Liberty County Animal Control recently received a much needed piece of equipment to ensure the safety of the animals housed at its facility should a natural disaster arise. The trailer was delivered to the department’s new location, now on Lee Place Road near the former airfield in Hinesville.

A trailer used traditionally to haul equipment has been modified to ferry cats and dogs to safety should Liberty County have to evacuate during a storm or other natural disaster.

Karen Talbot, a New Jersey native who is the cofounder of Animal Aid USA and founder of Making Of Miracles Stories animal rescue group, said a need to evacuate animals here was identified.

The trailer was named in honor of Amazing Grace, a canine who survived the gas chamber in July 2006, a method used at that time to euthanize animals. The trailer was delivered last Thursday while animal rescue group members, several elected officials and county animal control personnel looked on.  

According to Talbot the trailer has been modified to accommodate 15 crates for cats, nine for puppies, 18 for adult dogs and space for additional crates if needed. In addition to donating the trailer, the rescue group also donated a generator to power the lights and air conditioner placed in the trailer.

Talbot said the trailer was named after Amazing Grace because of the ordeal the dog went through when placed in a metal container along with three other dogs to be euthanized by gas fumes more than 10 years ago. Amazing Grace, to the surprise of animal control personnel, was the only dog to survive the gassing. Amazing Grace suffered no side effects from the procedure and was later adopted by Phil Draughon of Chicago who saw her story on CNN. Amazing Grace passed away this past July after developing cancer. The mixed-breed canine became the face of the movement that successfully abolished the practice of euthanizing animals using the gas chamber. Her suffering and survival is credited with the outlawing of gassing animals in the state of Georgia.

Talbot said the metal trailer is a symbolic turn on the metal container Amazing Grace was placed in to be killed; the trailer can now be considered a box to protect life, not take life.

Randy Durrence, Liberty County Animal Control director, said should animals have to be evacuated during a mandatory evacuation they will be taken in the trailer to Vidalia or Dublin to wait out a storm or disaster.

A video of the evacuation trailer donation can be viewed on the Courier website.