Rescued dogs, cats from Puerto Rico arrive in South Florida
FORT LAUDERDALE - Some four-legged survivors of Hurricane Fiona have made their way to South Florida after being rescued in Puerto Rico.
The Humane Society of Broward County arranged to have 30 dogs and cats flown from the island to Miami International Airport overnight.
The animals were being taken care of by Save-a-Sato, a rescue group in San Juan. The group's building has no power or running water.
While the volunteers and staff with Save-A-Sato try and clean up and wait for power and water to be restored, the HSBC decided to step up and help.
"Their shelter is without power and without running water, their streets were flooded around them so we were able to help the shelter by taking in these animals which will free up space because they already told us that more animals are coming in that the residents are finding," said Cherie Wachter, VP of marketing at the HSBC.
Mary Steffen, Senior VP of Operations, said they hope to coordinate additional flights over the next few weeks since the shelter still has several hundred animals at its location.
The animals flown to Miami will rest up on Wednesday.
"The animals appear to be in pretty good condition. They're a little bit shy right now but we're going to give them time to settle in. Our clinic staff is going to start checking them and hopefully, they'll be available for adoption by this weekend," said Wachter.
The staff at the HSBC put in some long hours on Wednesday to help the animals Get settled after their flight, something they say they were happy to do, especially in these circumstances.
"Five years ago when Maria hit, we took in well over 200 animals from those facilities in Puerto Rico. There were other animals sent to shelters all over the country so in the time of need the shelters do step up to help," said Wachter.