100 cats airlifted from shelters hit by Hurricane Michael

Associated Press

About 100 cats and kittens were airlifted out of Florida to Delaware today, an effort to make room in shelters for animals displaced by Hurricane Michael.

The Brandywine Valley Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals teamed up with the Jacksonville Humane Society to relocate the cats to shelters in Delaware and suburban Philadelphia, and possibly elsewhere in the Northeast.

"It's always hard to say goodbye to the animals that you raised and nurtured and took care of," Jacksonville Humane Society CEO Denise Deisler told WJXT-TV. "But they're going to a really good place at Brandywine Valley in Delaware, and we're so grateful to have them."

The cats, on a flight paid for by Jacksonville Jaguars' defensive tackle Malik Jackson's foundation "Malik's Gifts," landed this afternoon at a private terminal in New Castle.

The animals were taken to the Brandywine Valley SPCA's rescue and rehab center in Georgetown to be evaluated and will eventually transfer out to a variety of shelters.

The idea is to make room in the Florida shelters so animals displaced by the hurricane can stay near their homes and hopefully be reunited with their families, said Brandywine Valley SPCA spokeswoman Linda Torelli.

"We learned back in Katrina not to take family pets out of the area," she said, noting how hard it was to reunite animals with their owners once they were out of state.