Joanne Monez lay on a bed with her rescue’s resident cats, worrying as floodwaters rose around her. It was the only island of safety she could find as Superstorm Sandy ravaged her one-story Queens, N.Y., home — which also served as a cat shelter.
“My fear was that if [the water] got any higher, I might have to go to my attic for safety, but felt the resident adult cats would try to follow me,” which would put them in danger, says Monez, who’s the director of All About Spay Neuter. With the mattress soaked, the water finally started to subside, and volunteers arrived at her door to help.
Sadly, Monez lost two of the 40 cats she was caring for, and her home-and-shelter was no longer livable. With the help of emergency grants and donations from supporters, she quickly moved to a new location and has a grand reopening planned for Jan. 20, but the group still needs help to recover its losses.
A Familiar Tale
Across the hardest-hit parts of New York and New Jersey, there are similar stories of hardships at shelters — like the Humane Society of Atlantic County in New Jersey, which had several inches of flooding in its kennels and veterinary hospital, and Rescue Ink in Long Beach, N.Y., which was able to save its animals but is rebuilding after losing everything else in the storm’s destruction.
Just over two months since the storm devastated the area, displacing pets and wreaking havoc on shelters in its path, a few things stand out: volunteers who braved days on end with no electricity to care for animals, thousands of dollars in losses and tales of shelters helping shelters. As they get back on their feet, many are still in need of help, from funding to supplies and volunteer time.
“It really strained resources and tested the abilities of the shelter community and rescue organizations,” says Brian Shapiro, New York state director for the Humane Society of the United States. “Lessons are going to be learned about what worked, what didn’t work … Even though this was a disaster, at the same time, I think it’s going to make all parties stronger.” (Watch a video about the work of HSUS in New York and New Jersey on YouTube.)
Though there are surely many other animal groups that need help, Vetstreet rounded up information from several shelters and rescues in the region. Below, learn how they weathered the storm and how you can lend a hand.
