Blankets, Towels Still Needed

POSTED: 11:39 a.m. EST December 12, 2002 UPDATED: 11:53 a.m. EST December 12, 2002

ORANGE COUNTY, N.C. -- Generators are all that is keeping the Orange County Animal Shelter afloat, but it is still not enough. The damage has already been done. The loss of electricity has left them with big losses and little power to care for the county's animals.

shelter kitties

After last week's ice storm, hundreds of people donated blankets and provided foster homes for animals at the Orange County Animal Shelter. However, the shelter is still without power and officials are doing the best they can to care for the animals.

"We have everybody possible squished up into these runs up front," said Laura Walters, of the Orange County Animal Shelter.

A generator is keeping a few kennels warm, but the majority of them, about 70, are cold and dark.

"The conditions here were so bad. They were cold and wet and dark. We couldn't clean properly, having to use flashlights," Walters said.

Fortunately, when animal lovers found out the power was off, they came in to foster nearly 150 animals.

"If the community hadn't of come forward and taken care of all these animals, we probably would had to do a lot of euthanasia," Walters said. "There's no way some of the animals could have withstood some of the conditions in here."

When the shelter lost power, they also lost about $6,000 in vaccines and medications, but that is not all. Some of the freezers containing cat and dog carcasses euthanized before the storm, lost power . The shelter has to freeze the dead animals before the landfill accepts them.

"They're not frozen and they're thawed out and it's a nasty situation," Walters said.

Walters said there is no place for the dead animals and no room for any new animals until the power is restored.

"When we have emergencies at night, we respond like animals hit by a car, deer accidents like that, we have no way of euthanizing them and we don't have any way to treat them because of the dark," Walters said.

There is a bright spot from the winter storm. Many of the people who fostered animals have decided to adopt them. The shelter still needs blankets and towels until the power is turned on. They are holding a 36-hour Adopt-A-Thon this weekend from 11 a.m. Friday to 11 p.m. Saturday.

[According to my dentist, who fostered a dog, the shelter got power back yesterday.]

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2002

Answers

Git, how is the Durham Animal Protection Society doing? (Do they also have a shelter?)

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2002

Yes, but I heard they had generators. Also, they're within the city limits, unlike Orange, so will quickly get/already have their power back on. From what dentist told me, almost everyone who fostered an animal adopted it, so really did have silver lining. Hers developed kennel cough so had to go back--she told shelter if not adopted she will take him when well, couldn't take him now as her other dog will get the disease. Luckily, they had kept the two separate to avoid any problems but would be awkward long-term to keep separated..

-- Anonymous, December 13, 2002