Kentucky Deadly Tornado Rescue Cats Arrive In Salem For Adoption

SALEM, MA — Seventy-eight cats who survived the deadly tornados that ravaged Kentucky earlier this week arrived in Salem looking for their forever homes on Wednesday.

One hundred cats were flown from Kentucky to Massachusetts Wednesday morning and then 78 of them were taken via three vans to the Northeast Animal Shelter in Salem, while the rest went to the MSPCA-Cape Cod in Centerville.

The cats will remain at the shelter for 48 hours to quarantine and will soon be available for adoption in time for the holiday.

The cats range in age from several months to several years old and all had been living in Kentucky Humane Society's shelter prior to the deadly tornadoes. A Northeast Animal Shelter spokesperson said there is "zero chance that someone's lost pet has been relocated to Massachusetts."

The MSPCA and Northeast Animal Shelter encourage anyone interested in adoption to monitor their websites for updates on their adoption availability.

The Northeast Animal Shelter partnered with the MSPCA and Angell Memorial to shelter and provide veterinary services for the Kentucky cats.

The ASPCA sponsored the flight that took the cats from Kentucky to Massachusetts.

"Evacuating homeless animals displaced by these devastating tornadoes is a lifesaving aspect of emergency response efforts because it gives the shelter animals a second chance to find loving homes while freeing up critical resources for pets in impacted communities," said Susan Anderson, Director of Disaster Response for the ASPCA National Field Response Team. "We are grateful to MSPCA and Second Chance Animal Services for opening their doors to these animals in need so local animal welfare organizations in Kentucky can focus on supporting displaced pets."

Recent other Northeast Animal Shelter transports include cats and dogs from the Texas power outages last winter, pets from a South Carolina animal cruelty case and the Louisiana Hurricane Ida this past August.

More information on adopting the Kentucky cats will be available here on Wednesday afternoon.

(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.)

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