WALDORF, Md. – Virginia Rymer decompressed after an all-night drive to Maryland with 70 to 80 cats and kittens from Florida.
She’s the animal control officer for Brevard County, Florida, and she and a colleague brought the felines from Florida shelters to Last Chance Animal Rescue, in Waldorf. “Florida is over-populated with cats,” Rymer said, and she’s making room for an influx of cats displaced by Hurricane Irma.
“Last Chance has been a great partner with us,” Rymer said.
“When they take these kitties out of the shelter, there’s room for the strays … [from] the hurricane,” said Cindy Sharpley, director of Last Chance Animal Rescue.
She said it will be a week for so before these cats are available for adoption: “We’re going to get ‘em checked in and squared away, get ‘em some good food, some de-wormer and vaccines. We’ll have the vet check ‘em out, get ‘em spayed and neutered – and they’ll be available for adoption soon.”
In the meantime, Sharpley said, animals they received from Texas, Louisiana and other states hit by Hurricane Harvey are ready to go. And they hope a lot of them will head to new forever homes on Saturday, Sept. 16. Last Chance is hosting Puppypalooza from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the PetSmart at 9041 Snowden Square Drive in Columbia, Maryland.
