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Animal rescue damaged by storms in Shelby County

FOUNTAINTOWN, Ind. (WISH) — An animal shelter in Shelby County is asking for your help after a storm severely damaged its kennels.

That storm happened Sunday evening.

The owner of the shelter says they need about $10,000 to get everything back to normal. But she’s thankful for what’s already been done.

“We couldn’t have done it without them,” said Shelly Christie, thanking volunteers.

Christie is the the owner of Canine Castaways Rescue, Inc. in Fountaintown.

Despite the tattered kennels, she says things here could’ve been a lot worse. The Sunday storm tossed many of the kennels through the yard. At least one of them landing on top of another one.

“Next thing you know we seen dogs running. Cages, all the kennels flipped upside down. There was a lot of damage,” she said. “I was afraid. It was scary. Real scary.”

Volunteers showed up on Monday to help put the kennels back together.

“Everybody just came through. There were so many people from everywhere,” she said.

Christie says volunteers came from as far away as White County.

This is the same storm that demolished a barn less than a mile away. We first brought you this story Monday.  Wood and siding was left scattered for hundreds of yards. Some of the debris slammed into a house across the road.

“It picked up the pull barn behind us and basically put it in my living room. I’ve got beams sticking through my roof, it came crashing through the window, the bedroom. Had a 2×4 come through the front window and almost hit my wife,” said Brian Clark, the owner of the home.

47 dogs live at Canine Castaways. All of them pulled from kill shelters moments before they were set to be euthanized.

“We’ll pull them in, give them medical if needed. Get them all settled in and put them on PetFinder to find them new homes, give them a second chance. That’s what we’re about, Canine Castaways,” said Christie.

The organization is now asking for its own second chance.

“We’re going to need every dollar to put this place back together,” she said.

None of the dogs were injured in that storm. Some of the volunteers are even fostering dogs until Christie can get fully up and running again.

They’ve set up a GoFundMe page to help pay for the repairs.

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