Staff from the SICSA Pet Adoption Center traveled to the Licking County Humane Society on Saturday, September 23 to help rescue efforts as a result of Hurricane Irma. The SICSA team, along with the Cleveland Animal Protection League, met the Pittsburgh Aviation Animal Rescue Team who had transported 19 dogs from the Charleston Animal Society in order to make room for homeless animals displaced after Hurricane Irma.
The SICSA Pet Adoption Center is currently caring for and will have 6 of the 19 dogs up for adoption. Two of them are available for adoption today – Charleston and Cleopatra. The other four are awaiting medical check-ups.
“The response to both hurricanes from the animal welfare community has been tremendous”, states SICSA Executive Director Nora Vondrell. “To be able to take some of the burden of caring for, and eventually finding homes for these pups, has been very rewarding for staff and volunteers who have wanted to help since the first hurricane made landfall”, states Vondrell.
Vondrell and the SICSA team have been on standby to help with the transport of animals displaced by both Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. They have also assisted by collecting monetary donations to give to the shelters most affected in Houston and across Florida.
“The animal welfare community learned many lessons after Hurricane Katrina”, replied Vondrell. “One of the hardest to carry out was waiting until we were called up to help. Many of us wanted to immediately dispatch teams and send physical supplies such as food, leashes, crates, etc. However, we didn’t want to create work and an eventual rotting mess with which those already exhausted would have to deal. Now, our community can help further by finding homes for these Charleston pups so we can help more down the road”, concludes Vondrell.
Families interested in meeting and potentially adopting one of the Charleston dogs can do so by visiting the SICSA Pet Adoption Center at 2600 Wilmington Pike in Kettering.
