Shelters from across South Carolina join together before Hurricane Matthew: Charleston Animal Society helping Dorchester County SPCA

As Hurricane Matthew approaches, Charleston Animal Society personnel were busy helping Francis R. Willis SPCA in Dorchester County. “By getting our animals to a safe zone, we are building capacity to reach out and help other area shelters, like Francis R. Willis in Dorchester County,” Elmore said. 52 animals from the Dorchester County were prepared for transport by The Humane Society of the United States, which is scheduled to take place Thursday. 45 volunteers are on standby to help with area pet evacuations or other needs at Charleston Animal Society.

In an incredible example of cooperation and caring, both the SPCA Albrecht Center for Animal Welfare in Aiken, SC and the York Humane Society in York, SC – sent personnel to come take animals at Charleston Animal Society out of the potential strike zone for Hurricane Matthew. “We are overwhelmed by these gestures of support and compassion for our animals,” said Charleston Animal Society CEO Joe Elmore. “These organizations took the time and made the effort to drive all this way, even with the lane closures coming, to get these animals to safer ground.”

SPCA Albrecht Center for Animal Welfare CEO Barbara Nelson explained why she made the rescue effort to Charleston, “Because these are all God’s creatures. ‘Dog’ is ‘God’ spelled backward. They are all precious.” In total, the Aiken-based rescue took 24 dogs from Charleston Animal Society.  York Humane Society took 15 cats and 3 dogs in their rescue effort.

On top of these two transport efforts, 107 foster families came in to keep shelter animals for the duration of the storm. “We want to thank everyone who came in and took one of our animals into foster care. These fosters, along with other transport measures, will help insure the safety of our animals and allow us to help other shelters,” said Charleston Animal Society CEO Joe Elmore.

Charleston Animal Society remains closed to the public for the duration of Hurricane Matthew and is not accepting animals until further notice, due to the emergency situation. Charleston Animal Society is posting pet-related information and updates on Hurricane Matthew atwww.CharlestonAnimalSociety.org and Facebook.

This is a video link showing the SPCA Albrecht Center in Aiken transporting animals from Charleston Animal Society: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6oHAtEfWEhdMW5uV2hFSVhMSVU

This is a video link showing the Humane Society of York County transporting animals from Charleston Animal Society to safety:https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6oHAtEfWEhdX1dObFd6eFZmcGc/view?usp=sharing

This is a video link showing animals transported from Dorchester County to Charleston Animal Society: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6oHAtEfWEhdSlVxVGM2UHVoWXM