outside of the Midwest seeking disaster response funding should visit: www.aspcapro.org/grants.