A dog needed a home. Laurie Hood came back with 34 animals. That tells you quite a bit about how Alaqua got started.
In our Fall 2025 issue, Lauren Sage Reinlie visited the animal refuge in Freeport, Florida, to meet the woman behind it. The place had grown considerably. Hood’s instinct to help had not changed much at all.
She was always going to do something
At about eight years old, Hood went door-to-door in her Louisiana neighborhood with a petition to protect songbirds. Years later, while looking for a dog to rescue, she found a Border Collie mother and eight puppies that needed somewhere to go.
Hood founded Alaqua Animal Refuge in 2007. On that first rescue trip, she took home 34 animals, including the Border Collie she named Sugar. Back at her small farm, she built pens with wooden boards and chicken wire. There was no polished master plan waiting in a drawer. There were animals to look after.
More than a place to stay
Dogs and cats were only the beginning. Horses, goats, pigs, parrots, and tortoises became part of Alaqua’s story, too. Different animals meant different needs, and the team learned how to meet them.
“You can’t leave those animals behind,” Hood told the magazine. “We quickly learned how to take in all species.”
The work grew beyond shelter and adoption. Alaqua began helping law enforcement with animal-welfare cases, providing care and documenting what injured animals had been through. During hurricanes, it also helped shelter animals moved out of danger.
In 2013, conservation philanthropists M.C. and Stella Davis donated land for the refuge’s next chapter. The resulting 100-acre setting in Freeport gave Hood room to think bigger: veterinary care, education, gathering spaces, and a place where visitors could understand the work behind a rescue.
A small blue sticker helped
Some support arrived through an unlikely little object: a 30A sticker.
The 30A Company placed its free round blue stickers beside Alaqua donation boxes at local businesses. People picked up a reminder of the beach and left something to help the animals. Those contributions helped fund food, medical care, and rehabilitation.
It was a simple idea people could take part in, whether they lived down the road or were just here for the week.
Still thinking bigger
When Reinlie visited, Hood was already looking beyond what had been built. She wanted Alaqua to share what it had learned so others could help more animals in their own communities.
That ambition comes with a very practical daily reality: mouths to feed, spaces to clean, animals to care for, and homes to find. The staff and volunteers keep showing up for it.
Want to lend a hand? Visit Alaqua’s website for current adoption, volunteering, donation, and visiting information.
Adapted from reporting by Lauren Sage Reinlie in Beach Happy Magazine, Fall 2025, Issue 22. Photography courtesy of Alaqua Animal Refuge. Read the original issue.
