Animal Services Manager Glynis Fredericksen said officials were looking at record level rainfall and potential flooding.
EVERETT, Wash — Volunteers and foster families rescued all 120 dogs and cats from the Everett Animal Shelter on Tuesday as Snohomish County declared a state of emergency, with rising rivers nearing historic levels.
Emergency management officials closed docks, stacked sandbags, and issued alerts as the shelter, situated near the water, faced imminent flooding. Animal Services Manager Glynis Fredericksen said officials were looking at record level rainfall and potential flooding.
“The recommendation we received was evacuate so rather than hoping and riding it out, that is exactly what we are doing,” Fredericksen said.
The shelter issued an urgent call Tuesday night to volunteers and foster parents, and the community responded with overwhelming support. Within hours on Wednesday, every animal had been placed in temporary homes.
“Never in a million years would I have thought that we would be able to just put the call out and that our community would help like this,” Fredericksen said.
Among those evacuated was Benny, a dog recently found abandoned in a dumpster inside a suitcase. Melissa Munn drove two hours from Olympia to adopt her after receiving the shelter’s emergency call Tuesday morning.
“She was enclosed in a suitcase and so it melts my heart to think that anybody would do that,” Munn said. “This morning, I got a call saying, we are evacuating the shelter because of the flood, would you like to take Benny — and we were like yeah.”
Volunteers worked quickly to move pet food and supplies to higher ground before floodwaters could cut off access to the facility. Brigitte Bolejarck, who responded after her husband saw the shelter’s Facebook post, arrived to find all animals had already been placed.
“They were all gone,” Bolejarck said. “Everybody just comes out to support everybody and there is a lot of love here.”
