Thirty dogs from Puerto Rico are flown to Vero Beach Regional Airport on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, where they are received by the staff of Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County. The dogs were then transported to the Humane Society in Vero Beach where they will later be reunited with their families, most of which evacuated Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria hit in September 2017. ERIC HASERT/TCPALM Wochit
VERO BEACH - It was a Sunday afternoon filled with reunions at the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County as owners were reunited with dogs they left behind in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
“It has brought my life back,” said JolyAnn Torres, 22, who now lives in Orlando with fiancé Godwin Ghigliotty, 25. The couple was reunited with 2-year-old Lolo and 10-month-old Red, which had been staying with Torres’ grandmother on the island since the storm. “It’s been so hard not having them with us. We are so lucky to have them back.”
Lolo and Red were two of the 30 dogs that arrived Sunday morning at the Vero Beach Regional Airport in crates as part of a transport mission arranged by St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, New Jersey, and the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County. Costs for the air transport were covered by the JPB Foundation, a charitable organization headquartered in New York City.
More: Caribbean dogs and cats displaced from hurricanes flown to Fort Pierce
El Faro de los Animales in Humacao, Puerto Rico, provided the crates and helped load the dogs onto the cargo plane for the almost five-hour flight to Vero Beach. Pilots from IBC Airways flew the dogs into the Sun Jet Center in Vero Beach, and shelter staff quickly transported them to the Humane Society on 77th Street to be reunited with their owners.
Torres, who said she suffers from anxiety, has been counting the days until she could be reunited with her dogs, which she said have a calming effect on her.
“It hasn’t been easy for us,” said Torres. “I lost my job, my car, everything we had. We been through so much and now that I have my dogs back, I can be me again.”
Giselle Rodriquez, who now lives in Orlando, has been waiting for three years to be reunited with her dogs Luna and Lobo. The dogs had been living with her brother in Puerto Rico while Rodriquez tried to settle her family in Florida but she lost hope they would be reunited after the hurricane hit the island in September.
More: SHELTER TALES: Stray Chihuahua survives busy roadway, finds new home
“I’ve waited so long for this moment,” said Rodriquez. “I saw the program listed on Facebook that said now I could bring my dogs to Florida and I jumped at it.”
Humane Society Education Director Janet Winikoff said the reunions will continue throughout the week as families travel from across the state to reunite with their dogs.
“They are all trying to make arrangements to get to Vero Beach,” said Winikoff. “They’ve been separated from their animals for months so we’re trying to make this happen as quickly as possible.”
On the outside chance that an owner is still unable to care for their dog, Winikoff said the shelter will work with them to find the animal a home but she doubts that would happen. By 4 p.m. Sunday, almost 10 of the 30 dogs had already been claimed by their owners.
“These are dogs that have been living with other family members, not in a shelter,” said Winikoff. “They have people here who are waiting for them and they can’t wait to see them.”
Contact Begley at jabegley@aol.com