Six dogs living in a downstate shelter destroyed by a tornado have been taken in by Anderson Humane in South Elgin.
“By helping transport these dogs, we create breathing room for people with animals displaced by the tornadoes to reclaim their lost companions,” Dean Daubert, Anderson Humane president and CEO, said.
The tornado struck the Animal Protective League facilties in Springfield on June 11, forcing the animals they had been caring into the domain of the Sangamon County Animal Control. That agency quickly reached capacity and was dealing with an air-conditioning outage, according to a news release from Anderson Humane.
Anderson learned of the situation from Utah-based shelter partner Best Friends Animal Society, the release said.
On June 30, the nonprofit sent staff members Molly Craig and Bradford Jensen to the Sangamon County to assist with an emergency animal transfer, Daubert said. They returned with three adult dogs and three puppies.
“The six dogs were carefully selected by our team to give them the best chance at adoption,” Daubert said.
Craig, who works as Anderson’s director of animal pathways, said in the release that the people she and Jensen met in Springfield are doing heroic work.
“Stepping in to bring these six vulnerable dogs into our care was vital to getting them out of the sweltering heat and lifting some of that heavy weight from the local team’s shoulders,” Craig said.
Daubert said the dogs’ names are Quinn, Blossom, Jacks, Brittany, Flubber and Flamingo. Flamingo is available for adoption at Anderson’s Bloomingdale adoption location and the other canines are being kept at its South Elgin shelter.
The Springfield mission is one of more than a dozen rescue efforts Anderson Humane has been involved in over the years. In 2025 they took in 34 kittens displaced by flooding in Arkansas and also received 31 cats from Chicago Animal Care that were part of a cat hoarding case, Daubert said.
In summer 2022, working with the Humane Society of the United States, Anderson Humane welcomed 168 beagles from the nationwide rescue of more than 4,000 at the Envigo breeding facility in Cumberland, Virginia, he said. That November, working once again with the Humane Society, Anderson rescued three dogs bound for South Korea to be butchered for meat and another that was rescued from Hurricane Ian in Florida.
“It is all about community. We do our best to lend assistance in times of crisis,” Daubert said.
For more information on animals up for adoption at Anderson Humane, go to www.ahconnects.org/adopt.
Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The (Elgin) Courier-News.
