Brevard animal rescues step in to help cats after Hurricane Ian causes damage, flooding
With Hurricane Ian devastating Florida's west coast and flooding some areas of Brevard, local rescues stepped in to help animals that could no longer stay at shelters affected by the storm.
On Oct. 1 — just three days after Hurricane Ian made landfall near Cayo Costa, an island off Fort Myers — the nonprofit HOPE for Brevard off Cyprus Avenue in Melbourne got a call from Collier County Animal Services in Naples.
The shelter had been without water and power for several days. Their cats were sick, suffering from upper respiratory infections. Four other rescues had turned down helping the shelter.
HOPE for Brevard agreed to make the trek over to the west coast to pick up the sick animals.
Initially, the shelter requested HOPE take 30 cats, said Amanda Peck, shelter manager at the HOPE rescue. But by the time volunteers arrived at the shelter Sunday morning, the number was 67. Before heading back to Melbourne, they picked up an additional seven in Fort Myers, bringing their total to 74 cats.
"They're all on antibiotics, a lot of them are super thin, a lot of them need fluids, so they were kind of the less likely to be pulled (by other rescues) due to their medical state," Peck said.
The cats, who had been at the shelters for some time and were not animals that had been lost during the hurricane, bring HOPE's total number of animal residents up to 143.
It's the most cats they've ever had at one time, Peck said.
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While Brevard didn’t feel the impact of Hurricane Ian as hard as the west coast, a Titusville shelter is facing damage and a loss of access to the shelter with State Road 46 flooding. Space Coast Feline Network’s feral shelter flooded during the storm and lost a piece of a wall, according to a post on its Facebook page. Several cats escaped, and the remaining cats were left in need of a safe place to stay while the shelter waited for repairs and the road continued to flood.
Furever Home Animal Rescue in Titusville stepped in on Wednesday, taking in 15 cats. Though the rescue, located off Flake Road, was already at capacity, they agreed to take in the feral cats temporarily. They’re living in one room together, separate from the other animals.
"Without her 15, we have close to 55 cats," said Jenelle Scurlock, Furever's director.
She said the rescue was already at maximum capacity prior to taking the feral cats in and that they've had to rearrange parts of the facility to accommodate the extra animals.
"We ended up actually having to move (some cats) into what was our kitchen, and that's where they now reside," she said.
Once the shelter is repaired and State Road 46 is no longer flooded, the feral cats will be returned to the Space Coast Feline Network. But at this point, there isn’t an estimate as to how long they could be at the rescue. And with others in the county trying to place their animals at rescues and shelters, every bit of space counts.
"We are inundated with animals," Scurlock said. "Every single dog kennel here is full and the cat rooms are full. I have cats currently in pop-up kennels because I don't have the space for them."
She said she's had to turn away three to five local people a day wanting to drop off animals.
How to help
Adopting available animals helps clear the rescues to take in more animals, Peck said.
"I definitely need the community's help to adopt some of my cats that are ready so I can make new space for the cats," she said. While the cats from the west coast are too sick to be adopted immediately, and the feral cats at Furever Home are not being adopted out, both rescues have many other animals available for adoption.
"I have plenty of others, and if they get adopted, then I can continue to go out to the west coast and pull out the cats that need to be pulled from a desperate situation there," Peck said.
In addition to needing to clear up space in their facilities, both Peck and Scurlock said they're in dire need of volunteers.
"I'm here seven days a week, and most of the time ... I have at least one other volunteer with me," Scurlock said. "But we are very, very limited on volunteers. We have a total of maybe eight or 10 full-time volunteers and most of them are weekend."
Peck said her volunteers are going "above and beyond" to help, but she needs more simply because of the number of cats at the rescue and the fact that many of them are sick.
"What used to take (volunteers) two hours is pushing three, four hours to make sure everybody's medicated and everybody's OK," Peck said. "The more (cats) in the building, the longer it takes my regular volunteers."
Additionally, both rescues are asking for donations of food, with Furever Home also requesting litter.
Because the cats from the west coast are sick, HOPE for Brevard is facing additional expenses for their care. Peck estimated it will be at least $4,000 to cover the medication and basic care for their infections.
Ways to donate
HOPE for Brevard:
Supplies can be purchased through the rescue's Chewy or Amazon wish lists, or dropped off at the rescue in one of the bins outside.
Monetary donations can also be made to their PayPal, through the mail or to their thrift store on Wickham Road. Visit www.hopeforbrevard.com/donate for a list of ways to donate.
Information about volunteering and adoptable animals can be found at their website, https://www.hopeforbrevard.com/, or by calling 321-271-4041.
Furever Home Animal Rescue:
Supplies can be purchased and dropped off at 2605 Flake Road in Titusville, or ordered directly from their Amazon wish list.
Monetary donations can be made via check, or to their Paypal.
For more information about ways to donate or animals available to adopt, visit their website at https://www.fureverhomeanimalrescue.com/ or call 386-402-2724.
Finch Walker is a Breaking News Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or fwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_finchwalker
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Cats travel from Gulf Coast to Brevard rescues after Hurricane Ian
