MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) –  Hurricane Maria not only left tens of thousands of people in St. Croix homeless, it displaced hundreds of animals on the island. Two Grand Strand Humane Society staff members recently traveled to the island to lend a hand, as many there still struggle to recover.

Jessica Wnuk and Elise Sandberg assisted ASPCA responders conducting field rescues and managing an emergency shelter. They work with homeless animals every day, but they weren’t prepared for what was waiting for them in St. Croix. “Seeing the island was heart-breaking. It’s hard to see people who have lost everything,” said Wnuk. Sandberg said, “I’ve never seen anything like that in my life.”

The ASPCA set up a temporary shelter after Hurricane Maria destroyed the largest animal shelter on the island. When Sandberg left St. Croix one week ago, there were more than 300 animals in the shelter including lost pets, pets owners had given up, and stays rescued during the storm. “For the last two months people who may have been feeding them as strays, weren’t there anymore to be able to care for them,” Wnuk explained. “The home that they were living in that they made outside was probably completely destroyed.”

Wnuk and Sandberg spent 11 days looking after sick or injured animals, administering vaccines and medicine, and providing daily care such as walking the dogs and cleaning the shelter. “Those dogs they weren’t aggressive. They weren’t mean. They were terrified,” Wnuk said of the animals. Sandberg added, “The shelter was new to them. We’re all new to them. So most of them were just very fearful.” Wnuk said a little love went a long way. “To see, over the course of 48 hours, the difference in these animals, and just how receptive they were to us loving them and caring for them.”

The ASPCA is sending many of the animals to the U.S. so that they can find a home here. However, volunteers still got to see a few families reunite with their lost pets. “It’s wonderful to see a reunification anytime, anywhere but it was something extra special  there because these are people who lost everything in some cases that’s all they have left,” said Wnuk.

The Grand Strand Humane Society would have liked to accept animals from St. Croix but the shelter is currently over capacity.