Susan Floyd found four small stowaways
among the shivering dogs, cats, possums, pythons and other pets that she rescued
recently from the floodwaters following Hurricane Matthew.
The day after the hurricane hit South
Carolina, Floyd was helping the Marion County Animal Shelter and others find animals
in flooded homes around the towns of Mullins and Nichols. In a boat, Floyd
arrived at one submerged property to find a frightened mother Chihuahua and her
new puppy.
“They were pretty cold and upset, so I
quickly tucked them in a crate on the boat, and went about finding more pets for
a long while,” she recalled.
It was only when Floyd finally returned to
the animal shelter in Mullins that she discovered the tiny stowaways. The
mother Chihuahua had given birth to four more puppies in her crate. “Talk about
in the nick of time!” said Floyd. “I don’t know if they would have survived if
we didn’t discover them that day.”
Equally fortunate is the Chihuahua’s owner who
soon found the new family at the shelter.
But dozens of rescued pets haven’t been so lucky. Shelter director
Angela “Angel” Rogers said there are still about 150 animals at the shelter’s
new donated space, a former lumber warehouse in Mullins. Dogs wait in wire
crates, cats roam two rooms, and an outdoor pen is home to four horses, five
chickens and one black baby calf nicknamed “Nicky.” Rogers is keeping 14 rescued
goats on her farm.
Some pets have already been claimed and
others belong to people currently living in an American Red Cross temporary
shelter in the town’s armory building. Recently, Red Cross also donated some
clean-up kits and dozens of clean, used blankets for the animals. This
community partnership between the animal shelter and Red Cross helps people safely
house their pets while they figure out if or when they can return home.
Rogers said she knows the addresses for
some rescued pets. But any “hurricane animals” that remain unclaimed will go up
for adoption, starting November 17.
Happily, 40 ball pythons have already been
picked up from the animal shelter, said Fletcher Estes, a county animal control
officer.
“Angel rescued them. I don’t mess with
snakes,” said Estes. “But we’ve found dogs on the hoods of submerged cars, or
floating on debris, or worse, still chained up with their snouts barely above
water.”
Phil, a member of the animal aid agency, Guardians
of Rescue, has also arrived from Florida to help. He recalled wading waist high
in fast-running floodwater to save a partially blind poodle named “Poppy” for
an elderly man who had been pleading for help from passersby. “He was so upset
that he couldn’t get to his dog. It was great to be able to do that for him.”
Nine “water-logged” possums and six rabbits
were also rescued and subsequently set free. Only “Ricky,” a wild raccoon
particularly fond of grapes, is still at the shelter until he recovers from his
ordeal, said Rogers.
Floyd said she relates to the animals that
lost their way during the disaster. It is the second time Floyd and her 11-year-old
daughter, Calista, have been homeless after severe flooding. Last year, their
house near Charleston was destroyed in a deluge. Now, Hurricane Matthew has
blown a tree onto their new place and flooded it too, she said. Mother and
daughter are currently “camping” in a room above the animal shelter while
helping look after pets there, including Calista’s tabby cat called “Longtail.”
They aren’t really sure where they will go next.
“I guess this shelter kind of rescued us. Eventually
we will need to find a new home, too.”
People missing pets can visit the Marion
County Animal Shelter at 503 East McIntyre Road in Mullins (across from Gapway
Tire), call 843-758-4322, and check photos of some rescued pets on the
shelter’s Facebook page here.
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