NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas – When it came to the needs of our four-legged friends, you answered the call.
The Humane Society of the New Braunfels Area is saying thank you for the huge response to its plea for help.
The animal shelter was bursting at the seams with rescues, and faced the difficult prospect of having to put some animals down.
But the message spread quickly with a post on social media, and the animals found new homes.
Just a couple of weeks ago the hallways were packed, but the crates are now clear.
The break room now has less puppies and more people chowing down.
"Everywhere we could possibly fit an animal, had an animal," said Will Stapleton with the Humane Society, when describing what the New Braunfels Area on what their facility looked like.
Stapleton says it was out of necessity. All it took was a couple of days of more animals being taken in than adopted out.
"It's odd 'cause Christmas and New Year's is normally the time where we have the most adoptions, and the least intakes," said Stapleton. "It kind of turned on a dime there really."
They hadn't resorted to putting animals down for lack of space in three years, and did not want to start now.
Sharing their plight via a video made by a staff member, they asked for people to open their hearts and homes. They did.
"I mean it just blew up. It got shared everywhere on Facebook," said Stapleton.
About 110 animals went out the door in four days. The majority were adopted by families and even some nearby shelters shared their space.
Interest came from all over the United States and as far away as England.
As of Wednesday, the shelter is full of dogs again, but families are lined up for many.
The work is never done, but staff members act knowing the community is walking with them hand-in-hand, and in this instance, providing a home for the holidays.
"[I'm] talking about how proud we are to be in a community like it is, where we can tell people that we need help and they step up within just a couple of hours, and suddenly every animal nearly in adoption has been moved," said Stapleton.