INDIAN RIVER COUNTY

Dogs left behind in Puerto Rico reunite with owners

Janet Begley
Special to TCPalm
Jolyann Torres, 22, (center) and her fiancée Godwin Ghigliotty (right,) both from Orlando, celebrate with their dogs Red (left), and Lolo, after being reunited at the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, as Maria Ramirez (left), director of operations, stands by. The couple were separated from their animals for three months after evacuating their home in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria hit in September 2017. Thirty dogs, including Red and Lolo were flown from Puerto Rico to Vero Beach to be reunited with their families. CQ Jolyann Torres, Godwin Ghigliotty, Lolo, Red

VERO BEACH -  It was a Sunday afternoon filled with reunions at the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County as owners were reunited with dogs they left behind in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.

“It has brought my life back,” said JolyAnn Torres, 22, who now lives in Orlando with fiancé Godwin Ghigliotty, 25. The couple was reunited with 2-year-old Lolo and 10-month-old Red, which had been staying with Torres’ grandmother on the island since the storm.  “It’s been so hard not having them with us. We are so lucky to have them back.”

Lolo and Red were two of the 30 dogs that arrived Sunday morning at the Vero Beach Regional Airport in crates as part of a transport mission arranged by St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center in Madison, New Jersey, and the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County. Costs for the air transport were covered by the JPB Foundation, a charitable organization headquartered in New York City.

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El Faro de los Animales in Humacao, Puerto Rico, provided the crates and helped load the dogs onto the cargo plane for the almost five-hour flight to Vero Beach. Pilots from IBC Airways flew the dogs into the Sun Jet Center in Vero Beach, and shelter staff quickly transported them to the Humane Society on 77th Street to be reunited with their owners.

Maria Ramirez (top left) director of operations at the Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County, carefully lowers Draco, one of 30 dogs from Puerto Rico, from the back of a jet aircraft into the waiting hands of humane society staff (from left) Marcel Goncalves, Ashley Fugate, and Joel Scher, of Sun Aviation, at the Vero Beach Regional Airport on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, in Vero Beach. The dogs were flown from Puerto Rico to Vero Beach to be reunited with their families who evacuated the Island after Hurricane Maria hit in September 2017. To see more photos, go to TCPalm.com. CQ Maria Ramirez, Marcel Goncalves, Ashley Fugate, Joel Scher

Torres, who said she suffers from anxiety, has been counting the days until she could be reunited with her dogs, which she said have a calming effect on her. 

“It hasn’t been easy for us,” said Torres. “I lost my job, my car, everything we had. We been through so much and now that I have my dogs back, I can be me again.”

Giselle Rodriquez, who now lives in Orlando, has been waiting for three years to be reunited with her dogs Luna and Lobo. The dogs had been living with her brother in Puerto Rico while Rodriquez tried to settle her family in Florida but she lost hope they would be reunited after the hurricane hit the island in September.

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“I’ve waited so long for this moment,” said Rodriquez. “I saw the program listed on Facebook that said now I could bring my dogs to Florida and I jumped at it.”

Humane Society Education Director Janet Winikoff said the reunions will continue throughout the week as families travel from across the state to reunite with their dogs.

“They are all trying to make arrangements to get to Vero Beach,” said Winikoff. “They’ve been separated from their animals for months so we’re trying to make this happen as quickly as possible.”

Thirty dogs from Puerto Rico are flown to Vero Beach Regional Airport on Sunday, Jan. 28, 2018, where they are received by the staff of Humane Society of Vero Beach and Indian River County. The dogs were then transported to the Humane Society in Vero Beach where they will later be reunited with their families, most of which evacuated Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria hit in September 2017.

On the outside chance that an owner is still unable to care for their dog, Winikoff said the shelter will work with them to find the animal a home but she doubts that would happen. By 4 p.m. Sunday, almost 10 of the 30 dogs had already been claimed by their owners.

“These are dogs that have been living with other family members, not in a shelter,” said Winikoff. “They have people here who are waiting for them and they can’t wait to see them.”

Contact Begley at jabegley@aol.com