North Georgia shelters take in pets from Helene, preparing for more from Milton

CANTON, Ga. — The Cherokee County Animal Shelter in Canton, has begun taking in dogs and puppies displaced by Hurricane Helene when it tore through south Georgia two weeks ago.

“Some of the shelters and rescues in South Georgia have been affected by Helene. There’s no power, there’s no water source. And if you don’t have either of those, you have to do something with these animals they need to move,” Georgia Humane Society Exec. Director Claudine Wilkins said.

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Thus far, the Cherokee County shelter has taken in three dogs from the Valdosta area and expects eight more tomorrow from southeast Georgia.

When natural disasters like hurricanes displace people, their pets can often be displaced as well.

“We need places for animals to go. People lost their homes. They have no way of feeding their dogs. No water,” animal rescuer Betsy Pye said.

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The shelter says it’s received several calls in recent days from animal rescue organizations in storm-battered south Georgia.

“They called about taking some animal in from a couple of counties. We take the ones we can and then hopefully some of ours will be adopted and we will get some room to take in even more if we need to,” Cherokee Animal Shelter Director Susan Garcia said.

The shelter also organized a pet food drive to deliver donated food to Augusta which was hit badly by Hurricane Helene.

The Cherokee County Sheriff’s helped deliver the much-needed food on Monday.

“There’s a need for pet food. People there are spending their money on getting their houses back and taking care of themselves. It was nice to be able to give away the food down there. Before I left people were coming to get it,” Cherokee County Sheriff’s Capt. Jay Baker said.

Cherokee Animal Shelter workers say the need is as great as ever for people to stop by to adopt a cat or dog.

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