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The San Antonio Humane Society is partnering with Florida animal shelters to transport 73 dogs and 30 cats displaced by Hurricane Ian.

The San Antonio Humane Society is partnering with Florida animal shelters to transport 73 dogs and 30 cats displaced by Hurricane Ian.

Natasha Hernandez, San Antonio Humane Society medical director, gives instructions to staff and volunteers as a convoy of vehicles carrying dogs and cats arrive. The Humane Society is partnering with Florida animal shelters to help 73 dogs and 30 cats displaced by Hurricane Ian.

Samantha Salazar, a Humane Society volunteer, carries two of the rescued dogs.

Volunteers place the rescued dogs in kennels. The San Antonio Humane Society is partnering with Florida animal shelters to help transport 73 dogs and 30 cats displaced by Hurricane Ian.

The San Antonio Humane Society is partnering with Florida animal shelters to help 73 dogs and 30 cats displaced by Hurricane Ian.

San Antonio Human Society volunteers and staff admire some of the dogs brought in from the Florida.

A convoy of vehicles arrives at the San Antonio Humane Society with displaced shelter animals from Florida. The nonprofit is partnering with Florida animal shelters to help 73 dogs and 30 cats affected by Hurricane Ian.

The rescue team is greeted by staff members as they arrive at the San Antonio Humane Society.

SAN ANTONIO — Late Monday, a four-vehicle convoy rolled through the gates of the San Antonio Humane Society on Fredericksburg Road.

Barks and meows greeted several staff members and 15 volunteers when they opened the doors of two vans, an SUV and a box truck just before 10 p.m.

Inside were 103 cats and dogs displaced from animal shelters in Florida by Hurricane Ian.

Large canines tugged on their leashes as team members guided them to an area reserved for them. Volunteers carried smaller, wide-eyed dogs in their arms. The felines stayed in their travel carriers.

“Cats coming, cats coming!” a volunteer yelled as she rolled a cart carrying kittens into the Humane Society’s Leeu Naylor Medical Building.

It had been a long day for all involved. The dogs and cats began their journey some 700 miles away, in Escambia County in the Florida Panhandle.

Rescue teams here and in Florida had arranged for a handover of the shelter animals in Orange, near the Louisiana border. It’s roughly midway between Escambia County and San Antonio.

The Florida county’s animal welfare agency partnered with the nonprofit Best Friends Animal Society, which loaned several vehicles to transport the animals to Texas.

At 6 a.m. Monday, the San Antonio Humane Society team embarked on the drive to Orange. They arrived around 2 p.m. Two hours later, they were headed back home with 73 dogs and 30 cats onboard.

Volunteer Michelle Linsley, 50, was part of the caravan. She said she whiled away the hours listening to music on the radio.

The Humane Society’s director of operations, Aaron Grady, drove the box truck. He said the transport of the animals was uneventful thanks to a great team effort.

“It kind of went quickly,” said Grady, 34. “It flew by in a flash.”

Volunteers place the rescued dogs in kennels. The San Antonio Humane Society is partnering with Florida animal shelters to help 73 dogs and 30 cats displaced by Hurricane Ian.

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San Antonio Humane Society personnel spent the weekend and Monday preparing for the new arrivals. They washed crates, gathered blankets and prepared kennels. Many worked their day shift, went home and returned to tend to the homeless pets.

“In moments like this, it is more important than ever that we come together and help our rescue partners in need,” Nancy F. May, the society’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We are proud to be a part of this lifesaving mission, and we look forward to helping these vulnerable animals find their homes across our community.”

Humane Society spokeswoman Lucia Almanza said that once the dogs and cats have been cleared by veterinarians, they will be available for adoption. She said SAHS is accepting donations of money and supplies, including blankets, canned chicken, cat litter, cleaning supplies, paper towels, treats, dog leashes and wet canned pet food.

“We’re very grateful for the opportunity to relieve some space from their shelters,” Almanza said. “That way they have less of a burden and can help out animals in need from the hurricane.”

Chrissy Martinez, the society’s intake and transfer supervisor, said the newly arrived animals probably included some pets whose owners surrendered them because they had no choice with the devastating storm bearing down.

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“It’s hard,” Martinez, 38, said. “It always touches my heart when you get those.”

Vincent T. Davis started at the San Antonio Express-News in 1999 as a part-time City Desk Editorial Assistant working nights and weekends while attending San Antonio College and working on the staff of the campus newspaper, The Ranger. He completed a 3-month fellowship from the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute at Vanderbilt University in 2003 and earned his bachelors degree in communication design from Texas State University in 2006.