"Whatever their story is--and they all have stories--at this point they need homes," explains Lydia Sattler.
You can add one more tale to the 140 pets' stories: flying from south Florida to the Great Lakes region.
"The biggest danger was not having enough space for the displaced or lost pets or ones that were injured," Sattler tells FOX 47 News. "So in order to accommodate the high influx after an emergency or disaster like that we needed to make room in the shelters for those pets cause they'll fill up a shelter very quickly."
Sattler is the United States Humane Society's Michigan state director. She advocated for the more than 80 pets being brought to Michigan, and another 50 or so to Wisconsin. That's to help families down in Florida to find their pets that may have gotten lost during Hurricane Irma.
"The people have a greater chance of reuniting with their pets because they're staying right there in their local area," Sattler smiles.
These pets were already up for adoption in shelters and humane societies down in Florida, which is why they were brought up to Michigan. They weren't being claimed as lost pets before the hurricane and many animals needed the shelter space for when their owners come looking for them.
These animals are being sent to the Harbor Humane Society, the Humane Society of Western Michigan, and the Midland and Van Buren County Animal Shelters.
"We usually find homes for everybody," Del Dozeman of the Harbor Humane Society proudly boasts.
He says that's why so many people were interested in helping these animals. Because all they care about is finding some love for pets, especially these ones.
"We have some great staff, great people that want to help find homes for these dogs that are distraught and misplaced right now," Dozeman says.
