RICHMOND, Va. -- The Richmond SPCA has asked for help emptying its shelter so it can assist with emergency response for homeless animals at shelters in the path of Tropical Storm Debby.
The Hermitage Road shelter is working with BISSELL Pet Foundation, which has personnel working with shelters in Georgia and South Carolina.
The Richmond SPCA has received dogs and cats transported from shelters whose communities are facing flooding.
In an effort to encourage adoptions, the Richmond SPCA reduced adoption fees for all adult pets (6 months and older) to $25 through Friday, August 16.
"Each pet we are able to place in a lasting, loving home adds to our capacity to respond to this urgent need," said Richmond SPCA CEO Tamsen Kingry. "This is our plea to our own community to be our partners in this disaster response."
Animals transported will be those that were already in shelters before Debby's landfall – not those displaced by the storm.
The animal welfare response has been carefully coordinated to ensure that displaced animals remain in the community to be reunited with their families.
Transferring previously homeless animals allows local shelters to focus their work on pets impacted by the flooding, according to a press release.
There are more than 30 cats and 30 dogs awaiting adoption at the Richmond SPCA.
The center is open to the public daily and information about available pets can be seen at richmondspca.org/adopt.
“What is so critical right now is that the community throughout the country, specifically in Virginia, if you can adopt pets right now from the shelters that BISSELL Pet Foundation is working with, you're going to create life saving space for them to help pets already impacted by this storm,” Brittany Schlacter, works in media relations for BISSELL Pet Foundation, said.
Schlacter said they’ve worked with shelters that have helped out their cause in the past.
Gulf Coast Humane Society in Fort Myers, FL posted on Facebook that they are grateful to help out another shelter in need due to a natural disaster.
“GCHS received much help from different Florida animal shelters after Hurricane Ian. It’s this kind of cooperation between shelter partners which saves many lives!,” the shelter poste
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