18 Dec KVMA Update and Information regarding tornado relief efforts
This e-mail will cover on-going relief efforts throughout the western part of KY. It will be solely focused on veterinary, agriculture and pet needs. The outreach and support has been truly humbling by our friends in the veterinary community.
The scope of these tornadoes is still very difficult to grasp as it decimated several towns and spanned over a 300 mile area. Some farmers have lost their entire dairy herds and poultry operations. Regarding our pet shelters and humane societies, we are working with 12 counties that have been impacted the most, accurate numbers on of pets that have been displaced will take a couple more weeks, we do know that 367 dogs and 324 cats who were part of the pre-disaster population who have either already been transported out of impacted KY shelters or whose transport is being actively arranged right now to make room for the displaced pets. Many have reached out about fostering displaced pets. Humane Societies are each run separately as they are funded through their local government. Currently, each is deciding how long the current stay of each pet can stay at the shelter. The next step will be to decide where these pets will be held and how the accountability and tracing will be implemented. This next week, hopefully we will have more information outlined about the needs of fostering from each location and I’ll share that with a KVMA membership e-mail. These counties are: Caldwell, Graves, Hopkins, Logan, Marshall, Marion, Grayson, Lyon, Ohio, Muhlenberg, Webster and Warren.
KVMA and our industry partners are working hourly on recovery efforts with many state agencies to be sure all needs are being met. We know this will be several months if not years to recover from these storms and some of our smaller towns will never be able to restore or repair their historic buildings.
Below are active links that are updated from our Kentucky Department of Agriculture, Kentucky Board of Veterinary Examiners and Kentucky Veterinary Medical Association routinely.
KDA Western Kentucky Agriculture Disaster Relief
KY Board of Veterinary Examiners Storm Response
Kentucky Farm Bureau has shared this video, I invite you to take a moment to watch it and connect with two of their members, Clarence Bachert and Danny Miller, as they tell a small part of their stories from these storms. Their powerful testimonies of the losses they’ve suffered as well as their passion for KFB speak volumes and are just two examples of what we are hearing from members across the region.
Many have asked about sending monetary donations, our KVMA Foundation will accept donations and these funds will go directly to veterinary needs, pets that are displaced, livestock farmers, and producers.
The check may be addressed to:
KVMA Foundation
108 Consumer Lane
Frankfort, KY 40601
KDA has a specific fund set up that will go directly to agriculture relief efforts.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/kyagrelieffund