GREENFIELD, AN ANIMAL RESCUE AND VET CLINIC ARE TEAMING UP. THEY’RE HEALING AND REUNITING ANIMALS THOUGHT TO BE LOST TO AN EF FOUR TORNADO. KCCI’S PEPPER PURPURA WENT TO LAY TRAPS WITH THE GROUP THIS EVENING, HOPING TO CATCH PETS STILL WANDERING THE AREA AFTER THE STORM. WE’LL BE SETTING A TRAP AT THAT PROPERTY BECAUSE THERE’S A CAT THAT GOES DOWN IN THAT PICTURE MIXED IN. THE CAT THAT I OF GREENFIELD, UM, KITTEN, WAS FOUND IN THAT PILE YESTERDAY. AMY HINDS TEAM IS DIGGING THROUGH THE RUBBLE FOR PETS. WE’RE TRYING REALLY HARD TO REUNITE THEM WITH THEIR OWNERS. EACH NIGHT, HER TEAM LAYS TRAPS. GOT IT. HOPING SOMEONE’S BELOVED FURRY FRIEND MIGHT WANDER INSIDE. THIS IS THE LITTLE KITTEN WE FOUND YESTERDAY. OR SOME ARE INJURED. THERE’S SO MUCH BROKEN GLASS AND NAILS AND ALL KINDS OF INSTALLATION AND STUFF THAT THE DOGS ARE WALKING IN OR WORSE. SO SHE WAS REALLY HIT HARD, ESPECIALLY THE ONES YOU KNOW WHERE, UM, THEIR PET WAS, YOU KNOW, KILLED THROUGH THE TORNADO. SO AND IT’S HURTING. AND I FEEL REALLY BAD FOR MY CLIENTS THAT ARE EXPERIENCING THAT. AND THIS IS THE BEST WAY, UM, THAT I KNOW HOW TO HELP THEM. SHE WAS ALSO IN A BUILDING HIT BY THE TORNADO, BUT IS PUSHING THROUGH THE TRAGEDY TO HELP ANIMALS IN NEED. I FEEL LIKE IT’S UP TO ME TO TAKE CARE OF THE ANIMALS AND THE LIVESTOCK, BUT NOT ALL OF THE INJURIES SHE’S SEEN ARE PHYSICAL. THE WALL WAS TRYING TO FALL ON TOP OF US, SO I HAD BOTH MY DOGS BY THE COLLAR, AND NOW WHENEVER I GRAB ONE OF MY DOGS BY THE COLLAR, SHE JUST GETS REALLY SCARED AND FRIGHTENED LIKE, YOU KNOW, SHE’S EXPECTING THE SAME THING TO HAPPEN AGAIN. TRAUMA FROM THE STORM IS PREVALENT, AND MOST OF THE ANIMALS BOTH WOMEN HAVE SEEN EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF REUNITE PETS. WE WANT TO GET THESE ANIMALS BACK TO THEIR OWNERS SO THEY CAN HEAL TOGETHER. IN GREENFIELD PEPPER PURPURA, KCCI EIGHT NEWS, IOWA’S NEWS LEADER. HEINZ IS RESCUE A HEINZ 57 IS PAYING THE BILL FOR PETS TREATED AT ADAIR COUNTIES CLINIC WITH STORM RELAT
‘Healing together': Veterinary clinic, pet rescue reuniting animals lost during Greenfield tornado
A central Iowa pet rescue and an Adair County veterinary office are healing and reuniting animals lost during an EF-4 tornado that devastated the city on May 21. Every day since the storm, Amy Heinz and her team from AHeinz57 Pet Rescue has been digging through rubble, searching for lost animals. Each evening, she baits traps, hoping to lure someone's missing pet inside. When the tornado came through, Heinz says dozens of animals were lost or injured; some were hurt from wandering through the wreckage. Adair County veterinary clinic doctor Melissa Gracia Rodriguez is working with Heinz to treat pets in need. She says many of the injured animals are coming to her office with glass and smaller debris in their eyes and embedded in their skin. Some have broken bones; others died from their injuries. Gracia Rodriguez says seeing her clients come in with injuries or the devastating news of a pet's death is heavy for her. She's in her first year in the veterinary field. “I love every one of my patients like I do my own,” Gracia Rodriguez says. “So, it really hit hard, especially the ones where their pet was killed through the tornado. It's hurting, and I feel really bad for my clients who are experiencing that.”However, she's pushing through the heartache for the pets she can help, saying she feels a duty to heal the animals of Greenfield.Gracia Rodriguez is also treating animals without physical injuries. She and Heinz say most of the pets they've seen are traumatized from what they experienced during the storm, including Gracia Rodriguez's own dogs. “(While sheltering during the storm) the wall was trying to fall on top of us,” Garcia Rodriguez