Storm destroys Bollinger County animal shelter, thousands still without power

SEDGEWICKVILLE, Mo. -- When Friday's barrage of storms that left thousands without power in Southeast Missouri first hit, Vanessa Murry grabbed her pets and huddled with them in the bathroom of her recently built house in Bollinger County.

Murry, who runs Furry Animal Rescue Mission, a no-kill dog shelter on a 550-acre farm off County Road 200 near Sedgewickville, said that when the power went out, she had been watching the news and initially thought a tornado had touched down.

"I looked out the window and all the trees were leaning one way and the wind was whistling," Murry said.

When Murry went out to check on the four dogs she housed in the five-stall shelter, converted from a hog finishing building that's about 20 years old, she was met with devastation.

The decades-old hickory tree that usually protects the building from the elements -- the same shade tree that allowed Murry to create the shelter in the first place -- had collapsed, crushing the roof and obliterating the electrical system.

Vanessa Murray discusses on Monday the storm damage to the Furry Animal Rescue Mission, which she founded last year in Bollinger County. (Fred Lynch)

The dogs -- except for a beagle that managed to escape when the tree fell -- were "terrified," but unharmed, Murry said.

Jane, an older Weimaraner, was scared enough to try to run through the chute into the outdoor area, where she likely would have been crushed to death when tree fell, but the wind blew the door shut, barring her escape, Murry said.

The storm wreaked havoc on power lines and trees throughout Bollinger, Perry and north Cape Girardeau counties, destroying buildings and fences.

As of Monday afternoon, about 2,600 Citizen's Electric members in Cape Girardeau and Perry counties were without power, reduced from 10,000 at the peak of the outages, said Barbara Casper, manager of member services for Citizen's.

The storm hit countywide, said Perry County Sheriff Gary Schaaf, leaving in its wake felled trees, power lines, widespread power outages and many buildings damaged or completely destroyed.

By Monday, road crews and in many cases "regular citizens with chain saws" had managed to clear debris from most of the roadways, Schaaf said.

"It's kind've calmed down, but now we're dealing with the outages," he said.

There were about 8,000 customers of Black River Electric Cooperative without power as of Monday, said Black River spokesman John Singleton.

Singleton said Black River, which serves much of Bollinger County, hoped to have power restored to customers within the next seven to 10 days, but they could be looking at a longer wait.

"As we continue to work we're finding new damages," Singleton said.

Murry said she was told it could be weeks before her power is restored, and has been relying on generators and well-water in the meantime.

The Humane Society of Missouri has said they will meet her request of taking some of the dogs off her hands and place them in a no-kill shelter, humane society spokeswoman Jeanne Jae said.

Last summer, Murry had about 25 dogs in the shelter, and said she is thankful there were a lot fewer at home when the tree fell.

Across the Murry farm, trees lay felled, torn from the ground by their roots, and scores of power lines were down.

Murry said when the skies cleared after the storm, she ventured onto County Road 200 by foot, climbing under and over tree limbs.

So many fences had been ruptured by the storm that Murry said about 25 stray cattle wandered about in the road, all with different brands indicating they were from various neighboring farms.

Murry said she ducked under a barbed-wire fence and walked in the field to avoid the cattle.

The idea for the no-kill shelter began when Murry moved to the farm, in her husband's family for generations, about six years ago. She came from Cape Girardeau and noted the lack of animal control resources in the rural area.

She started the rescue mission after seeing how many people would abandon animals on county roads.

"I would have a soft heart and bring them home," she said.

One of her goals was to save the older animals -- the ones considered unadoptable, like Jane, she said.

She has several older dogs on the farm that will live out their lives there.

"They're happy, they can run freely. It's kind of like a retirement home out here," she said.

Murry has said she likely won't rebuild the shelter because without the shade tree next to it, the building does not meet requirements under Department of Agriculture guidelines.

Instead, she said she wants to focus on what she feels is a major issue: raising awareness about the need to spay and neuter pets.

bdicosmo@semissourian.com

388-3635

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