PetSmart Charities Grants Funds For Hurricane Milton Relief Effort
Cape Coral Animal Shelter was granted $4,050 to cover costs associated with Hurricane Milton relief effort the shelter provided to DeSoto County Animal Control.
In the days leading up to Hurricane Milton that struck our area on 10/9/24, an urgent plea was put out through our statewide emergency response agencies to evacuate as many animals as possible from areas already flooded by Hurricane Helene just two weeks earlier. DeSoto County Animal Control was among those shelters in desperate need, and they are one of Cape Coral Animal Shelter’s long-standing rescue partners.
The shelter immediately loaded their van with empty carriers and headed one hour North to DeSoto Animal Control. There they met up with extremely overwhelmed and very grateful animal control officers and we were able to rescue 27 animals–25 cats and two small dogs. Taking in 27 animals at one time is very difficult for such a small shelter, with only 12 kennels and 3 small cat rooms. CCAS never hesitated to help their rescue partners and animals in need in DeSoto County.
In the days after Hurricane Milton, PetSmart Charities offered grant funding to cover the cost of care for the 27 animals the Cape Coral Animal Shelter took in, which included medication, vaccines, and the cost of spay/neuter and microchipping to prepare the animals for adoptions. Several of the kittens broke with severe upper respiratory and required extended medical care. Thanks to the generosity of PetSmart Charities, the burden of taking in so many animals at one time under extreme circumstances was lessened.
“PetSmart Charities has always been supportive of our mission and our efforts to save the lives of animals in our community” said Liz McCauley, Executive Director of the Cape Coral Animal Shelter. “We are happy to help our rescue partners when we can, especially the dedicated folks at DeSoto Animal Control. They have been through so much over the past two years. PetSmart Charities helped us ease the financial burden of providing that help, and we are very grateful.”
