St. Clair County animal shelters team up to find homes for dogs before heavy rains fall
St. Clair County Animal Services is requesting help from community members to help move dogs into more favorable conditions in advance of upcoming storms.
“As much as I hoped we wouldn’t be in this position again, unfortunately, here we are. We are bracing for the incoming storm and preparing for the possible evacuation of the shelter’s animals,” Ashley Jett, director of St. Clair County Animal Services, said in a press release.
Animal services, 1250 S. 11th Street in Belleville, is situated in a valley along an offshoot of Richland Creek, making it vulnerable to flooding during heavy rain. A planned new location is across the street on a higher incline, but the current building has been inundated before, including during floods in 2022 and another in 2024.
To help offset emergency evacuations, the government agency partnered with local shelters to ramp up adoption and foster efforts. Belleville Area Humane Society, Gateway Pet Guardians in East St. Louis and Helping Strays of Monroe County have offered to take in any dogs that might need to be transferred due to the storms.
“We’ve all coordinated in an effort to get these dogs into temporary housing and to monitor the situation over at animal services,” said Savannah Rigley McDonald, executive director of Belleville Area Humane Society.
Like other shelters, Belleville Area Humane Society is at capacity for dogs, but temporary “pop up” kennels are available if needed. When animal services flooded last time, the humane society was the first on scene to help the dogs.
“We have a more comprehensive plan this time,” Rigley McDonald said.
“Last year, by the time we could get the dogs out, they were almost chest deep in water,” said Alisha Vianelo, Gateway Pet Guardians’ executive director. “So this year we all asked animal control if they could put a plan together early, because we know it’s supposed to be heavy raining all weekend.
“They’re currently working on a plan and working with rescues to try to get dogs out.”
Vianelo said Gateway Pet Guardians is currently at capacity with more than 40 dogs, but they, too, will do what it takes to get the animals to safety. To offset the heavy workload associated with rescuing the dogs, both the shelter and animal services are calling for local fosterers to step up and take in any animals they can.
“We’re trying to proactively get people to come and take a dog home for a couple weeks to free up some space, so that if animal control does flood, we’ll have room to bring dogs in,” she said.
Rigley McDonald echoed Vianello’s statement, but said BAHS would like to see more adoptions.
“Big dogs are a lot harder to place, so we’d like to see more of them find forever homes,” said McDonald.
St. Clair County Animal Services did not respond to requests for comment, but have previously said they are also at capacity and any adoptions or fosters would help offset the demand.
Gateway Pet Guardians is open from 2-6 p.m. today and tomorrow and can be reached at (618) 687-8007 or through the adoption portal at this link. St. Clair County Animal Services is open 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m and can be reached at (618) 235-0585 or through their adoption portal at this link. Belleville Area Humane Society is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be reached at (618) 235-3712 or through their adoption portal at this link. Helping Stray of Monroe County is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and can be reached at (618) 939-7389 or through their adoption portal at this link.