The Humane Rescue Alliance needs DC residents considering adopting a pet to speed up their decision-making as quickly as possible. The animal-rescue organization needs to clear space in its two shelters to make room for animals arriving from Texas in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

“The shelters in Texas are facing large numbers of incoming animals made homeless by this storm and need to move them to safety,” Stephanie Shain, HRA’s chief operating officer, says in a press release. “HRA stands ready to take in animals, regardless of breed, with open arms and we look forward to finding forever homes for them in our nation’s capital.”

Though their exact arrival time has not been determined, Humane Rescue is preparing to receive dogs and cats from Texas—pets who have become separated from their owners or were strays prior to the storm—this week. All the animals currently at Humane Rescue have been spayed, neutered, and implanted with microchips.

To speed up the process of clearing room in Humane Rescue’s adoption centers, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer and his wife, Erica May-Scherzer, are covering the cost of all adoption from Thursday through Sunday. (May-Scherzer is a member of Humane Rescue’s board of directors.)

The couple are active animal-rescue advocates, and appeared in a Humane Rescue public-service announcement earlier this year.

“Max and I wanted to help make space for the animals affected by Hurricane Harvey,” May-Scherzer says in a release. “By helping with adoption fees, it might make it easier to find homes for our current population of shelter animals, which will allow us to bring in many more relocated animals from Texas.”

In addition, Lucky Dog Animal Rescue expects to take in between 20 and 30 dogs displaced by Harvey, and is raising up to $40,000 for vetting the canines and transporting them to DC.

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