A national animal rescue group has stepped forward to help the last displaced Hurricane Sandy dog in Nassau County find a home before the emergency shelter he was staying in since the storm closes Saturday, a Nassau County SPCA spokesman said Friday.
UPDATE: Bruno leaves pet shelter
Bruno and his owner were displaced from their Long Beach home following the Oct. 29 superstorm. The Rottweiler’s owner, who lost his job after the hurricane, was hired outside New York State and had to say goodbye to the pup.
On Thursday, the Nassau County SPCA sent out a heartfelt news release regarding Bruno’s dire situation and pleaded for help finding the “strong and sometimes stubborn” dog a home.
Bruno’s story touched the hearts of pet lovers across the country and quickly went viral. Now someone is stepping in to help.
The county will say farewell to Bruno at a press conference Saturday, when they will officially identify his saviors. Bruno has yet to be adopted, but there is a plan in place to help the dog find a new family, officials said.
“Bruno is a devoted dog,” said Gary Rogers, spokesperson for the Nassau County SPCA. “He has a strong and sometimes stubborn Rottweiler personality that would fit best with an owner who understands the breed, but he becomes a loveable puppy around the people he really knows and trusts. He has had a very difficult last few months and we are desperate to find him a happy ending.”
Beverly Poppell, vice president of Wantagh’s Pet Safe Coalition, one of the volunteer groups that took care of the 515 animals displaced by Sandy, said a lot of research went into Bruno’s case because “not just anybody could take him.”
The animals all had owners who dropped the pets off at the temporary shelter inside an abandoned former gymnasium in Mitchel Field to keep them safe during the storm. All but 50 of the animals returned to their owners and the remaining pets found new homes.
“It’s a wonderful thing that happened,” Rogers said Friday. “Everybody came together and worked together as a team.”
He credited Nassau County Executive Ed Mangano for allowing volunteers to keep the shelter open as long as possible. No animal was going to be left behind, he said.
“What Ed Mangano did here, he’ll forever have my respect,” he said.
