A new Georgetown rehabilitation facility for animals opened its doors for the first time Tuesday to a slew of animals being relocated from hurricane-stricken North Carolina.

Through a partnership with Best Friends Animal Society, the Brandywine Valley SPCA opened its new Rescue & Rehab Center early to serve as an evacuation hub for shelter animals displaced by Hurricane Florence.

The center welcomed its first arrivals shortly after 3:30 p.m. Tuesday in the form of 42 dogs from the Cumberland County Animal Services shelter in Fayetteville, North Carolina, where they had been forced to evacuate to a local fairground because of the threat of flooding.

"That created some logistical obstacles, but ultimately our staff members are troopers. They just want to get the animals, bring them back and make sure that they're safe," said Walt Fenstermacher, BVSPCA's Georgetown director.

Beginning of the process

Tuesday was the first of what BVSPCA expects will be many intakes over the next several weeks of adoptable animals that need to be relocated either because of the threat of flood waters or to make room for locally rescued pets.

This isn't the Georgetown animal rescue's first rodeo. Fenstermacher said the organization also sent staff down to Houston last year to set up a temporary shelter in the wake of Hurricane Harvey and even aided in the relocation of animals from Puerto Rico after the island was battered by storms.

"We really knew that with the recent hurricane, that we needed to respond, that we had capacity with this new building and we just had to kind of rally and pool resources from different areas to be able to staff it, be able to supply it and be able to save more lives," he said.

In addition to working with national partners to ensure BVSPCA has the supplies necessary to open the Rescue & Rehab Center early and care for the animals, Delaware Animal Response volunteers have also jumped in to lend a helping hand.

The BVSPCA purchased the center in June, closing on the property Monday. It's meant to serve the region's most vulnerable cats and dogs, including cruelty survivors, disaster victims, newborns and infants, but wasn't slated to open until early 2019.

The 11,500-square-foot facility sits on 13 acres of land on Shingle Point Road. In addition to the $880,000 needed to pay for the full purchase, BVSPCA's website shows fundraising has also been underway to secure approximately $250,000 to repair and restore the building and $250,000 for equipment and furnishings.

"Folks are making donations not only just to this facility and this rescue effort, but also to the actual purchase because we still have a few hundred thousand dollars to raise to actually pay the bill for this facility, but we’re really grateful for the community support," Fenstermacher said.

'Looking at really saving these lives'

Tuesday afternoon the BVSPCA was also anticipating the arrival of 60 cats and five more dogs from the same North Carolina shelter later in the evening. The day's intakes totaled 107 animals, but the work won't end there.

In the coming days, Fenstermacher said staff and volunteers will be vaccinating, evaluating and caring for the animals before they're either placed up for adoption through the BVSPCA or another partner facility in the Best Friends network.

"We’re looking at really saving these lives, and once they’ve found new homes, we’ll bring in more animals from those hurricane areas," he said.

By the end of the week, the Rescue & Rehab Center will have accepted another group of approximately 100 dogs, which will be coming in two groups from two more North Carolina shelters.

Fenstermacher said relieving the burden on local shelters throughout the state is one of the big goals of this effort.

There are still many pets in hurricane-battered areas whose homes are uninhabitable or whose owners were forced to evacuate, he explained, that will need to be rescued, locally housed and cared for moving forward.

"Being able to create vacancy in those local shelters is really important so that the victims from the storm will be able to find their pets that I'm sure they'll be looking for," he said.

BACKGROUND:Hurricane Florence: Delaware shelter taking in displaced animals

READ MORE:Accomack: Hillsborough neighborhood gets access road after washout

READ MORE: Flooding from Florence to swamp Carolinas for days – or even weeks; death toll hits 32

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