Indiana flooding has led to critters drowning as rescue workers plead for owners to ditch metal chains

With over eight inches of rain falling over the last few days in Dubois County in Indiana, humane society workers are scrambling to get animals to safety.

Dubois County Humane Society volunteer Maria Cummins says a three foot tall dog wouldn’t have a chance, according to a story in the Tristate Homepage News 

“The creek was rushing so hard it reminded me of Splash Mountain at Disneyland,” Cummin says. “I mean there were huge logs flying in my creek and there was little moles swimming in my yard.

“There was a point yesterday where there was no where out of our neighborhood,” Paula Book says. “It didn’t make a difference which way you were going, you weren’t going anywhere.”

But as the water rises, so does the safety concern for animals.

Cummins says, “Bring them in, especially chained up dogs. Once that water starts rising they’re prisoners…stranded.”

“Sometimes we see them go in culverts and protected areas like that where they can get shelter but with the water we’ve been having obviously that’s full of water and isn’t a place for them to go,” Book says.

Book has lived in Jasper for more than 20 years. Her heart ached for a stray cat she found on top of a truck tire with a large gash on it’s back leg.

“It’s just like how can you look at a face like that and hear it meow and know it’s in pain and not try to do something,” Book says.

Not all animals were as lucky.

“The ones we encountered had drowned there was no where for them to go,” Cummins says.

As Book saved one cat, volunteers remind people you can save your pet too.

“Maybe ditch the metal,” Cummins says. “I wouldn’t go out there holding a metal pole so I wouldn’t want my dog chained to one.”

Volunteers say some dogs and cats were rescued and expect an increase in strays over the next couple of days.

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Peg Fong is also in recovery from newspapers

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