What to do with your pets if you are evacuating your Horry County home
Residents who are evacuating their homes as floodwaters rise can temporarily house their pets at the Horry County Animal Care Center.
Animals can stay at the center in Conway for 14 days — maybe longer if owners call with updates about their living situations, according to Kelsey Gilmore-Futeral, the South Carolina director of the Humane Society of the United States.
Residents can drop off their pets until 6 p.m. Saturday at Jerusalem Baptist Church in Bucksport, where the Humane Society has set up. The animals will then be taken to the animal care center.
About 25 pets had been dropped off as of noon Saturday, Gilmore-Futeral said as she held a 7-month-old Miniature Pinscher named Memphis. A Bucksport resident had just dropped off the dog.
The Horry County Animal Care Center is currently housing more than 100 pets, Gilmore-Futeral said, and they’re not all dogs and cats. The center is also caring for pigs, goats and a horse.
“I think it’ll be cozy by the time it’s over,” she said when asked how many animals the facility could accommodate.
The Red Cross is operating several shelters across Horry County, but none accept pets. Residents can arrive at the shelters with their pets in tow, and then the animals will be taken to the Animal Care Center, said Horry County spokeswoman Kelly Lee Brosky.
“They’re doing amazing work,” Brosky said of animal care officials. “There are lots of happy doggies and kitties out there.”
All of the adoptable pets that were living in the center were transported to Greenville ahead of Hurricane Florence, which made landfall Sept. 14. Those animals have since been taken across the country, Gilmore-Futeral said.
The Humane Society is also conducting pet rescues in floodwaters. The organization had saved about 40 animals as of Saturday, Gilmore-Futeral said.
This story was originally published September 22, 2018 at 1:53 PM with the headline "What to do with your pets if you are evacuating your Horry County home."