Hurricane Ian displaced scores of pets in Florida: Where are they now?

Hurricane Ian’s onslaught put many Floridians — together with their beloved pets — in helpless and even tragic conditions.

While some cats and canine have been swept out of their houses through the main storm that hit southwest Florida on Sept. 28, every kind of furry pals needed to be left behind when their house owners have been pressured to evacuate. 

Several organizations leaped into motion as soon as Ian touched down, in the hope of delivering as many misplaced or stranded animals to security as potential.

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Greater Good Charities, a Washington-based nonprofit that specializes in humanitarian and animal welfare, launched a rescue mission on Oct. 2 that airlifted 90 pets out of the state of Florida in order to liberate house in animal shelters.

The pets have been transferred to receiving rescue facilities up north, together with to New Jersey’s St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center and Liberty Humane Society; the Pennsylvania SPCA; and Lucky Dog Animal Rescue of Arlington, Virginia.

Greater Good Charities COO Noah Horton informed Fox News Digital that this program ensured that Florida’s shelter sources weren’t overwhelmed as displaced pets have been introduced in.

With assist from partnerships, Horton reported that the flight was “really successful” and all transported pets arrived “happy and healthy.”

Rescue canine are transported from Florida amid Hurricane Ian to Morristown, New Jersey, on Oct. 2, 2022.
(St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center)

“There were 36 dogs and 54 cats on this particular flight,” he stated. “Those pets have all been placed in receiving groups.”

Horton shared that it’s “pretty common” for animals, whether or not they’re free-roaming animals or misplaced pets, to be displaced amid pure disasters — which ends up in the higher process of reconnecting house owners with their beloved and misplaced friends.

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“And that’s a critical service that the shelter provides in that community,” he stated. 

“Without clearing those pets out, you end up in a situation where a shelter might be overwhelmed or stretched for resources.”

“So, it’s not only just about the pets who are on the flight who are now getting placed for adoption — but you’re also clearing space for incoming pets here.”

Greater Good pulled pets from shelters in some of probably the most impacted areas of Florida corresponding to Naples and Fort Myers.

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Horton stated he anticipates extra rescue flights in the longer term as Greater Good continues to offer help to the sunshine state.

A volunteer holds a shelter pet who was transported from Florida to Morristown, New Jersey, on Oct. 2, 2022.
(St. Hubert’s Animal Welfare Center)

Animal welfare nonprofit American Humane went ahead with its personal boots-on-the-ground rescue mission to make sure the protection of the animals left behind in the storm.

The group deployed a response workforce to DeSoto County on Sept. 30 and commenced a search and rescue mission on the water, American Humane president and CEO Dr. Robin Ganzert informed Fox News Digital.

“We started immediately with boats in the water as of Friday afternoon, looking for animals that might be stranded in the floods,” she stated. 

A American Humane search crew heads out to seek for animals in hazard after Hurricane Ian hit Florida on Oct. 4, 2022.
(American Humane)

“We were also given a number of calls to go and check on people’s homes who were able to evacuate but had to leave animals behind.”

The American Humane workforce additionally discovered a range of cattle that have been left behind, together with horses, cows, goats and chickens.

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Ganzert talked about {that a} pair of horses have been discovered in excessive floodwaters that had risen as far up as their chests.

“We fed them, and we made sure they were safe,” she stated. 

“We walked them around their little paddock area in the floodwaters … Every single day, we went back and fed those horses.”

“And I’m so proud that, today, those horses are now on dry land and under our veterinarians’ care, and they’re doing very, very well.”

Ganzert and her workforce additionally situated and fed three goats that had climbed to the highest of a youngsters’s play set to flee the floodwaters for a number of days.

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“This innate ability to survive — these animals are amazing,” she stated. 

“It’s amazing where you’ll see an animal when you have those kinds of floods.”

“We’ve even seen cattle — big steer — and have led those cows to dry land.”

As America’s first animal rescue group, Ganzert defined that American Humane will “be there for as long as it takes” to fulfill the “ongoing care mission” after Hurricane Ian.

American Humane plans to launch an emergency sheltering operation for pets which have been displaced which, in accordance with Ganzert, will even present medical and common care.

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“Our goal is always to reunite that beloved four-legged family member with its human family,” she stated.

Ganzert’s workforce has thus far rescued a number of canine and a litter of kittens in the hope of reuniting them with their house owners or discovering them new houses.

An American Humane volunteer holds a kitten that was rescued in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian on Oct. 4, 2022.
(American Humane)

“And once the community is able to get back to some sense of normalcy, we’re going to bring in emergency food, veterinary clinics, spay-neuter clinics, vaccines, everything that we can to make sure that those families have the resources to keep those animals with them in their forever loving home,” she stated. 

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“Because now more than ever is the power of that human-animal bond needed,” she added. 

“That relationship is what keeps us whole, keeps us safe, mentally, emotionally, spiritually — and we need that bond to stay secure when all else has been broken.”