Katherine Daniel, Editor in Chief~
The Lynchburg Humane Society (LHS) gave a helping hand in the rescue of many animals in the Carolinas during Hurricane Florence. The volunteers from the Lynchburg Humane Society who went to rescue animals included: Crystal Shull, Danielle Brewer, Laura Carwile, and Jordan Kidd. These volunteers took two vans down to the Carolinas.
They brought twenty-nine animals back to the shelter from New Bern, N.C., one of the coastal cities that was hit by Florence. Crystal Shull, Lynchburg Humane Society community management coordinator, said, “We rescued fifteen dogs and fourteen cats, which was twenty-nine in total.” All of the animals are available for adoption and currently undergoing routine medical evaluations and vaccinations. Sixty animals went to Lynchburg Humane Society and the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA.
Community members volunteered in advance to foster thirty animals, which left enough room in the shelter for the new rescues from New Bern, N.C. Shull said, “We did a special beforehand and we asked for fosters. We ended up getting thirty-one into foster homes before we went to pick the animals up from New Bern, N.C.” Julie Barger, Development Director, added, “This allowed for the animals coming in to have a kennel or crate.”
Shull said, “PETCO gave us donations prior to going. Some of these items included food and crates.”
“A lot of people’s houses and stuff are still flooded,” said Shull. “Even the guy we directly worked with out there, his home is completely gone but he was worried about these animals.”
Carwile said, “Many of the animals had been rescued from the storm by animal control or were displaced from local shelters due to flooding, power outages, and lack of supplies.”
Volunteers left Lynchburg early on Sunday for New Bern, which is about 260 miles from Lynchburg. Video updates posted during the trip to LHS’s Facebook page show volunteers from LHS and other animal welfare organizations caring for animals and helping transport them out of shelters. Shull said, “It should have taken us about four hours to get to New Bern, but it was another extra hour because a lot of the interstates and main roads were closed, so we had to go up above North Carolina and down to New Bern.”
The Lynchburg Humane Society is still accepting donations. Barger said, “We had a Facebook event where people could donate money and we have received about $1,600 and we had $1,000 worth of crates donated before they went down to New Bern, N.C.”
