Grace Sherman

A boat ended up in someone’s yard as a result of severe flooding and damage post-hurricane Ian.

In the wake of recovery from Hurricane Ian, all that remains are debris, flooded homes, boat pileups, a wiped-out landscape and pets in many parts of Florida. 

People, especially pet owners, are shocked by how anyone could leave their beloved animals behind during mandatory evacuations. Others know the difficulty of having to gamble between their family’s safety and their pet’s safety. With a mandatory evacuation, people are faced with the option to evacuate with hundreds of thousands of other people, or stay at their homes to hunker down and deal with not having assistance if conditions go south. 

Before Ian struck, the volume of people evacuating their towns in Florida left highways at a standstill and hotels booked out. Many people were unable to find hotels and shelters for themselves that were also accepting pets. Some were also unable to travel safely with their pets for long periods of time as a result of the highway standstills.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis made a statement to Floridians. “Don’t leave your pets behind. Almost every shelter is gonna be pet-friendly, people understand that it is important we are taking care of our pets,” DeSantis suggested. Even with DeSantis’s statement, many were worried about the ability to travel with and be accepted into accommodations during the evacuation. Some stayed in their homes with their pets and were left with no choice but to leave their pets once their homes flooded, rescuing themselves. Countless dogs, cats, and other animals were left stranded, needing to survive independently.

Senior Grace Sherman’s family has a house that was in the path of Ian. She recently learned about the situation of pets. “I think people left pets behind because of panicking at the moment with the number of things they needed to do to prepare. I think I would have tried to plan and take my pet to a safe place,” Sherman expressed. This is an opinion shared by many online. 

A video of a man, Mike Ross, who witnessed the reality of a cat being left behind and struggling in the storm, has been seen online by many. Ross saved the cat from a rushing storm surge and went on to name it Ian while also putting in an effort towards the pet crisis as a whole. 

Ross and his girlfriend’s home was severely damaged leading to them creating a fundraiser serving multiple purposes, “In honor of Ian, and all people and pets affected, we are donating half of the proceeds raised by this to the Naples Humane Society,” he stated. 

With the high volume of animals in danger and isolated in flooded areas, pet shelters throughout the state have sent out response teams to rescue as many pets as possible. This includes the Naples Humane Society, Petco Love and Wings of Rescue. 

Sherman also says there is a way to help save these animals. “Something that could be done is shelters taking in more animals and having more shelters available to make emergency plans for future hurricanes.” For this hurricane and future ones, it will be a grave necessity to help animals left to struggle in the aftermath of the ruthless storms.