says. “I had both my dogs by the collar, and now whenever I grab one of my dogs by the collar, she just gets really scared and frightened, like she's expecting the same thing to happen again.” That fear is something many people who survived the tornado have also said they experience after the storm during previous reports. By reuniting and healing pets, Heinz and Gracia Rodriguez say they hope being together can help ease both the owner and animal's anxieties when future storms inevitably roll through Greenfield.”We want to get these animals back to their owners so they can heal together,” Heinz says. AHeinz57 is covering all veterinary costs for pets injured during the tornado at Adair County Veterinary Clinic. You can donate to them here. More Greenfield tornado coverage:Greenfield, Iowa tornado: How you can help'Prepared for the pain': Greenfield tornado survivor recalls moment when EF-4 tornado hitGreenfield tornado: FEMA opens disaster recovery center to help victims apply for assistanceGreenfield tornado: Authorities confirm 4 killed, dozens injured in Tuesday's stormHoney Creek Golf Club in Boone works to reunite Greenfield families with recovered keepsakesKCCI ON SOCIAL MEDIA:Facebook | YouTube | Instagram | Twitter
A central Iowa pet rescue and an Adair County veterinary office are healing and reuniting animals lost during an EF-4 tornado that devastated the city on May 21.
Every day since the storm, Amy Heinz and her team from AHeinz57 Pet Rescue has been digging through rubble, searching for lost animals. Each evening, she baits traps, hoping to lure someone's missing pet inside.
When the tornado came through, Heinz says dozens of animals were lost or injured; some were hurt from wandering through the wreckage. Adair County veterinary clinic doctor Melissa Gracia Rodriguez is working with Heinz to treat pets in need. She says many of the injured animals are coming to her office with glass and smaller debris in their eyes and embedded in their skin. Some have broken bones; others died from their injuries.
Gracia Rodriguez says seeing her clients come in with injuries or the devastating news of a pet's death is heavy for her. She's in her first year in the veterinary field.
“I love every one of my patients like I do my own,” Gracia Rodriguez says. “So, it really hit hard, especially the ones where their pet was killed through the tornado. It's hurting, and I feel really bad for my clients who are experiencing that.”
However, she's pushing through the heartache for the pets she can help, saying she feels a duty to heal the animals of Greenfield.
Gracia Rodriguez is also treating animals without physical injuries. She and Heinz say most of the pets they've seen are traumatized from what they experienced during the storm, including Gracia Rodriguez's own dogs.
“(While sheltering during the storm) the wall was trying to fall on top of us,” Garcia Rodriguez says. “I had both my dogs by the collar, and now whenever I grab one of my dogs by the collar, she just gets really scared and frightened, like she's expecting the same thing to happen again.”
That fear is something many people who survived the tornado have also said they experience after the storm during previous reports.
By reuniting and healing pets, Heinz and Gracia Rodriguez say they hope being together can help ease both the owner and animal's anxieties when future storms inevitably roll through Greenfield.
“We want to get these animals back to their owners so they can heal together,” Heinz says.
AHeinz57 is covering all veterinary costs for pets injured during the tornado at Adair County Veterinary Clinic. You can donate to them here.
More Greenfield tornado coverage:
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