Several of the biggest Jamaican animal shelters & rescues were already in dire straights before the biggest storm since 1851 struck the island
KINGSTON, Jamaica––If Hurricane Melissa had a surname known among Jamaican animals and animal advocates, it might be Murphy, because if anything can go wrong, it is, at the worst possible moment.
“The slow-moving giant, the strongest hurricane to hit Jamaica since records began in 1851, is increasing in intensity and forecast to linger over the island,” reported Natrica Duncan in Kingston and Anthony Lugg in Portland Parish for The Guardian on October 27, 2025, just before most of Jamaica lost electricity to the high winds preliminary to Hurricane Melissa making landfall.
A Category 5 hurricane, Melissa features the paradox of gusts reported as high as 185 miles per hour, in combination with advancing at only three to five miles per hour.
Landfall expected at dawn
Landfall, at midnight on October 27, 2025 was anticipated to come around dawn on October 28, 2025. Even before landfall, Hurricane Melissa had paralyzed much of Jamaica, 150 miles long, 50 miles wide, cutting off all transportation with torrential rainfall, flooding, downed trees, landslides, and increasingly menacing tidal surge hitting the beaches and bays that attract the tourists whose visits account for anywhere from a third to half of the Jamican national economy.
Reported Duncan and Lugg, “Leslie Burton, a farmer who lives in Portland Parish, is concerned about his animals.
“I tried to put some zinc [sheet metal] over them, but the breeze blew them away,” Burton told Lugg.
Mentioned weather reporter Matt Devitt of WINK in Fort Myers, Florida, “Inside the eye of Category 5 Hurricane Melissa, Hurricane Hunters,” the aerial hurricane observation arm of the U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, “reported that they saw birds in the calm of the eye because the winds were too violent in the eyewall and they couldn’t escape.”
Most Jamaican humane organizations already incommunicado
“As Hurricane Melissa approaches Jamaica,” Facebook animal advocate Michelle Ramer Benoit posted, “many animals—shelter pets, street dogs and cats, and farm animals—are at serious risk of flooding, injury, abandonment and lack of care.”
Benoit appended a long list of “Jamaican animal organizations” that “will need help!”
Most, however, were already incommunicado for the duration of Hurricane Melissa, at least, expected to continue battering Jamaica for as long as ten hours.
Post-Melissa, how long before communications are restored is anyone’s guess.
“This is the worst kind of déjà vu”
“This is the worst kind of déjà vu,” posted a representative of Negril Pup Rescue, located in the town of Negril.
“After Hurricane Beryl caused over $30,000 worth of damage to the rescue last year, we put plans in place to prepare for future hurricanes, specifically a hurricane shelter retrofitted from a shipping container.
“About 30% finished, these plans got put on hold by a downturn of donations and the more immediate need for a vehicle and other necessary repairs. So here we are. In the path of a monster again.”
Added a Negril Pup Rescue representative self-identified only as Tammy, in a separate posting, “The rescue is as ready as it possibly can be for something so unpredictable and unprecedented.
(Negril Pup Rescue Facebook photo)
“We do not have the capacity or space”
“There are 90+ dogs in the care of the rescue right now,” Tammy said. “This presents a logistical problem obviously throughout the storm, but also means that we do not have the capacity or space to care for animals that have been affected by the storm after the fact.
“Even with the best case scenario, street strays and other animals will be devastatingly affected. Dominique and Les [believed to be the Canadian couple who founded Negril Pup Rescue] have brought as many dogs as possible into their home, and just as many dogs have been temporarily put into the unfinished shipping container which was meant to be a hurricane shelter, but has not yet been completed.
“They are working on air flow through the shelter right now to keep the dogs cool. It is not the ideal scenario, but it is the only thing we’ve got at the moment.
“Damaging threat to many of the kennels”
“There are several trees on the property that were meant to be cleared and were awaiting contractors to do so, that are a damaging threat to many of the kennels,” Tammy added.
“The lower kennels are in danger of flooding and mudslides.
“Dog food was delivered. Dominique and Les have food and supplies for several days. It remains to be seen what will be available or how accessible the rescue will be after the storm.
“I am in constant contact with Humane World for Animals and Wings of Rescue regarding on-the-ground support after the storm,” Tammy added. “It is looking as if we may be able to evacuate many of the dogs from the island,” but individual records on each dog had to be completed before any evacuations to the U.S. or Canada.
“The records are all handwritten and will need to be recreated for each dog,” Tammy explained. “to pass along to the rescue organizations that may be able to take in these dogs after the storm.”
Agreed volunteer Bob McRoberts, “We are racing to prepare for what looks to be the worst case scenario. [The town of] Negril looks to be a direct hit. We may be cut off from the ability to secure dog food depending on how bad the storm is, and even with a best case scenario, we are looking at significant damage to the rescue.”
