Man Save Shelter Pets From Hurricane by Buying a School Bus

Photo by Denys Nevozhai on Unsplash

As South Carolina’s residents were preparing to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Florence’s arrival last week, Tony Alsup of Tennessee was doing other things.

Alsup, a volunteer of EARS Emergency Animal Rescue and Shelter, bought an old school bus particularly for evacuation purposes and he used this in 2017 to  evacuate pets from Texas before Hurricane Harvey.

Now, he headed toward the path of Hurricane Florence to save the animals who were left behind. Before the storm’s arrival, Alsup dropped by several South Carolina shelters and loaded the bus with furry passengers.

“I’m like, look, these are lives too,” Alsup told The Washington Post. “Animals — especially shelter pets — they always have to take the back seat of the bus. But I’ll give them their own bus. If I have to I’ll pay for all the fuel, or even a boat, to get these dogs out of there.”

He collected 53 dogs and 11 cats and delivered them to a rescue facility in Foley, Alabama , where they’ll be then transferred to other animal shelters across the country and hopefully get adopted into forever homes.