WEST PALM BEACH — Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control issued a plea for help Monday . Anticipating a surge of animals displaced by Hurricane Milton , it sought fosters and forever families for the more than 200 homeless cats and dogs already in its shelter near West Palm Beach.
Animal lovers answered the call. They inundated the shelter’s phone lines with questions about how to help and arrived at the shelter in droves. They waited in a line that stretched the length of the building until finally leaving with a furry friend or two in tow.
Within two days, the shelter connected 117 cats and 113 dogs with adopters and fosters, the agency said Wednesday.
The community’s response was so immediate and complete that employees had to turn away the last wave of interested fosters. They urged them instead to check back in the coming weeks, as empty kennels are quick to fill again.
This fact is evident in the Palm Beach County Animal Care and Control’s online database of the shelter’s residents . It includes 16 dogs and 16 cats that have been found wandering around the county since Tuesday, when Hurricane Milton preparations began in earnest. The identities of their owners are unknown.