(WKBN) — More people are being forced out of East Palestine after a train derailment occurred on Friday night. As many pet owners are now scrambling to figure out where to bring their pets, some local groups in the Valley are helping out.

The Greier family’s farm in Canfield is just one farm offering some of its extra space to those in need of a place for their livestock to go.

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“We have all these pastures that we don’t utilize in the winter and I wanted to offer it to anyone that might need it,” says Sara Greier with Green Gate Farms.

Greier says they have the capacity to house several animals.

“We can handle horses, cattle, sheep, goats — I suppose pigs,” Greier says.

Freedom Ranch in Salem is also lending a hand to residents in need. The farm originally shared a post to Facebook, then made an update that they could also take in dogs.

“And that kind of really spit-fired everything and really got the ball rolling,” says Kaylee Ball with Freedom Ranch. “The post had been shared over a thousand times by the time I looked at it this morning, and from those shares, it was shared and we had messages and phone calls.”

So far, the farm will be taking in five dogs and two horses by Monday evening. They are also accepting all kinds of animals.

“If we can accommodate it, we will. If it’s goats, chickens, we will do our best to accommodate with what we can,” Ball says.

They’ve already accommodated Sydney Davis, who was forced to evacuate from her home. She was down at the farm Monday afternoon dropping off her dogs.

“We appreciate it more than we can say. The stress of trying to find places for farm dogs and horses is just stressful,” Davis says.

“In a time of need, I just want somebody to know that there’s comfort and there’s peace,” says Ball. “While it’s ugly out there and there’s a lot happening, it’s quiet here and it’s safe.”

For smaller animals, Angels for Animals is offering to shelter any dogs and cats whose home is in the East Palestine evacuation zone. It currently has cages and kennels opened for any animal in need of housing.

For reptiles, the shelter is working with Herps Alive Foundation in Cleveland to house those pets.

Members with Angels for Animals say they will accept animals until spaces are full.
They also say they have fully trained foster staff to take care of the pets.

“We already take care of around 50 dogs a day and we take care of 200 to 300 hundred cats. If we have to take care of 50 to 100 more, it’s not that much different to us,” says George Beaver Our kennel workers already do a good job of taking care of the animals we have.”

The farms say though they don’t have the capacity for a ton of animals, they will accept as many as they can. You can text or call the farms to see if they have space for your animals at the following:

  • Freedom Ranch: 419-571-1764
  • Green Gate Farms: 330-533-6937
  • Angels for Animals: 330-549-1111

They say animals are welcome to stay as long as needed