Animal flood victims rescued by law enforcement get refuge at shelters

Leroy has been missing since since Oct. 3 in the Oak Forest development near the back gate, most likely disoriented and unable to find his way home in the storm that created flash floods and drenched Horry County for days.

The black-and-white tuxedo cat was meowing at the door, anxious to get outside, so his owner Kim Dubois took him into her garage for a bathroom break.

He wandered outside into the rain, but never came back.

“He’s a mush, he’s a momma’s boy, he would usually come right back to me,” Dubois said. “It’s really heartbreaking.”

Dubois checked the local animal shelters operated by the Humane Society, but also turned to an innovative new tool being used to locate missing pets during natural disasters -- social media.

A Facebook page was created specifically for Horry and Georgetown counties, which Tina Hunter at the Humane Society of North Myrtle Beach said has been of tremendous help in reuniting lost pets with their families this week.

Animal shelters in South Carolina are also required by law to scan pets for microchips to identify pet owners. The North Myrtle Beach Humane Society offers the chipping procedure for $10 – a service that Hunter recommends for pet owners living in a hurricane zone.

“It’s the first thing we do. Most shelters have multiple scanners, and if every animal has a microchip, we can reunite families with their pets,” Hunter said.

The number of lost pets brought to the shelter during this storm was nominal compared to previous events such as Hurricane Floyd; four dogs were brought in this week and all have been reclaimed by their families.

“In other storms we were not as fortunate, we got an influx of animals and were not able to reunite pets with their families,” Hunter said.

Residents with missing pets are urged to check websites and Facebook pages of the nearest shelter, and to also file a missing report with the local Humane Society.

Countywide, officials report that most families were gratefully reunited with their pets as soon as the animals were lifted off rescue boats that ventured into flooded neighborhoods.

In one unusual rescue, a miniature horse named “Angel” from Lee’s Landing was trucked out by a National Guard vehicle Tuesday after the floodwaters reached higher than expected around the owner’s property.

Fire and rescue personnel also made several boat trips to retrieve stray dogs that showed up on the decks of homeowners riding out the flood in houses that were constructed on stilts.

Some residents who stayed put with their pets had second thoughts after being stranded with dogs in their island homes for days, with no dry land in sight for the dogs to use nature’s toilet.

“All week I’ve been in the water waist-deep; we got five dogs yesterday and a cat,” said Officer Misty Alessi of the Horry County Environmental Services.

“We’re more than welcome to go out day and night, weekend, whatever we’ve got to do to go pick them up and bring them here and make sure they’re safe,” Alessi said.

There are still two unclaimed dogs and a cat at the Horry County Animal Care Center, where the pets are tagged as flood victims and separated from other

animals.

“It’s very rigidly documented and controlled so there’s no chance if we pick up an animal in a rescue scenario from the flood, that we think it’s a stray,” said Lt. Raul Denis with the Horry County Police Department.

While stray animals are only kept at the shelter for a certain amount of time before rescue organizations are contacted to help adopt the animal, pet flood victims are kept until the water recedes, with all fees paid by FEMA.

“We’ll keep the horse as long as it takes to reunite with its owners, and not just the horse, but all the animals from that flood,” Denis said.

This story was originally published October 9, 2015 at 5:47 PM with the headline "Animal flood victims rescued by law enforcement get refuge at shelters."