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Woman gives back to Fort Myers shelter that helped her save 2 dogs during Ian

Reporter: Annette Montgomery Writer: Joey Pellegrino
Published: Updated:
Marianne Spindel, left, and her family bringing a huge donation to Guardians of Florida Animal Rescue. Courtesy of the Spindels

A woman who helped rescue two dogs during Hurricane Ian is now giving back to the Fort Myers shelter that took them in.

“Now that there’s a little boy… that was rescued with a plastic bag, his 13-year-old dog just passed away, ” said Marianna Spindel. “So now, I want to do more.”

Spindel is doing more on Sunday for Guardians of Florida Animal Rescue, located at 13931 Sophomore Lane, a shelter that gave much with very little. It all began when she got a call from her husband, who drove down from Parkland to help save families in Southwest Florida.

“He said, ‘I need you to do me a huge favor: There’s these two dogs; they’re very elderly, they’re very sick,'” Spindel said. “‘It’s from one of the women I helped rescue. And she’s very distressed about her dogs.'”

Spindel, her son and stepson got to work, calling every shelter in Lee County they thought might be able to take in the dogs, Max and Wolf.

“Unfortunately… some of them was, like, too much red tape to take action immediately; others were like, ‘Oh my goodness, our van is on the way back already, and we’re full,'” Spindel said. “I found this little shelter in Fort Myers, and I thought, ‘Why would I call them? You know, they probably got hit. They probably need more help than the help I need. But why not?'”

That last call led to the dogs’ rescue after surviving in unimaginable conditions.

“7 a.m. I get a message from, you know, Guardians of Florida, saying, ‘I already have a volunteer on their way to pick up the dogs, we just need to have the OK that we can go into the house,'” Spindel said. “They were elderly, they were very sick. They had been on top of a dresser for about two days. They were drinking the water that came in. So, by the time we got them out, they were very sick. They were not moving, they couldn’t stand up.”

While the family still has hope for Wolf’s recovery, though he has pneumonia and difficulty standing up, things did not work out for Max.

“The shelter managed to get them to Miami to a specialized hospital animal hospital,” Spindel said. “Max, the chocolate lab, had to be put down two nights ago. And the other one is like… 50/50 chances.”

While that family lost their clothes, their home and one of their dogs, they tell WINK News they feel blessed to be alive. Now, Spindel wants to share a blessing with Guardians of Florida for going above and beyond to make sure the dogs made it out, even if just for a few days. The owner had to sleep at the shelter with over 100 dogs and without water or electricity.

“They’re saturated; they have so many dogs, and yet they’re still doing more,” Spindel said of the shelter. “It is not every day that I find people so amazing. So, I told them, ‘If I lived in Fort Lauderdale, I’d probably quit my job and work full-time for you.'”

On Sunday, Spindel and her family brought a carload of donations to Guardians of Florida.

 

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