An extremely kind woman from the Bahamas has opened up her home to nearly 100 dogs, keeping them safe and looked after during Hurricane Dorian.
Chella Phillips of Nassau, Bahamas, is the manager of The Voiceless Dogs of Nassau, a group which connects local dogs with US-based rescue and adoption organisations.
Animal lover Chella has gone above and beyond to protect strays during the destructive storm, bringing 97 dogs into her very own home.
Taking to Facebook on Sunday, September 1, Chella shared pics of the dogs keeping snug in her home and spoke of her heartbreak of the affected dogs she was unable to care for:
97 dogs are inside my house and 79 of them are inside my master bedroom. It has been insane since last night, poop and piss non stop but at least they are respecting my bed and nobody has dared to jump in.
We have barricaded the refuge and nobody is outside, the music is playing in all directions of the house and the AC is blowing for them.
I managed to bring some less fortunate ones and I really appreciate some of you donating for crates. I really needed it for the scared ones and the sick ones. so Thank you!
We may not get hit as hard as other islands and the saddest part is that after the hurricane leave the Bahamas, some islands will take a long time to recover.
Each island has abundance of homeless dogs, my heart is so broken for the ones without a place to hide a CAT 5 monster and only God can protect them now.
Chella also remarked on how September 1 coincidentally marked the fourth year anniversary of The Voiceless Dogs of Nassau, with the group having rescued almost 1,000 animals within that time period.
The post quickly went viral, with thousands of people praising Chella’s caring heart and describing her as an ‘angel’.
Chella kept well-wishers updated on her hectic household via Facebook, while lamenting she had no further room to offer other stray dogs still on the streets.
As a dog owner myself, I know how stressful things can get when they get freaked out by a storm, and can only imagine the challenges Chella faced while trying to keep all 97 of them calm, fed and safe.
Writing on Facebook the following day, Chella revealed she had endured a ‘stressful night’ grappling with flooding and power loss:
We are alright after a stressful night were we flooded bad inside the refuge, not even 3 pumps could contain the rain from washing us inside and after an hour all 3 pumps reheated and burned down and we have been outside with buckets fighting a losing battle.
All services are down, all TVs are fried from the lightnings so no more cartoons for the sick dogs until we can purchase new ones.
My brother slept an hour, I had been on my feet without any sleep drying the house and looking after my terrified dogs.
I pray for the other islands who have unimaginable damages and I don’t see how any dogs or any living being could have survived outside. My heart goes out to them.
You can lend a much needed paw to Chella and her rescue dogs here and can donate to other charities helping anyone affected by Hurricane Dorian here.
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Jules studied English Literature with Creative Writing at Lancaster University before earning her masters in International Relations at Leiden University in The Netherlands (Hoi!). She then trained as a journalist through News Associates in Manchester. Jules has previously worked as a mental health blogger, copywriter and freelancer for various publications.