CENTER TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Cailin Rankin is the shelter manager at the Beaver County Humane Society. Right now, she and her team are gearing up for a busy weekend caring for more than 100 animals at the shelter.
“So, for us, it’s a lot of preparation to try to be as proactive as possible,” Rankin told Channel 11’s Andrew Havranek.
Some of that planning is for the staff and the volunteers. The Humane Society has to have people ready to take care of the animals as if it’s a normal day. With several inches of snow expected — that means planning for some sleeping arrangements at the shelter.
“So a couple of us have already volunteered to stay either on site in the shelter. We’ll kind of bunk down with sleeping bags or you know lots of blankets and things like that,” Rankin said. “Or, we do have our annex across the street and it has apartments that we lease out and so a couple are still available so we can stay there as well.”
They have enough food, treats, and essentials to take care of the pets at the shelter.
But they also worked to prepare for a worst-case scenario in case they lose power. They’ve rented a generator.
“We do have medications and things like that on hand that we want to make sure we don’t run the risk of you know them going bad or anything because it’s the cold or because they’re not refrigerated,” Rankin said.
As for the pets, they’ll work to get them as much indoor activity as possible, and take the dogs outside sparingly so they can still get activity, but not be exposed to the brutal winter weather.
Rankin said pet owners who are preparing to go to get things at the grocery store for themselves to also think of any sort of needs your animals may have as well in case you’re snowed in.
“Always a good idea to make sure that any of the basic essentials that you realize you might run low on and you’re not able to leave the home to go get them just make sure you’ve got it in supply,” Rankin added.
Download the FREE WPXI News app for breaking news alerts.
Follow Channel 11 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch WPXI NOW