Animal Shelter Looking for Short-Term Foster Homes Due to Extreme Flooding

Due to extreme flooding, the Dare County Animal Shelter in Manteo is actively seeking short-term foster families to help care for animals during the upcoming week of forecasted heavy rains.

Though the animal shelter has been prone to flooding in the past, the recent inundation of rain has caused water to infiltrate the lobby, as well as 26 out of the 32 kennels on the premises.

“It happens once or twice a year, but it’s normally not this bad,” says SPCA Program Director John graves. “This is the second time over the past five years that it’s been bad enough to look for [immediate] foster families due to flooding.”

The Roanoke Island Animal Clinic has taken 5-6 dogs to board for a few days, and the shelter has received a few calls as of Monday afternoon. However, Graves reports that there are still roughly 20-25 dogs in need of a temporary home, as well as a large number of cats.

“We have a lot of kittens right now, and quite a few adult cats as well,” he says. “All of the dogs have raised beds, but it’s traumatic for them to stay there.”

Graves says that Dare County has been actively helping to look for both short-term and long-term solutions for the flooding issue, particularly at the Board of Commissioners level. “Commissioner Rob Ross has been amazing and has shown an exceptional interest, and has emailed over the weekend to see if there’s anything they can do to help,” says Graves. “The county has been helping to address the long term problem, and has been looking at solutions for what we can do to fix this right now, and what we can do to fix this in the long term.”

The water has receded for the time being, and the Dare County Animal Shelter is planning to reopen on Tuesday at 8:30 a.m., but with heavy rain forecast through the rest of the week, it’s possible that flooding will occur again.

“For right now, the water has gone back down, but because we’re expecting water in next few days, it will pop up again,” says Graves.  “But we’re hoping to reopen tomorrow. It was such a mess, and took so long to get everything cleaned up.”

The Dare County Animal Shelter is also still planning to hold its “Kitten Palooza!” event at the PetSmart in Nags Head on Tuesday, July 24, from 6 p.m. until 8 p.m. During this event, all kitty adoptions are free, and include spay / neuter, vaccines, microchip, registration, a vet visit, and a free starter kit for the kitty and their new human with lots of goodies.

In the meantime, folks who are able to foster a pet for a few days, (or even indefinitely), can contact 252-475-0233 on Monday, or the Dare County Animal Shelter Office starting Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. at 252-475-5620.