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Hurricane Milton: Wisconsin woman to help animals in aftermath

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Published  October 10, 2024 9:57pm CDT
Pets and Animals
FOX6 News Milwaukee

Wisconsin volunteers helping animals after Hurricane Milton

A group from Wisconsin is headed to Florida to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, with their focus on animals.

The Brief

    • A group from Wisconsin is headed to Florida to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, with their focus on animals.
    • The group, Operation Bring Animals Home, is also bringing supplies down with them.

DODGE COUNTY, Wis. - A group from Wisconsin is headed to Florida to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Milton, with their focus on animals.

The rescue group will be working to reunite pets with their owners. They're also bringing supplies down with them.

Caryn McCollum’s love of animals is all around her property. The retired police officer has dedicated her life to helping. For the last two decades, her focus has been on animals.

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The retired police officer has dedicated her life to helping. For the last two decades, her focus has been on animals.

"I’ve always been the one to give back and do for others," McCollum said.

In 2005, she started the organization Operation Bring Animals Home. Traveling to Louisiana and rescuing pets after Hurricane Katrina, she's gone to nearly every natural disaster in the U.S. since then.

"A lot of people don’t realize these people will refuse to evacuate because they won’t leave their animals," McCollum said.

Saturday, McCollum will head to Florida along with three others from Wisconsin to help reunite pets with their owners in the aftermath of the hurricane, bringing along needed supplies.

"Just try to be out there and do what we can to help," she said.

The organization will bring two trucks and two trailers, bringing along things like hay and animal food, all of which has been donated.

The donations have come from local feed shops.

Merton Feed Co. is donating a pallet of dog food and many of the store's customers  have given as well.

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"We’re all Americans just helping each other out," said Ben Serres with Merton Feed Co. "We’re just very proud to do this."

Helping some of the most vulnerable when disaster hits.

"It’s really meant a lot to me that animals don’t have to suffer in situations like this," McCollum said.

Anyone interested in donating can donate to TCRS2023 on Venmo. It will help them pay for supplies, like fencing and kennel runs, when they get down to Florida.