As Hurricane Delta hurtled across the Yucatán, Ricardo Pimentel was minding his animal ark.
Pimentel operates Tierra de Animales wildlife sanctuary in Cancún, currently home to around 500 livestock, house pets, pack animals and reptiles — most of which are kept in spacious outdoor enclosures with some access to covered shelter.
Last week, forecasters were predicting winds up to 145 miles per hour — speeds too dangerous for Pimentel to ignore. With over half of his animal residents exposed to the elements, the caretaker did what any would do: he brought more than 300 dogs into his home.
And who better to have a slumber party with than hundreds of dogs?
“Those 300 dogs that I took into my house are some of the ones that already live at Tierra de Animales,” the animal advocate told Bored Panda. “It’s just that we don’t have enough hurricane-proof shelters for all the dogs, so to keep them safe from that, we decided to put them in the house.”
Despite the obvious hazards of keeping 300-plus dogs in a relatively limited space, Pimentel was confident they could manage the night without any medical or health disasters — besides a potential puppy stampede.
“They are all spayed and neutered, vaccinated and dewormed,” said Pimentel, who founded Tierra de Animales nine years ago. “Almost all of them are ready to be adopted,” he added.
The lifelong rescuer, who began caring for animals in his youth, expects his rehab center will “need more help than ever” in the wake of Delta.
“We work with the help of people from all over the world, who donate whatever they can,” said Pimentel — hoping that, next time around, he won’t be sleeping in the doghouse. “We are going to build more and better shelters for all the animals of the sanctuary.”
To support their clean-up effort in the aftermath of Delta, and help rescuers to continue to care for displaced animals, visit TierraDeAnimales.org/donacion.