By Ryan Lang, American Red Cross  

After Typhoon Halong devastated the villages of western Alaska the night of October 11, families were removed from their homes. So many had to leave behind so much, including their valuables, family artifacts, clothes, food, and more. Some had to leave behind so much more, including their pets.  

As part of the relief effort, and with the help of numerous state and local partners, the American Red Cross committed to reuniting as many of those pets with their owners as possible. To do that, the animals had to be airlifted from the villages to Bethel where they had a warm place to stay before being flown to Anchorage.  

Marcel Pajuelo-Schwartz has been a volunteer with the Red Cros since 1967 and serves as a disaster pet liaison. His mission is to reconnect these dogs, cats, and other animals with their families after a disaster. “The animals have been through a lot,” Marcel said. “A lot of them, after experiencing something like this, go into depression and become reclusive. So, you have to talk to them and try and destress them.”    

His father was a veterinarian, so having grown up around pets, Marcel has learned a few things over the years. “Since they cannot talk to people, you have to learn their behavior,” Marcel said. He proudly stated that he can speak all different “animal languages” and that it helps him and the pets be at ease.   

These are among the dozens of pets that had to be removed from western Alaska after Typhoon Halong.  The pets of the villages of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok were not at ease, at least not at first. They were removed from the only homes most of them had ever known, much like the people of these villages. They were shipped to Anchorage and surrounding areas, separated from the people who looked after them.  

Luckily, they had people like Marcel and others who were there to help them, not just in the short term with food and shelter and comfort, but in the long term – getting them back to their owners.  

When Marcel landed in Anchorage, he got straight to work, gathering photos of the animals, posting them to social media and creating flyers to post in the two Red Cross shelters. “We managed to identify 38 dogs and pair them with their families,” Marcel said. “It brings me a lot of joy to be able to do that.”  

But the task was not simple.

There were a lot of factors to consider, particularly for the animals of the villages of Kipnuk and Kwigillingok. Not only had most of these dogs and other animals never been caged, but most lived outdoors and weren’t used to typical pet food.

“A lot of them eat meat like salmon and other fish and just giving them dry food could cause issues,” Marcel explained. As residents transitioned from shelter life to hotels, Marcel said, “I wanted to make sure where they would be staying was pet friendly.” He said all of the hotel locations were pet friendly, and that he made certain that there were appropriate accommodations for families that had more than two animals they were reuniting with.    

In addition to helping the animals who were displaced by Typhoon Halong, Marcel made it a point to help the local animals staying at the Anchorage Municipal Animal Care and Control. He gathered bags of Red Cross blankets that were no longer being used at the two shelters in Anchorage and dropped them off at the local shelter, a gesture that was very much appreciated by the municipality.