At Humane Society of Sarasota County (HSSC), we knew the needs of our community would be great. We had to be ready to support them. Hurricane Milton had just blown through Sarasota, just days after Hurricane Helene had devastated our barrier island communities. Our shelter was left without power and internet. Cell phone and computer batteries were on empty.

Our facility was at critical capacity, but we knew it was vital to make space to care for pets displaced in the storm while we worked to reunite them with their owners—and to assist area animal welfare organizations, as they too faced impact from the storm. The way to do that was to transport animals that had already been available for adoption before the storm to new opportunities outside the area of impact.

We had cleared just enough space before Hurricane Milton thanks to a last-minute plea to our community for volunteer fosters to accept a transport of cats and dogs who would have otherwise been in the path of the storm, a facility that only had outdoor holding pens for cats and dogs. Over 30 families stepped up to welcome an animal into the comfort of their homes during the hurricane. We cleared enough space just in time.

One of the rural shelters we pulled from was preparing to euthanize animals in their care. Our transport van arrived just in time.

But now that the fosters needed to come back and strays from the storm were starting to come in, we were over capacity. That’s when Bissell Pet Foundation reached out to help. They scheduled an air transport to shelters in Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.

Team HSSC got to work, choosing cats and dogs eligible to go on the transport and ensuring their medical records and paperwork were prepared. It was a true collaborative effort—working with four other hurricane-impacted shelters to ready 100-plus adoptable animals for transport in less than two day’s time with limited access to power and internet. While the challenges were many, our commitment to saving lives remained stronger than ever.

The Wings of Rescue flight took off safely from Sarasota Bradenton International Airport. It was a bittersweet farewell—saying bye to cats and dogs we loved, while knowing their empty kennels would allow us to support the animals in our community impacted by disaster.

It takes collaboration like this to save as many lives as possible. Much of the HSSC team slept onsite at the shelter to make sure our cats and dogs were cared for throughout the hurricane, then they rallied to make this transport possible.

Two of our team members flew with the animals to ensure safe passage and hand-off to eight different animal welfare organizations, all with the same level of commitment to no-kill as HSSC.

A transport of this nature provides the necessary relief to organizations in the impact zone, but it also creates a buzz for the receiving shelters, providing new adoption opportunities for the animals that were relocated.

With a portion of HSSC's building rated for a category 5 storm, the staff and animals were all safely out of harm's way, but the grounds did not fare as well. HSSC faces months of recovery to return our dog walking path to one that is safe for our volunteers and shelter pets. At HSSC, our daily playgroups are a valuable source of activity and enrichment for the nearly 100 dogs that are in our care at any given time, and our play yard awaits storm response efforts to make it safe once again.

HSSC transferred in more than 200 animals prior to Hurricanes Helene and Milton to keep them out of harm's way, many with unique medical needs. All animals at HSSC receive the medical attention they need and are up to date on vaccinations and spayed/neutered in care.

This is the incredible work that is only made possible with support from you.