Hurricane Harvey could not dampen Betty Walter’s Grit to Save 21 Dogs

Amazing Betty Walter aka The Crazy Dog Lady surely deserves to be celebrated and we laud her with this tribute on Petsworld blog. When her neighbors in Houston, Texas ran for cover abandoning their pets to suffer amid the chaos and flooding caused by hurricane Harvey, Ms. Betty Walter took in some of these pups under her care.

Betty Walter in this image from today.com is seen with Rosie, one of the rescued dogs from the flood. Seven month old Rosie has survived Parvo, Kennel cough and now even a Tropical storm Harvey. She is a real fighter, quoted Betty in her facebook post.

Betty Walter owns four dogs and works with different dog rescue organizations. The day the typhoon lashed out at Houston Ms. Betty was caring for 11 dogs from the rescue groups, 4 of her pet dogs and a friend’s dog. As the tropical storm grew furious she could hear dogs in the neighborhood crying. People left their dogs outdoors to simply suffer their fate.

A pic from Betty’s house which was flooded and she had to shift to her attic along with over 20 dogs. Image – reshareworthy.com

The initial rescue operations were more focused on saving human lives and left behind dogs as witnessed by Ms. Betty. However she refused to leave the 21 dogs behind and decided to wait until someone was willing to save all these canines.
On 27^th August Sunday few rescuers walking with a boat stopped to help Walter and the 21 dogs.

The good Samaritans one of them named William Beasley (in pic) loaded all the pups on the boat. The entire boat was occupied by the dogs with no space left for any human to fit in. Therefore these rescuers along with Ms. Walter had to wade their way out through rising waters with the boat in tow, and everyone was brought to safety.

Multiple dog rescue operations have begin in the Harvey affected areas to bring dogs to a higher and a safer ground level.

The dog in image “otis” too was a victim of harvey storm and was clicked carrying his food bag amid the devastation. The photo went viral on facebook and otis was later re united with his owner.

This episode leaves all of us with a serious question: Are we all equipped to save our pets in the event of a natural disaster? Don’t forget they are our babies. Just because they have four legs, doesn’t make them less of a priority. People especially pet owners should have a healthy plan ready to tackle emergency situations where lives of all including pets/animals can be rescued.