DANIA BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - The “ruff” rescues continue for dozens of pets in the west coast of Florida, days after local shelters were left without resources in the wake of Hurricane Ian.
Good Karma Pet Rescue returned from a rescue run to Fort Myers. They dropped up supplies to help partner rescues and brought back a van-load of precious puppies, Monday.
Some of those dogs have special needs like Rainbow and Honey, who are deaf, and Senior Gizmo, who is also blind.
They all have foster families, and there’s one flying squirrel that is going to another partner rescue called Penny and Wild Smalls of South Florida.
On Sunday, video provided by the Humane Society of Broward County captured a dog named Diamond as she was brought on board a plane to the Northeast along with 87 of her shelter buddies, Sunday morning.
Folks with the Broward Humane Society helped load crate after crate onto the aircraft.
The shelters in Naples and Fort Myers that these animals once called their temporary home are now without power and clean water.
“They just didn’t have the staff to keep up after everything that had happened,” said Matthew Seligman, an adoptions counselor for the Humane Society of Broward.
Seligman was among those who traveled to the hard-hit area last week and worked to help the shelters struggling in Ian’s aftermath with cleaning and animal care.
“There’s an amazing group of people over there that are literally working through a very difficult period in their lives to help those animals, and they’re doing a great job,” he said, “and for us to have the opportunity to go out there and help them with what we could, it was very fortunate for me to even just be a part of that experience.”
At Fort Lauderdale Hollywood-International Airport, Seligman helped dozens of animals take off to find their forever homes, thanks to a flight provided by Greater Good Charities.
Hours later, the dogs and cats landed in New Jersey and are already receiving lots of love from the kindhearted people with St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center.
“It’s a special kind of feeling. It’s why we get involved in this job in the first place,” said Seligman. “It’s amazing to see these animals get a chance; they really deserve it.”
There are many animals still in need of rescue. For more information about adopting them through the Humane Society of Broward County, click here.
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