As Hurricane Delta ploughed towards the Mexican resort town of Cancun in the early days of October, Ricardo Pimentel had few other options.
He has been taking care of over 500 animals for the past nine years, including stray cats, dogs, birds, turkeys, cows, donkeys, horses, lambs, and pigs. Since he knew that the dog shelters wouldn’t be able to endure a Category 4 hurricane, he asked the puppies to spend the night at his house.
We made the decision to house almost all of the dogs since we weren’t sure if the current shelters would withstand a hurricane. It was difficult to squeeze 300 dogs inside, though. Before the typhoon hit land, Pimentel and his helpers spent five hours gathering the puppies and leading them inside.
We had to lead them in two by two, Pimentel recalled. Because they couldn’t walk on a leash or were afraid of it, we had to carry a few of them to the house, but now that they are all inside, it was worth it.
Pimentel anticipated some animal mess in such a small home with so many animals. But when everyone appeared to get along, he was happy.
He claimed they actually conducted themselves pretty well the entire night.
Fortunately, the hurricane was only a Category 2 storm when it hit the sanctuary, but the structure was nonetheless damaged by the strong winds.
In order to prevent anyone from having to spend another night on the streets, he also intends to accept more animals.
