Truck driver refuses to leave shelter animals behind during hurricane, so he turns a school bus into "Noah's Ark" and transports 53 dogs and 11 cats to safety: 'A true hero'

In a world where it's easy to prioritize selfishness, be a Tony Alsup: he saved more than 60 rescue animals from Hurricane Florence because he couldn't turn a blind eye and let them weather the storm alone. He didn't just take the healthy ones, he took the ones with heartworm, the anxious ones, and the ones no one else would save.

Hurricanes leave massive amounts of destruction in their wake every year. Homes are literally ripped from the ground, communities flooded and damaged beyond repair, and thousands of families leave without ever knowing if they'll have a place to come back to. As bad as it is for the humans, it's even worse for the pets. Do you have any idea how many animals are lost during severe weather events like hurricanes? Dogs bolt through the front door out of fear, indoor cats run to hide and can't be found, and don't even get me started on outdoor cats.

But there's still one group that we still haven't mentioned yet, and it's because they are the ones that are most often forgotten: the shelter animals. The ones that are taken care of mostly by volunteers, who are understaffed and struggling for resources. Who do you think takes care of these poor babies when a hurricane threatens to tear through their town? Some national animal rescue organizations, like Best Friends Animal Society, have contingency plans for emergencies like this, but they don't have the manpower to handle everything. Most times, it's ordinary people who end up being the unsung heroes of these animals' lives, and Tony Alsup is one of them.

During Hurricane Florence in 2018, he used his professional truck driving skills to rescue 53 shelter dogs and 11 cats by transporting them to safety. With his own money, he bought a school bus, tore out all the seats and made it suitable to transport as many animals as he could, then drove all day and night to collect the rescue animals from four different shelters in South Carolina to safety.

When I was a kid and lived in Virginia, we got some blowback from Hurricane Katrina. It was terrifying. I watched giant trees get knocked over like a game of Jenga and cars get washed away by the torrential downpour. If it was terrifying for me, you can only imagine how frightening it must be for animals stuck in a shelter with no knowledge of what's going on or why. But, thanks to Tony, at least these animals were saved from their fate. 

Let's all figure out how we can be a little more like Tony in our daily lives.