It's been a little over a month since a devastating typhoon wrecked the island of Saipan, knocking out power and water, washing out roads and blowing off half the roof of the sole animal shelter.
"The shelter sustained major damage and will need a new roof," Jason Hudy, an organizer for the group Saipan Cares for Animals (as well as a professional magician) said. "Before the typhoon, things were going well."
Saipan is the most populated island in the stunningly beautiful insular chain called the Northern Mariana Islands, located in Micronesia.
The NMI is a U.S. territory, but the infrastructure isn't robust. Weeks after the typhoon, more than half of the island is still without power. Water is still being rationed.
And the animal shelter's roof hasn't yet been repaired.
But volunteers are still doing their best to care for the island's homeless dogs and cats.
"I have been dedicating my time and energy in to helping our people, but that does not mean I cannot spend time in helping our animals as well," Ed Propst, a member of the NMI legislature and animal advocate, told The Huffington Post. "We are great at multi-tasking and can help our people while also helping our animals in need. One need should not cancel out the other."
This enthusiasm for and commitment to the island's cats and dogs is as recent as it is inspiring.
Even now, for example, there is no law barring animal cruelty in the Northern Mariana Islands. Propst introduced such a bill in the spring, after a shocking video of a dog being beaten to death emerged -- and folks were horrified that there was no law under which the killers could be charged. That bill, the Animal Protection Act of 2015, is now, making its way through the legislative process.
The Saipan shelter, too, used to be a different sort of animal. It's been in existence for half a decade now. Up until this spring, though, its main service was euthanasia.
That changed in May, when Humane Society International -- in partnership with the Saipan Mayor's Office and the nonprofit Animal Balance -- held its first veterinary clinic, to sterilize and vaccinate the first few hundred of an estimated 21,000 stray dogs on the island.
Saipan residents helped out with the clinic, "and when the campaign finished the volunteers decided we couldn't let the momentum from the clinic end, so we began Saipan Cares for Animals," said Hudy.
More than 100 volunteers have come to help out, since May. School groups have also paid visits. They've cleaned cages, walked dogs, and donated food.
A network of foster homes is also developing, ready to give a temporary refuge to the island's many homeless pets -- an especially acute need since the typhoon.
"The volunteer group comes and helps in any way we can," said Hudy.
And in the process, this bare-bones, 40-cage shelter has transformed from a terminal place, to somewhere that animals can get a second chance.
"Many of the dogs are leaving the shelter for homes," said Kelly Coladarci, with Humane Society International, which continues to provide programmatic and other support to the island's shelter and animals.
Coladarci says more than 50 dogs have been adopted out of the shelter in the past half-year. (The shelter isn't yet equipped to keep cats, though some kitties have been placed in foster homes and adopted.)
The hope is that the stray population shrinks due to increased sterilizations, while the number of animals adopted, and community engagement, continues to grow and grow.
"In general, we've worked to improve the quality of animals on the island," said Hudy, who expects a year from how, even more volunteers will be coming by -- roof or not -- to help out.
He'd like to see pet adoption from the local shelter becoming the regular way that Saipan residents get their furry companions, before too long.
Five years from now, he's wanting even more, like a permanent low-cost veterinary clinic on the island, and education and outreach to improve pets' quality of care.
And for the shelter to have become established enough to keep going, even if there's another typhoon, and even if he himself has left to practice his magic elsewhere in the world.
But now, Hudy is looking into the sky. And wishing he weren't able to see it. He's hoping that soon Saipan Cares for Animals will have the resources to save even more of the island's cats and dogs -- and repair that typhoon-wrecked roof.
Follow Saipan Cares for Animals on the group's Facebook page. They have a GoFundMe, as well.
Get in touch at arin.greenwood@huffingtonpost.com if you have an animal story to share!
See images of Saipan after being hit by Typhoon Soudelor below:
