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Charlottesville SPCA Helps Florence-Afflicted Four-Leggeds in N.C.

Charlottesville was spared from the worst of Hurricane Florence, but the community is trying to do its share to help out neighbors who were less lucky. As WMRA's Marguerite Gallorini reports, Charlottesville’s SPCA is helping out some four-legged friends in North Carolina.

[ANGIE GUNTER: How many adoptions have we had today?]

Following Hurricane Florence, four employees from the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA were sent down to New Bern, North Carolina to bring some animals back.

ANGIE GUNTER: There's no chance that these animals belong to anyone else. They were already "homeless," but in a pound.

This is Executive Director Angie Gunter.

GUNTER: The reason for bringing these animals back - it was a total of 30: 16 dogs, 14 cats - is to make space for those that are displaced by the storm in hopes that families can be reunited with their pets.

[Dogs barking at the shelter]

The SPCA partnered with the Best Friends Animal Society and the Humane Society of the United States; they also brought supplies donated by the Petco Foundation down to New Bern.

GUNTER: These folks have been devastated, they're without everything. So just giving them large crates, dog food, cat food, it really helped out the shelter there.

As it stands, the mission is ongoing.

GUNTER: Last year when we helped with Hurricane Harvey and Irma, we took 183 animals total. But that was over a long period of time, so we're just getting started with this. It requires financial resources; it also requires community members adopting the animals that we have so we're just truly grateful to this community for allowing us to do this life-saving work.

Marguerite Gallorini was a feelance journalist for WMRA from 2015 -2018.