Michigan Humane crew works to save pets - and horses amid NC hurricane devastation

FOX 2 - Twenty-two horses were stranded near Asheville, North Carolina. Hurricane Helene wiped out their pasture - putting them at risk for starvation.

Myron Golden from Michigan Humane was there to lend some helping hands amid the devastation in North Carolina.

"They were on one side of the river the bridge road completely washed out,"  he said. "The area there in used to be green pastures, but literally all that is washed away. it looks like dirt mud and rocks now."

He says two horses already died trying to escape, one drowned in the river after that bridge collapsed.

Golden is one of a crew of four highly trained, specialized rescuers from Michigan Humane dispatched to the area last week, to backfill already strapped animal rescue resources.

They’ve spent the last three days – on this painstaking horse rescue.

"These aren't like your typical riding horses calmer horses these are loose running on the pasture that you need to go after," he said.

Golden says each horse is a project, and so is just getting to them.

"Get unseen, put on your wetsuit," he said. "You have to go on a hike to get to the river, so it's like a long process so it's detentions consuming."

So far, 10 horses brought to safety and another 12, soon to be saved.

Local firefighters in another hard-hit area, this time in Tenessee – saved a dog stuck high in a tree, put there by rushing flood waters.

"We spend all year preparing for natural disasters," said Matt Pepper, Michigan Humane president and CEO.

Pepper says, their mission isn’t just to save animals, people too.

"People will sacrifice their own health and safety for that other pets," he said. "And if our team isn't specially trained to go into the rivers into the homes, people who these animals and pets belong to, be doing it and they're not trained."

A long week, and job well done - Golden and his crew are now preparing for the trip back home to Detroit.

"After this weekend, they'll be heading back home and get a chance to decompress," Pepper said. "And the reality is, they'll start preparing for the next one."