Uplifting News: Mexican Man Used His Home to Shelter 300 Dogs From Hurricane Delta
Photo: Tierra de Animales/Facebook
In some uplifting news, a Mexican man has gone viral for housing stray dogs in need of shelter before Hurricane Delta hit the Yucatan peninsula in early October. Ricardo Pimentel of Cancun, Mexico, wrote on Facebook that he had boarded up his home’s windows and was currently housing 300 rescue dogs before the storm hit.
As background, Hurricane Delta touched down in Cozumel and Cancun and was reported to have winds up to 110 mph. The storm caused power outages, fallen trees, and the destruction of buildings and businesses. Luckily, Pimentel decided to get creative when it came to protecting his helpless four-legged friends from the ravages of the outdoors.
Pimentel already owns an animal sanctuary called Tierra de Animales, but he decided to open up his home to the homeless dogs. Naturally, he need all the help he could get to take care of the canine creatures. He took to his Facebook page to ask for donations.
“If I lived alone or nothing else with about 10 or 20 dogs, I would not worry much,” wrote Pimentel on his Facebook page. “But here are hundreds of animals and we can not afford to not have enough food stored.” According to Pimentel, he was worried about there being food shortages at the grocery stores in the aftermath of the unpredictable storm.
The post was accompanied by a a jaw-dropping photo of Pimentel surrounded by a sea of dogs packed into his home. The call-to-action quickly took off and Pimentel was soon receiving thousands of dollars in donations.
At first, Pimentel was distracted by the storm and wasn’t initially aware of how deeply he touched people. When he finally saw how people had rallied to support him and his sanctuary, he was humbled.
“Your support at this time has been invaluable, we deeply appreciate all your messages, calls, and shows of affection,” he wrote on Facebook. “Thank you on behalf of all the animals in the sanctuary!”
According to Pimentel, many of the dogs he’s rescued on his sanctuary have been saved from dog-fighting rings and abusive homes where they’ve been badly beaten. He founded Tierra de Animales around 20 years ago as a place where dogs and other animals (including cats, bunnies, and sheep) can be safe and live a good life.
He says that his animals have been adopted by homes in Mexico, Canada and the United States. He hopes that the attention that the rescue dogs got from his viral post will encourage people to adopt them.
“We would like to think that thanks to all this attention, somebody would like to be part of the story and say: ‘I adopted a dog saved from that famous Hurricane Delta,” he told The Associated Press.
