Therapy Animals of San Antonio ’s rapid - response squad of therapy dogs arrive in Houston on Sunday , permit concertgoers pet and hug the dogs as much as they needed .
Caution discourage : This history take description of people ’s experience at the Astroworld cataclysm , which some readers may find disturbing .
Linda Porter - Wenzlaff was at a kid ’s bereavement bivouac Saturday morning when she learn what had happened at rapper Travis Scott ’s Astroworld Festival the nighttime before in Houston . Eight citizenry , all under the age of 30 and some of them teenager , had diedas the monumental concert crowd had moved closer and nearer to the stagecoach .
Photo: Courtesy of Therapy Animals of San Antonio
Porter - Wenzlaff , the CARE co - coordinator forTherapy Animals of San Antonio , left the clique around 11 a.m. She did n’t stay home for recollective , pack up and leading herShetland sheepdogIndigo Moon to the railroad car so they could get to Houston . They were going to take part in the first - ever deployment of TASA’sCARE Team , a rapid - response radical oftherapy dogsand handlers set on helping disaster survivor cope .
On Sunday , the five - person , four - frump squad from TASA arrived at the concert website , where a jury-rigged commemoration stood near the hundreds of multitude who ’d returned to take in item they ’d fall back at the concert . The dogs were welcomed by many , receiving many hug and positron emission tomography from the concertgoers who ’d just live immense psychic trauma . Unlike citizenry , the dog-iron were n’t going to ask them to discover what happened or call for how they ’re feel . They were on the picture only to offer emotional comfort and living .
One couple seat on a curb and petted and squeeze Indigo Moon for about five proceedings , a long sentence to only sit and pet a wienerwurst .
Courtesy of Therapy Animals of San Antonio
" The dogs really do make a departure , " Porter - Wenzlaff tells Daily Paws . " We ’re glad we can do it . "
What Is the CARE Team?
This was n’t the first time TASA ’s therapy animals responded to a Texas disaster . They visited with survivor of theSutherland Springs mass shootingas well as the people who made it out of a cut apartment building a few yr ago , Porter - Wenzlaff says . She considered direct a squad to El Paso after themass shootingthere two years ago , but the retire register nurse thought the squad needed more training .
That ’s how the CARE Team was bear . The weenie and coach teams underwent FEMA disaster training and learn creature and human first - aid skills . The therapy dogs — who already had work in hospitals , breast feeding menage , and schools — were exposed to sirens , raucous crowds , and forte equipment .
" You do n’t know what you ’re going to walk into , " Porter - Wenzlaff says .
The 16 members , including 12 someone - and - dog team , completed their training on June 12 , take on national standard for speedy - response , creature - assisted therapy . Four teams were on their direction to the Astroworld site in Houston 147 days later .
On Sunday , they institute themselves outside the fete site , where multitude were waiting in job next to the monument to find the earpiece , wallets , and handbag they ’d leave behind as they escaped the concert .
On the Ground in Houston
The monument included photograph , annotation , candles , and balloon , personalizing the loss of lifetime . At any gift point , there normally were between 100 and 150 mass in the line , Porter - Wenzlaff says . The dogs — Indigo Moon , golden retrieverIndigo , golden retriever Maggie , andbeaglemix Bonnie — get to work .
They walked up and down the line . Porter - Wenzlaff says some of the concertgoers are n’t dog people , but plenty of others cease to pet and hug the dog . It was " just time with a safe , have it off heel . " Importantly , she and the other handlers did n’t ask the subsister about what they had been through .
" They are therapy heel and they are here for you , and we are just the other end of the leash , " she says . " … You ’re not going to say anything profound that ’s kick the bucket to make a remainder . "
Most of the attendant were sombre and quiet , but some of them did talk about what they ’d seen or finger , Porter - Wenzlaff says . A untried guy talked about hanging onto a rail against immense pressure , retain himself from getting trampled . Others talked about seeing people on the priming , scar they could fall themselves .
Amid all that sadness and injury , Porter - Wenzlaff believe the TASA dogs were able-bodied to assist disorder the patrons from the trauma or give them a moment of peace . Some say things like , " Oh , I postulate this so much . " And she heard more people portion out their stories after listening to others share theirs .
The sweet dogs were felicitous to assist — and they did help . It ’s why Porter - Wenzlaff would recommend for more team like hers across the country . Sadly , there ’s always go to be a demand for them .
" You ca n’t change that cataclysm are go to befall . "
