A team of mules is helping deliver much-needed aid to North Carolina residents stranded by the devastating effects of Hurricane Helene.
With hundreds of roads still impassable due to storm damage and flood debris, Mount Ulla-based Mountain Mule Packer Ranch is using their “beloved” pack mules to bring supplies to areas not accessible by vehicle.
“They call them beasts of burden, we call them our beloved mules,” the company wrote on Facebook Monday. “They are capable and willing to work in many conditions most won’t. They are not stubborn… they are wise, and require respect.”
Owner Mike Toberer told the Associated Press that his mules have been delivering food, water, and diapers to the western part of the state’s hard-to-reach mountainous areas. While traditional aid groups are struggling to reach these communities, his team of four-legged athletes is uniquely suited to help.
“We’ll take our chainsaws, and we’ll push those mules through,” he said, noting that each mule can carry about 200 pounds of supplies.
Mountain Mule Packers specialize in “extreme terrain pack animal supply trains,” according to their website and have “mobile training capability to meet multiple needs.”
On Monday the mules delivered life-saving supplies, including insulin for a family that was in desperate need. Today they are in Black Mountain, where residents have been without water and electricity since Friday.
NCDOT has told drivers to consider all roads in western North Carolina closed until further notice. That includes I40, which is currently closed for over 50 miles from Statesville to Black Mountain.
For more information and to donate to their efforts, visit Mountain Mule Packer Ranch on Facebook.
