Putnam Resident Leading Pet Rescue In East TN

Putnam’s Disaster Animal Response Team Leader Jeremy Richter chosen by TEMA as an Animal Resource Coordinator to help with East Tennessee cleanup.

Richter said they are receiving donations of animal supplies from across the country and working to get them to the shelters, rescues, and other organizations that need them. Richter said animal relief efforts are important because three-quarters of people who refuse to evacuate in a disaster stay behind for their pets.

“Since a large part of the community will not evacuate, we want to be able to help them take care of their pets so that they can be as safe and taken care of themselves as well,” Richter said.

Richter said he is working at a distribution site located at the Bristol Motor Speedway. He said it is unclear how long he will be in Bristol but he will stay as long as needed.

“I do think that there’s going to be a part of this that I’m still able to coordinate even once I’m not here in Bristol,” Richter said. “Just to help establish those communications and continue to coordinate some of those efforts.”

Richter said it was incredibly humbling and honoring to be chosen for this role in the relief effort.

“My role has been more one of coordination and collaboration,” Richter said. “Establishing a lot of communication and relationships and being able to work with all of the local organizations that support animals all the time.”

Richter said he was chosen for the role after the Putnam DART was activated to support a local team in eastern Tennessee that had gotten overwhelmed.

“We continued that deployment, we established and operated a food and supply distribution center for animals,” Richter said. “And as that evolved we continued to do so.”

Richter said he then worked to consolidate multiple distribution sites in the area to combine staff and become more accessible to the community.

“We completed our assignment, so we were there for a handful of days,” Richter said. “And as that would down, like I said, I was on a conference call where it was decided that there was a need for more coordination and collaboration here at Bristol Motor Speedway.”