BOSTON and Salem Mass., Sept. 28, 2022 – As Hurricane Ian bears down on Southern Florida, the MSPCA and Northeast Animal Shelter (NEAS) are already evacuating vulnerable animals from the state and relocating them to Massachusetts.
Yesterday morning a plane carrying 42 cats—28 of whom had been living at the Lee County Domestic Animal Shelter, with 14 bunking down at Tampa’s Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center—landed at Worcester Regional Airport. The flight, sponsored by the ASPCA, arrived just before noon.
After landing the cats were loaded into transport vans and driven directly to shelter. Ten were taken to the MSPCA’s Boston adoption center in Jamaica Plain and 31 went to NEAS in Salem. The cats will serve out their 48-hour quarantine before the NEAS and MSPCA make them available for adoption. The cats include kittens as young as two months and adults aged up to 13. More details on how to adopt will be forthcoming.
“These cats were directly in [hurricane] Ian’s path so it was essential for us to partner with other organizations, such as the ASPCA, to evacuate them as quickly as we could,” said Mike Keiley, director of adoption centers and programs at the MSPCA-Angell and executive director of the Northeast Animal Shelter. “This transport ensures that both Lee County Domestic Animal Shelter and Hillsborough County Pet Resource Center are prepared to take in additional pets who could be displaced by this historic storm.”
“This transport reflects our larger efforts to be front and center for animals, and people, whenever disasters such as hurricanes strike the U.S.,” added Keiley.
Anyone who wishes to offset the cost of the cats’ care can donate directly at www.mspca.org/ian.
