Animal shelter left with limited resources after tornado

Gaston County's animal shelter has been unable to access its network since the tornado on May 8, leaving them without phones and other internet-based capabilities.

"We're very limited on our resources, just because we don't have access to the network," said Dr. Jessica Hilderbran, administrator and veterinarian at Gaston County Animal Care and Enforcement in Gastonia.

She said a fiber optic cable was severed during the deadly storm May 8, which left parts of Gaston County with severe damage and killed a motorist near Cramerton.

The shelter has been unable to take in new animals since then. Employees can't process credit card payments, can't make or receive phone calls, can't market animals to animal rescues, and it has slowed their ability to process adoption and foster applications.

Hilderbran said she is also limited in the medical care she can provide sick and injured animals, as the X-ray and blood-testing machines are both down.

Shelter employees were loaned city laptops with internet access to use for emails, but they have limited signal inside the shelter, and so there is sometimes a lag in their ability to receive emails.

All of this means that some of the animals at the shelter are at risk of euthanasia, Hilderbran said.

"It puts us in a bind because our communication isn't as efficient as it typically is," Hilderbran said. "Just not having that communication, obviously our animals aren't leaving like we would like for them to leave."

While the shelter has 60 kennels, the shelter's dog population currently is around 80, with some doubled up in kennels.

Some people who foster animals have pitched in to care for dogs while the shelter is overcrowded, "but we need a lot more fosters if possible," Hilderbran said. "We are getting to that point to where we don't have any space for anybody coming in."

The shelter also has 88 cats, but many of those are newborn kittens that can be caged with their mother.

Hilderbran said she doesn't know when their system will be back online. Gastonia's utilities department is responsible for repairing the fiber optic cable, and the county contracts with the city for the shelter building, so both entities are involved in getting it fixed.

Hilderbran hopes that the issue will be resolved soon.

"It would be lovely for the end of the week, but like I said, we don't know," Hilderbran said.

Anyone who wants to help can drop in at the shelter, 1491 Business Park Court in Gastonia, to apply to adopt or foster an animal, and the shelter also is seeking volunteers to come to the shelter and walk dogs, play with the cats and do chores around the shelter.

The shelter also is seeking donations of cat and dog food.

"I always like to thank those people who have stepped up and provided us assistance —all of our volunteers, all of our rescue partners, the people who have come and adopted, our current fosters," she said. "They have been huge blessings to us."