A fundraiser has generated $75,000 for a woman in the Bahamas who says she took 97 stray dogs into her home as Hurricane Dorian hit the islands.
A Sunday Facebook post by Chella Phillips, who lives in Nassau, went viral after she described how she was housing 97 canines in her home, which had been barricaded to prevent against the Category 5 storm. She said conditions in the house were not great, but the pooches were behaving themselves.
“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,” Phillips wrote. “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.”
Phillips, who runs The Voiceless Dogs of Nassau based in the capital of the Bahamas, also posted an image of the dogs filling her living room and compared the behavior of the dogs to that of humans.
“For all the ones asking.. yes.. everyone here gets along and welcome the newcomers with tail wags cause they know they are their brothers and sisters in suffering on the streets,” she wrote. “They are not like the selfish humans that mistreated and abused them or simply passed them by and let them to die on the streets.”
Phillips had set up a fundraiser to bring in money for the dogs, which had brought in more than $75,000 by about noon Tuesday. Almost 2,000 people have contributed to the cause.
She said in a Monday update that although the house has lost power and water was coming in, all of the dogs are alright.
Although the island Phillips is on didn’t take the brunt of the hurricane, it did experience fierce winds and rain. There have been five confirmed deaths so far in the Abaco Islands, where Dorian initially made landfall.
