DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCSC) – With help from the community, all 180 animals at Dorchester Paws found emergency foster homes during Hurricane Idalia last week. Before the storm, the shelter reported it was above capacity with animals and asked the community to adopt or foster to make room for any animals that may need protection during the storm.
Now a week later, they are sharing good news.
Dorchester Paws says that out of the 180 cats and dogs that were storm fostered, 21 of those pets have been adopted.
On Aug. 30, Dorchester Paws evacuated their campus to prepare for Hurricane Idalia, and they urgently needed help from the community to place their animals in homes where they would be safe from the storm.
“Genuinely if it wasn’t for the support of our community, I don’t know what we would have done for the storm evacuation,” Marketing and Development Manager of Dorchester Paws Kate Fullwood said. “We posted on Tuesday evening that we were going to need to evacuate and by Wednesday morning at 10 a.m., there were cars lined down our driveway. It took us about 3 hours to get all 180 animals out and to storm fosters. So, we are super thankful to those community members that opened their homes and their hearts to take in an animal, give them a little break from the shelter for a few days, but definitely keeping them safe during the storm and away from the flooding.”
Dorchester Paws is the only open admissions shelter in all of Dorchester County. Fullwood says that every lost, stray, abandoned, or surrendered animal in all of Dorchester County comes to them. She says that in times of need, they rely on community support as far as fostering, adopting and keeping their shelves full of dog food, cat food and other supplies.
“We didn’t sustain any flooding damage, however, we did have to go back and sanitize all of the kennel spaces because they did flood during the storm. We were able to get that deep cleaned before we accepted animals back here on site. Wanted to make sure it was safe for their return,” Fullwood said.
The shelter is hoping there will be more adoptions of the animals who are still in foster homes but are waiting with open arms for those who will return to the shelter.
To see adoptable animals, visit https://dorchesterpaws.org/adopt/.
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