Hundreds of people apply to adopt pets rescued from Texas following storm

GOLETA, Calif. - Austin Miller and Rogelio Gonzalez are feeling lucky. They just adopted a rescue dog named Freckles from the Santa Barbara County Animal Services shelter in Goleta.

They were among 500 people who applied to adopt one of 22 pets rescued from Texas after shelters became overwhelmed during outages caused by a recent storm.

"We are just so excited, we didn't know this was going to happen, but we have been wanting a dog for the longest time and the fact that we were able to help rescue a dog that went through such hard times, we are just so excited, " said Miller.

"His name is Freckles and he looks like a Labrador mix with an Australian, with a bunch of freckles on his face so we though he was really adorable and high energy," said Gonzalez.

They will be able to take Freckles to their home in Ventura on Thursday after he has been neutered, free of charge

Some Santa Barbara County Animal Services shelter staff called it "Texas Adoption Tuesday."

Their staff and volunteers have 21 dogs and a cat with a bad leg from Texas.

The cat, named Ariel, is receiving medical attention before being put up for adoption.

Santa Barbara County Animal Services has been overwhelmed with interest.

Dozens of other available pets have been moved to their Santa Maria location to make room for the Texas rescues, but they are still adoptable.

They hope people who didn't get a Texas pet will still consider adopting other animals in need of homes.

Fore more information visit countyofsb.org or call (805)681-5285 in Goleta or (805)934-6119 in Santa Maria.