WESTLAND, Mich. – With Hurricane Dorian moving through the southeastern part of the country, there's a way Metro Detroit residents can help relief efforts through the Michigan Humane Society.
"When you adopt from your local shelter, you free up space for an animal in need, and you don't always know where that animal will come from," said Molly Tamulevich, the Michigan State Director for the U.S. Humane Society. "They could come from your own backyard, or they could come from a natural disaster."
In this case, residents could be adopting a cat or dog that was transported from Florida to Michigan last Sunday.
"There were 73 animals total, but we measure them in weight and there was 3,000 pounds of animal," Tamulevich said.
There is a wide variety of cats and larger dogs from which to choose. The animals were already up for adoption in Florida, but those shelters needed to free up space for animals affected by the hurricane.
"Either they need space for temporary housing for animals who were displaced by flooding, or you find an influx of homeless animals that really need emergency sheltering," Tamulevich said.
By adopting one of the animals, residents are giving money toward the adoption fee that will help shelters in Florida.
"We're actually going to be donating back 50% of their adoption fee to their originating shelter down in Florida to help them cover costs of repairs and all those sorts of things," said Anna Chrisman, of the Michigan Humane Society.