Hurricane Ian Update
A cat arriving to safety from Highlands County Animal Services, which suffered major damage from Hurricane Ian.
Updates as of Thursday, October 20, 2022.
HSSC is grateful to have survived Hurricane Ian with only minor damage. We are further grateful to have maintained power and water. Many of our neighbors were not so lucky, and we feel strongly that we owe it to them to help as much as we can. So while HSSC remains technically closed to the public, we've never been busier.
HSSC operated as a hub in Southwest Florida for animals that needed to be transported from other animal shelters that suffered major structural damage as a result of Hurricane Ian. Many of our shelter partners can no longer provide care to their animals due to lack of power and water, staffing shortages, and facility damage. This leaves many animals in dire circumstances TODAY.
Working with Bissell Pet Foundation, the Florida Association of Animal Welfare Organizations, Best Friends Animal Society, and Humane Society Naples, we are transporting animals in and out of our shelter to get them to safety. Check out this great update from Bissell Pet Foundation.
We've helped dogs and cats so far from Gulf Coast Humane Society, Sarasota County Animal Services, Highlands County Animal Services, and Osceola County Animal Services. Additionally, we provided much-needed pet supplies to one of our local evacuation centers that had families arriving with nothing but their lives and their pets. They needed food and basic supplies for 30 dogs and 15 cats, which HSSC gladly provided.
In total, we've helped 222 dogs and cats displaced by Hurricane Ian.
Thank you for allowing us to help animals in our state. #floridastrong
Our covered yard sustained damage from Hurricane Ian, but we were very lucky that our main building was unharmed.
Volunteers showed up to lend a helping hand to clear storm debris and give our animals some much-needed one-on-one attention
Private charters operating from Dolphin Aviation at SRQ have helped move animals to safety, taking to the skies to avoid flooded roadways.
Shelter pup Lemon provided free kisses to our hardworking friends from Humane Society Naples.
Transport from Gulf Coast Humane Society. We welcomed 22 dogs from their facility, which was badly damaged.
We provided food to a pop-up shelter located at Philippi Elementary. There were 30 dogs and 15 cats without food.
On Saturday, we took in 79 cats from Highlands County Animal Services, which was severely damaged. We took every cat they had, including 22 tiny kittens.
On Sunday, 40 cats and 4 dogs were picked up by Humane Society Naples for transport to their facility. From there, they will be transported to shelters out of Florida.