Animals seeking safety from Hurricane Florence rescued by local shelter

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With Hurricanne Florence well on its way, the Sanctuary at Haafsville in Breinigsville received a few extra residents. Last night eight dogs traveled from a shelter in Wilmington, North Carolina to Breinigsville.

The sanctuary volunteers were there to welcome the new visitors including Cheryl Horn.

"Ten hour ride, who know what their circumstances were down there. The first few days they are very scared and adjusting," she said.

The dogs and close to a dozen cats making the long trek to safety for fear the southern shelters will soon be under water.

Founder of the sanctuary, Liz Jones, added, "A lot of the shelters are in a flood zone so they were faced with if they didn't get them out, they may have had to make the hard choice to euthanize them."

The dogs who no one else would take will now adjust to their new surroundings and maybe even find their forever home. Except for one dog named Chance her owners evacuated surrendered her.

"She had been abandoned in someone's apartment. They got to the apartment, the papers, the medical history were there, the relinquishment papers were there, so they clearly meant to leave her behind," said Horn.

The founder of the sanctuary said they would be receiving a few more kitties from the Carolinas Thursday afternoon.

Jones says a woman who flew down to save her car from Florence's wrath decided to turn it in to a rescue mission.

She said, "She thought why should I drive north with an empty vehicle so she stopped at the human society and said who can I save?"

The sanctuary was able to find fosters for some of its dogs to make room for the new arrivals.

"I was just on the phone with a woman setting up a 3000 square foot rescue area for animals. She said it's just chaos. Animals are just being left on the side of the road," said Jones.

That's why this rescue jumped in to lend a hand.

"Every dog, every cat matters, even if we can just help a handful," said Horn.