Montego Bay Animal Haven
Posted Montego Bay Animal Haven, founded in 2009, “The forecast track of where exactly the eye [of Hurricane Melissa] is going keeps changing. Some show it passing right over the Haven and others show it passing to the east. Our prime minister has said there is no infrastructure that can withstand a Category 5 hurricane, and that’s what she’s currently projected to make landfall as.
“At this point,” the Montego Bay Animal Haven spokesperson acknowledged, “we have no idea what will happen or what things will look like by Wednesday. It is a very scary time right now and we just have so much anxiety sitting here waiting for impact. Right now I just hope our building stays standing and our animals and staff remain unharmed.
“For now it’s hard to say if or when we can get supplies from abroad,” the Montego Bay Animal Haven spokesperson mentioned, “so if you want to support us, please donate so we can ensure we have the funds to buy supplies locally.”
Essentially the same advice came from every other Jamaican animal rescue organization managing to get word out about the Hurricane Melissa conditions.
Jamaica SPCA already lost shelter site
The Jamaica SPCA, founded in 1903 by the Lady Sara Martha Lamb, wife of the island High Court Justice sent from England, back when Jamiaca was a British colony, appears to be out of commission, not because of Hurricane Melissa, but because it did not own the deed to the land it had long occupied.
The Lady Lamb began the Jamica SPCA as a humane education society. After the Lambs returned to England in 1909, the Jamaica SPCA became an outpatient veterinary clinic, headquartered in Kingston with two rural branches, later closed.
The Jamaica SPCA had occupied the most recent site since 1988, when a headquarters built in 1943 was destroyed by Hurricane Gilbert.
In recent decades the Jamaica SPCA has housed as many as 500 animals at a time at facilities in St. Andrews, reportedly receiving about 1,500 animals a week from Kingston and St. Andrews, raising about $93,000 a year from the public and a nonprofit veterinary clinic, augmented by government contributions of about $1,800 per year.
“Race against time”
Reported the Jamaica Gleaner on September 7, 2025, “The Jamaica SPCA is facing a race against time as it scrambles to find $200 million ($1,200 U.S.) to relocate after losing its long-time home
“Managing director Pamela Lawson confirmed the organization is under serious pressure after the property, along with an adjoining lot, was sold earlier this year by the Betting, Gaming and Lotteries Commission to the National Health Fund,” which until the sale said it had never had office space..
“We were given a timeline to move about three months ago,” Lawson admitted. “To be honest, we really should have left on January 31, 2025.”
Continued the Jamaica Gleaner, “Lawson said that while a relocation site has been identified at the Ministry of Agriculture, at the Hope Gardens Complex along Hope Road, preparing the 1.5-acre space for animal care will require substantial investment. The $200 million estimate does not include the costs of transporting equipment, medicines, and hundreds of dogs, cats, rabbits, and other animals currently in its care.”
Animal House Jamaica
Animal House Jamaica, in Ocho Rios, as of a Facebook posting on September 5, 2025, was apparently also in dire straits.
“My friend, founder and managing director Maureen Sheridan, passed almost three years ago and was seriously ill in the two years before that,” the posting said, “in part from a botched surgery. Her daughter, my friend Tasha Ninotchka, stepped up at great personal sacrifice, to keep things afloat, and she has been beaten down again and again, particularly the last eighteen months, with lies, personal attacks and maligning, financial responsibilities that should not be hers, and lots more. There have been some kind and wonderful helpers, but things are critical,” the unnamed poster said.
Offered Animal-Kind International just ahead of Hurricane Melissa, “What we know as of now about Kingston Community Animal Welfare, and the cats and dogs they care for who live on the street,” is that volunter Deborah Binns “yesterday loaded up her vehicle and headed out to feed them. With 80 tins of cat food for the cat stations, and as much dog food as her car could hold, Deborah made several trips. Some of her helpers will put food out and try to monitor the dogs. On her own, she visited and fed as many street dogs as she could. We don’t know what today will bring.”
No current updates
The Kingston Humane Society lamented on July 16, 2025 that “211 animals in a building that has room for 144 is tough at the best of times. With costs rising, it’s harder than ever before but it’s worse when people abandon an animal in front of our building.”
The Kingston Humane Society appears to have posted no further updates.
Posted Debbie Lightheart for Negril Spay Neuter Clinis on October 22, 2025, “We have a $1500 U.S. bill with Jspca Montego Bay.”
(Daniel Leventhal photo)
ANIMALS 24-7 found no Hurricane Melissa update from either organization, nor from the Seven Oaks Sanctuary for Wildlife in Runaway Bay, Kitties of Kingston founded by 35-year-old swimwear designed Brittany Johnson-Murray, nor from Only Paws Cat Rescue, also of Kingston.
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A gigantic tragedy in the making.
Sharing with gratitude and sorrow.
Hello.
God bless you for your help to homeless animals!
Thank you for bringing awareness to the cat sanctuary at the Iberostar Waves Hotel! We want the hotel to understand how important it is to rebuild it!