Homeless animals are nothing new. But October tornadoes spawned by Hurricane Milton left more than 140 dogs and cats without shelter when the Furry Friends ranch in Palm City was destroyed.
“I got an alert on my phone” in the moments before the twister landed, Furry Friends CEO Jason Gluck told Stet.
He and staff members had no time to remove any animals. The E-3 tornado twisted through the ranch with winds of 140 mph, flipping buildings, crushing fences and tossing twisted roofs high into the pines.
The van used to transport animals was heavily damaged.
But recovery was swift. Within one day, “We got every animal out,” Gluck said. “Not a single animal or human life was lost. It was incredible.”
Word spread quickly about the devastation, and the day after that, many dogs and cats were adopted or fostered out.
“There was a lot of social media buzz, and The Washington Post did a story about us. Influencers around the country wrote about us.”
“We were the most devastated facility,” Gluck said. “Because of that publicity, it was our most successful adoption day to date.”
But that still left a few dozen animals to house that couldn’t go into the organization’s main facility in Jupiter.
Enter Camp Rusty, a pet boarding facility that operated beside the Palm Beach Kennel Club. It closed in June.
“It was quite fortuitous. It was a pet resort and turnkey for us,” Gluck said.
The Rooney family that owns the Kennel Club heard the Furry Friends story, and offered Camp Rusty up for lease.
READ MORE: Why deadly ‘midwest-style tornadoes’ formed in South Florida during Milton
“Kelly Rooney has been incredibly helpful in getting this to us,” Gluck said.
“It had dog runs, kennels, play areas. We have had to make certain modifications that are protocol for rescue facilities. We still have a lot to do to make it ready and we’re still working on that.”
The irony of rescue dogs moved to kennels that once housed the racing greyhounds is not lost on Gluck.
“It was called animal cruelty,” he said of the dog racing practices. “These are different times.”
Palm Beach Kennel Club, a fixture in West Palm Beach since 1932, shut down its race track after dog racing was banned in Florida by voters in 2018. Tracks had two years to phase out racing. The last race in West Palm Beach was Dec. 31, 2020.
Rusty was the club’s name for its mechanical lure that led racing greyhounds around the track.
After the track closed, the kennel was upgraded and turned into a pet boarding “resort” that opened in 2022. Animals here were treated as beloved pets.
Having rescue dogs, some from abusive homes that are now lodging at the kennels, is a way to right the wrong, and do “‘dog’s’ work,” Gluck said.
That work at Furry Friends includes pulling dogs from Animal Care and Control — the county pound — as well as other overcrowded shelters, and rehabbing them through their vet clinic, or behavior training. Once spayed or neutered, they are offered for adoption.
Since 2022 when Gluck came in as CEO for the 41-year-old rescue organization, adoptions and rescues have doubled, Chief of Staff Jess Grand said. Furry Friends is one of the fastest growing shelters in the state.
“Jason made it his mission to support rescues. In spite of everything last month, we were the number one puller of animals from the county shelter,” she said.
They feed an additional 1,000 animals through dog food donations and work with other shelters from Okeechobee to Miami-Dade counties.
They also run Hope on Wheels, which transports rescues to the Northeast, where demands for animals exceed supply, Gluck said.
“They’ve done a great job of pet ownership up there with their spay and neuter programs,” he said. Strays are much less common.
Meanwhile, the Furry Friends ranch in Palm City remains closed. Inspectors deemed it uninhabitable. There are still wires dangling, roofs exposed and fences to be constructed.
In another twist of fate, the damaged van was getting ready to transfer dogs from shelters full from Hurricane Helene rescue efforts on Florida’s west coast.
Gluck and his team of 15 are still moving animals in and setting up Camp Rusty. They expect to house more than 100 dogs and cats there.
Donations from national and local organizations as well as private donors are helping. Gifts through the community at Furry Friends Thrift Shop in Jupiter poured in.
Donations for now will go to Camp Rusty to have a working space, Gluck said.
“The bones were there, we just have to fine tune it. We are modifying play yards. We are bringing in two buildings. One of our big benefactors donated FEMA buildings.”
Volunteers will be called upon to work once the facilities are up to speed, he said, in about a month.
Volunteers go through a 90-minute orientation; they can apply on the Furry Friends website here.
Dog walkers have a special class, Dog Walking 101 and classes for volunteers to work with cats are available.
Animal lovers are encouraged, but working with adoptive prospects is important, too, Grand said. “We’re looking for animal people, but also people people.”
This story was originally published by Stet News Palm Beach, a WLRN News partner.
