Antigua and Barbuda Dog Names

Animals, especially dogs, and cats hold extraordinary places in our hearts and lives, making it difficult for many, and impossible for others, when it becomes necessary to separate from them.  These separations come in the forms of hospitalizations, marriages and divorces, and heartbreak for those who must leave their homes and independent lifestyle to be cared for in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.  Separations can also come in the form of natural disasters, which force people from their homes with no option of being accompanied by their best buddies.  Our pop culture spotlight for today is one of those canines, separated from his owner by a natural disaster named Irma.

Ivory, described as a blonde male Pit Bull, belonged to a man who lived on the island of Barbuda.  Hurricane Irma was historic in many ways in September of 2017 when it formed one of the most massive and most fierce tropical cyclones to hit the continental United States.  Irma slammed through the Carribean islands packing category five winds more than 156 miles per hour, ripping through and devastating everything and anything in its path.  As the hurricane approached the islands, it took aim at Barbuda, all of the 1,800 people who call the island home evacuated to Antigua.  This evacuation was accomplished allowing the residents no options to bring their animals, whether pets or farm animals, with them to the temporary emergency shelters.  

The hurricane ripped through the tiny island, taking down everything in its path before aiming for the northern islands and later the whole state of Florida.  We saw pictures of vast piles of rubble and people standing in waist-deep floodwaters, some holding small animals.  These pictures depicted the aftermath of the storm when rescue workers were finally able to get there, several days after the storm passed.  Hundreds of pets abandoned during the evacuation.  Chaos reigned when the rain clouds cleared as people tried desperately to communicate their need to be reunited with their beloved furry family members.  Ivory was one of those hundreds of lucky pets who needed and received rescue.  So many died of starvation before rescuers could get to them, but somehow, Ivory survived, willingly coming when called by name by the rescuers and was reunited with his beloved master, the duo now looking for a place to live and rebuild their lives.