Hurricane Milton, the category 3 storm that battered many parts of Florida, displaced not only residents but also already vulnerable animals in shelters.
Shelters in the state, particularly in cities on the west coast such as Tampa, Sarasota and others, had to scramble to figure out where to relocate their animals ahead of this week’s storm. Luckily, rescue shelters in other parts of the country have joined in the effort to help those down south.
Sharon Hawa, an emergency services manager at Best Friends, a coalition of thousands of public and private shelters and rescue groups, said the need for animal adoptions and fostering is “critical” right now.
“We can make more space for more of these animals to come. Because we don’t know what the situation looks like right now on the ground, if any of the shelter facilities where these animals originated from are still standing and whether they’re going to be operational moving forward,” she said.
Whether on planes or in vans, Best Friends has been transporting nearly 200 animals in areas hit hard by Milton, and last month’s Hurricane Helene, to shelters with more capacity as far north as New York and Massachusetts – but it’s no easy effort.
“All animals have to be cleared by a veterinarian to travel, so they have to be healthy and in good shape so that they don’t run into any medical complications while in transit,” Hawa said.
“Kudos to all of the shelter staff everywhere, because they have to deal with so much on a day-to-day basis. And then when there’s a large-scale disaster like this, it certainly makes it even more challenging for them to do their job, especially when they’re not operating out of their primary facility and they have to work out of a evacuation shelter.”
She added: “But some of the beautiful things that come out of these types of situations are the partnerships that emerge. You’ve got shelters helping other shelters, rescues stepping up to help. So it’s a really an animal welfare community-wide effort.”
Hawa said there is a “national crisis” right now with shelters being overrun, and underscored the important need for adopting or fostering.
“I think the main message that the public has to understand is the impacts of when adopting from a shelter, they’re actually saving two lives,” she said. “They’re saving the animal’s life that they adopted, and then also they’re making space for another animal.”
