Trucker Tony, from Greenback Tennesee, recently traveled from his home in Tennessee to South Carolina in a school bus, converted into a mobile animal shelter. His mission was to save more than 60 animals during Hurricane Florence, according to The Washington Post.
“I’m like, look, these are lives too,” Alsup told the publication. “Animals — especially shelter pets — they always have to take the back seat of the bus. But I’ll give them their own bus. If I have to I’ll pay for all the fuel, or even a boat, to get these dogs out of there.”
He was motivated to start his animal crusade when devastating Hurricane Harvey hit Texas. He saw reports of animal shelters that were overcrowded and his response: “I thought, well what can I do?” he said. “I’ll just go buy a bus.”
This way he could transport the animals to shelters that were able to take these distressed animals. He then went on to rescue animals during hurricanes Irma and Maria.
During Hurricane Florence, which hit the Carolinas last month, he asked for guidance to where he was needed the most on Facebook.
“It’s all true. Tony swooped in at 4 a.m.Wednesday morning to pick up our ‘leftovers’ — the dogs with blocky heads, the ones with heartworm,” the Saint Frances Animal Center wrote on Facebook. “The ones no one else will ever take. And he got them to safety. Not the most conventional evacuation, but surely the one with the most heart.”
“It’s so easy for people to adopt the small pets and the cuties and the cuddly,” Alsup told Greenville News. “We take on the ones that deserve a chance even though they are big and a little ugly. But I love big dogs, and we find places for them.”
Once Alsup rescued the dogs from Hurricane Florence, he drove them 60 miles to his friend’s shelter in Foley, Alabama, where they enjoyed baths and a much-needed rest on fluffy blankets.
Some of the animals were adopted that day and the remaining cats and dogs where taken to Knoxville, Tennesee, where they were given to shelters, according to Animal Channel.
Last we heard he was heading to Wilmington, North Caroline to rescue some more! What an animal hero this man is.
Please share to pay tribute to this wonderful man!