Press Releases - The Humane Society and Adoption Center at PAWS

PAWS director: ‘It’s a disaster down here’

August 18, 2004
Daily News
By Kelly Humphrey – Daily News Community Editor

     As the director of animal services for the Panhandle Animal Welfare Society, Dee Thompson-Poirrier has seen some pretty horrible sights in her time. But nothing could prepare her for the destruction wrought by Hurricane Charley.

     Thompson-Poirrier and a team of three local animal control officers headed to the Punta Gorda area shortly after Charley made landfall. What they found was devastation that affected the animal population almost as harshly as the humans living in the area.

     “It’s a disaster down here,” Thompson-Poirrier said Tuesday. “We have been keeping busy helping to transfer animals from the shelters that were blown apart by Charley up to facilities in the Tampa area. We’ve also moved several beautiful birds of prey from a wildlife rescue facility that was right in the path of the storm.”

     The team from Okaloosa County has come across some unusual situations during their stay in Desoto and Hardee counties.

     “We spent some time today looking for an alligator that had gotten loose in a man’s back yard,” Thompson-Poirrier said. “And we’re checking out a big cat farm in Hardee County, where they kept lions and tigers. We want to make sure none of them are wandering out in the open.”

     The team had a similar scare earlier, when they heard about a man who kept dozens of venomous snakes in a house that had been hit by Charley.

     “The house was destroyed, but the snakes didn’t get out,” Thompson-Poirrier said.

     In addition to all the exotic animals they’ve been tracking down, the team has worked closely with more domestic breeds.

     “What’s breaking my heart is when you have senior citizens who didn’t have anywhere to live come to us with their pets,” Thompson-Poirrier said. “They have to turn them into the shelter because they just can’t take care of them. It’s the saddest thing you’ve ever seen.