All the animals are safe for now.
But the Furry Friends adoption center, clinic and ranch needs help. A tornado tore up the no-kill shelter’s Palm City ranch site.
The windows blew in. Buildings are on their side. Roofs were severely damaged, if not torn off. Fencing was ripped from the ground or toppled by debris and fallen trees.
“We urgently need donations, fosters, and volunteers to help us recover and care for the animals,” shelter personnel wrote on the nonprofit’s Facebook page.
“We’ve always supported others, and now we need your support more than ever. We are looking at MILLIONS of dollars in damage.”
Furry Friends is asking people to foster pets, volunteer or adopt any of the more than 145 cats and dogs listed (and pictured) online.
Donations are welcome too, either directly through Furry Friends’ website, PayPal, Zelle ([email protected]) or on Facebook, where more than 600 people had given a combined $37,460 by 10 a.m. Thursday.
“We’ve had an insanely amazing response from the community, so we believe fosters and volunteer spots will fill,” shelter personnel wrote. “We truly need donations for the millions of dollars of damage.”
Incorporated in 1981 as the Humane Society of Greater Jupiter-Tequesta, the organization known since 2013 as Furry Friends was the second humane organization in Florida to open a low-cost spay and neuter hospital.
It’s expanded significantly since then, including the construction of a two-story shelter, 15,000-square-foot shelter, hospital and activity center in late 2019 at the corner of Capital Street and Jupiter Park Drive in Jupiter.
As Hurricane Milton neared Florida on Wednesday, an outbreak of tornadoes swept South Florida and the Treasure Coast. By 8 p.m., Gov. Ron DeSantis said at least 116 tornado warnings had been issued statewide.
