JAMES ISLAND — Pet Helpers is starting an emergency foster program for dogs after part of an air conditioning unit inside the shelter broke down and stopped working.
The shelter is asking the public to foster 40 dogs — all that are registered in Pet Helpers’ system — for as long as it takes to get the air conditioning unit fixed.
Fosters will receive all necessary supplies like food, crates, leashes and medical support, while also being matched with a dog that fits their lifestyle, according to a release from the shelter.
With replacement parts for the compressor backordered for roughly three to five weeks, some parts of the shelter are too hot for the dogs to stay comfortable and safe, said JJ Steele, Pet Helpers’ marketing manager.
Only some parts of the shelter are affected, Steele told The Post and Courier. The area where the dogs stay and some offices are feeling the impacts, while the veterinary clinic, the cat area and lobby remain unaffected.
Staff at the shelter noticed it was getting warmer inside for the past week and had HVAC technicians come in daily to make fixes that would only last for a few hours or a day, Steele said.
For the time-being, staff have brought in rented portable air conditioning units and industrial fans to cool off. It’s gotten as hot as 85 degrees inside, but with the portable units it’s gone down to roughly 76 degrees, Steele said.
“It’s still tolerable. No one is completely suffering,” she said. “But long term, as the temperatures warm up, it’s just not ideal. It’s not the condition we want our animals to be in.”
While Pet Helpers is putting out a call for fosters, Steele said they’d much rather the animals get officially adopted. These fosters will also act as adoption ambassadors, she said. This could include posting about the dog on social media or introducing them to friends and family. The goal is for Pet Helpers and the foster to work together and get the dogs officially adopted.
Pet Helpers has already received applications for the foster program, and Steele expects the shelter to start letting people pick up a dog around July 13.
For more information, go to pethelpers.org.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
