In October 2018, Hurricane Michael made landfall as a Category 5 and destroyed Bay County. I had 73 boarders checked in the day before the storm. I’ll be honest — I didn’t take it as seriously as I should have. I was thinking “nice, we made some good money this week.” That was the biggest mistake of my career.
Panama City had no power, no water, and no utilities for 3 to 4 months. Roads were closed by fallen trees. I got nails in my tires. And I was sitting on 73 pets I had promised to keep safe. I had to figure out food, water, shelter, medication, and sanitation for every single one of them — for weeks on end, with the phones dead.
We took care of all of them. Every. Single. Pet. But when it was safe to drive again, only 9 clients came back to get their pets. The rest couldn’t — their homes were gone, they had evacuated out of state, some were dealing with their own disasters. I couldn’t keep them forever without getting paid, and I wasn’t going to surrender them to animal control. I called a nearby rescue, they came and picked them up, and every one of those pets found a new forever home.
After that, I swore I would never be in that situation again. I invested over $120,000 in a solar power system with three battery banks, plus a private deep well with water purification — so if another storm hits, I can keep every pet in my care safe, cool, fed, and hydrated for as long as it takes. If there is ever a bad storm again, I am ready this time.
— Chase Reed, Founder · Animal Friends Pet Care
