Turtle Mountain Animal Rescue at capacity, animals being turned away

"Playing God sucks. That's probably one of the hardest things with this is making those decisions”

ROLLA, N.D. (KVRR) – The severe storm bearing down on the region is putting animal rescue workers in a desperate situation.

Turtle Mountain Animal Rescue workers say they’re out of room and being forced to turn animals away.

Founder Keith Benning says they have more than 27 adult dogs and more than 40 puppies currently on their waiting list.

Turtle Mountain’s facility and foster homes are entirely full, so they’re forced to decide which animals are allowed in, based on the most need.

“Yeah, playing God sucks. That’s probably one of the hardest things with this is making those decisions,” Benning said.

“We have volunteers that answer messages that come in and I know they struggle with it too. You know if they get this message of ‘hey is there nothing they can do? This person is begging and pleading and it’s like no, you know we just we can’t.’”

Benning says if there are stray dogs or cats in your neighborhood you can save their lives by making sure they have some protection and insulation from the freezing ground and make sure they have shelter from the wind.

Turtle Mountain can send rescued animals to foster homes as far away as Fargo and Grand Forks.