MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – To help ease animal evacuations ahead of a potential hurricane, 12 local animal shelters came together to hold the largest animal adoption event along the Grand Strand.
The shelters set a goal of finding 250 animals new homes during the weekend-long event called the ‘Furricane Party.’
According to Devon Smith, executive director of the St. Francis Animal Shelter, there are currently 8,500 animals in local, no-kill shelters.
“It’s overwhelming for shelters. It’s more animals than we have the capacity to care for, so events like this are so important to help us get them into homes and get them into homes quickly,” Smith said.
Smith says the summer months are the busiest for most shelters- more kittens and puppies are born which increases shelters’ intake rates, and less people are adopting.
This can cause a lot of chaos if a hurricane hits the area, because shelters are required to evacuate all animals to a safe place.
“We thought, why don’t we do a huge adoption event and find them homes so we don’t have to evacuate them during hurricane season,” Smith said.
Local woman, Shiloh Littlefield adopted her second kitten named ‘Diamond’ at the event.
“She just curled right up in my lap and started purring,” Littlefield said. “I don’t think animals, especially cats, aren’t made to stay in cages, so I like to save them whenever I can,”
“We have 8,500 animals that need homes. There’s no reason to be breeding animals and buying animals when there are so many that need us,” Smith said.
