100 Rescue Cats Flown To Salem From New Orleans For Adoption

SALEM, MA — One hundred kittens and cats, two elderly chihuahua siblings and a 12-year-old dachshund named Pierre will be among the pets available for adoption after the Northeast Animal Shelter of Salem helped bring them from an overcrowded shelter in Louisiana so they can hopefully find their forever homes in New England.

Northeast Animal Shelter once again collaborated with the MSPCA-Angell to bring the pets from New Orleans to Salem for treatment and adoption.

The two chihuahuas — named Mikey and Mimi — were brought north after their owner died and they had to be surrendered to the Louisiana shelter. They will be available, along with the cats and Pierre starting on Friday.

Those interested in adopting the dogs or the cats as part of this weekend's "Clear the Shelters" campaign can register here.

Two planes of pets were brought north from New Orleans with 66 of them brought to St. Herbert's Animal Welfare Center in Madison, New Jersey, while Mikey, Mimi, Pierre and the cats traveled on to New England where they were split up between the MSPCA's Cape Cod adoption center and the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem.

NBCUniversal's Clear the Shelters campaign, which runs through Sept. 19, has helped more than 500,000 pets find homes since 2015. Greater Good Charities, The Animal Rescue Site and Hill’s Pet Nutrition contributed funding for the flights as well as supplies to the rescue.

"We're profoundly thankful to these organizations for offsetting the massive costs associated with bringing these pets to Massachusetts," said Mike Keiley, director of adoption centers and programs at the MSPCA-Angell and executive director of NEAS. "We could never do this important work without them — and we're proud to align with organizations like Greater Good, which is now the single largest animal shelter pet airlift in this movement's history."

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(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)