State Correctional Institution (SCI) Chester is helping Wags Rescue & Referral save dogs from Hurricane Florence, writes Samantha Melamed for the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Wags volunteers rushed to shelters in the evacuation zone to try to save as many animals as they could ahead of the storm.

“One of the things that happens is that the shelters schedule euthanasia ahead of the storm,” said volunteer Amy Myers.

But some of the shelters they found were filled beyond capacity.

“I guess it’s kind of a circle: People anticipate evacuating and can’t figure out how they can take their dogs, so people were surrendering dogs in greater numbers,” said Myers. “They were so stuffed; they had dogs in the offices at the shelter.”

Some of the dogs rescued are currently in foster care or at donated space at the Horsham Veterinary Hospital. Others are getting ready to be transferred into the care of SCI-Chester. There, inmates care for dogs and train them for four to six weeks, and once the animals are house-broken, they are adopted out.

“It’s hurricane season, so we always try to open our doors to dogs that need a place to go,” said SCI-Chester spokeswoman Madeline Quinn.

Read more about the rescue efforts in the Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.