Ricardo Pimentel, director of the Tierra de Animales, a closed jungle animal shelter, faced a real problem when Hurricane Delta hit the Mexican resort city of Cancun in early October. More than 500 animals were under his care in the shelter.

Homeless cats, dogs, birds, horses and many other animals lived there. The shelter has taken care of the animals for the past nine years.

The man knew that the animals could be in danger because their shelter is not strong enough to withstand a Category 4 storm. Not all shelters are hurricane-proof. Therefore, he had no choice but to bring all 300 dogs to his home for the night. Volunteers who want to help us can come and stay here,” Pimentel told The Dodo.

It was not at all easy to accommodate 300 dogs in the house. Some dogs did not walk on a leash, some did not understand what was happening and began to panic. But they managed to finish what they started before the cyclone hit. It took Pimentel and his assistants five hours to gather all the puppies and place them in the house.

The night passed more easily than Pimentel expected. Of course, there was still a mess, but the most important thing was that the dogs got along with each other quite well and everything went without “dog disagreements”.

Fortunately, the hurricane was only a Category 2 storm. But the tree branches still caused some damage to the shelter. I had to clean up a little and make some repairs. The next day at 5 p.m, the dogs were transported back to their shelter, Pimentel added.

Now the man plans to build a hurricane-proof shelters so that animals have more adequate protection.