BVSPCA Rescue & Rehab Center opens as hurricane evacuation hub for cats and dogs from North Carolina

GEORGETOWN, Del. – Over the past few days, we’ve seen all across social media videos and pictures of pets being rescued in North Carolina after Florence left many areas flooded. And here on Delmarva a local shelter has joined in on the efforts.

Four volunteers from SPCA made the trek Tuesday to rescue over 100 cats and dogs. In a quick turn around, they were able to bring them back the next day to the new Rescue & Rehab Center in Georgetown.

BVSPCA Director, Walt Fenstermacher tells 47 ABC, “So the goal is to bring animals out of shelters in North Carolina and affected areas, so we need to vacant those facilities, so there’s newly displaced animals to go into them, so there owners know where to find them. However, the shelter we are working with had a risk of flooding with all the heavy rainfall, rivers rising, so they had to evacuate to another fairground.”

The center purchased in June finally got to open up shop a bit earlier than expected specifically for this emergency operation. “We’re definitely not where we want to be at the end of project but we have enough resources, staffing, and the passion to take care of these animals and save more lives,” Fenstermacher says.

Now that these furry friends are done traveling, they have the opportunity to find their forever home. Once these animals are able to be adopted, they hope to bring even more pets from the hurricane affected areas.

Depending on the amount they can fundraise, the center should fully operational by early next year. In the meantime, we’re told the facility has sufficient infrastructure to serve the animals in need now.