I’ve often thought about what I would take with me if my house suddenly became engulfed in flames or flooded under meters of water. What would I need in a state of emergency? What would I want to have? What would help me? Thoughts of grabbing material items like money, my passport, a few cherished items come second to my loved ones.
Kids. Check. Parents. Check. And of course, Sparky. Check. But, what if everything just happens way too fast? What if there’s no time to think about an escape or strategize the next move, let alone pack or make sure you have everything?
This is Tony Alsup from Greenback, Tennessee, USA. He’s a 51-year-old truck driver with a big heart who has been compared to Noah from the Bible in the Book of Genesis. Remember Noah? His story is one of the few from the Holy book that most people know, religious or not. He’s the man who spent years building an ark, made of wood, to house different kinds of animals and rescue them from the imminent flood. Now, in modern times, Tony is following in Noah’s footsteps.
In an interview, Tony says, “[w]e focus on the leftovers, you see, it’s so easy for people to adopt out the small pets and the cuties and cuddlies. We take the lost causes, you know, that deserve a chance, just because they’re a little ugly or big, a lot of people don’t like the big dogs. We love big dogs, we take the big dogs.”
It was when Tony heard Hurricane Florence was on the way up the east coast to wreak havoc that he rounded up an old school bus. With it, he wanted to save as many strays as possible and get them to safety before the hurricane touched down. So, he started heading towards South Carolina.
During his rescue mission, Tony was able to pick up 53 dogs and 11 cats from four different shelters in four towns: North Myrtle Beach, Dylan, Georgetown and Orangeburg, located on Hurricane Florence’s disaster path. That’s a total of 64 animals he managed to scoop up and bring to higher ground before Florence touched down. He brought them all to a shelter in southern Alabama. These 64 lucky animals will be relocated to shelters across the US with the high hopes of finding forever homes for each one.
It isn’t this saint-of-a-man’s first rescue mission, either. Tony is known to scoop up and cart around animals out of known hurricane zones throughout Texas and Florida. With the threat of Hurricane Maria, in 2017, the man even flew down to Puerto Rico to help feed, and be of service to, the needy animals down in the Caribbean. What a sweet man to turn a rundown school bus into a contemporary “ark” in times of need!
Click on the below to watch more on Tony’s remarkable story.
