CAMPBELL COUNTY — A local animal shelter needs help clearing about 170 animals after its air conditioning system broke on Wednesday afternoon.
Patricia Siwinski, director of the Adrion W. Baird Animal Center in Campbell County, worries about the health of her animals as they face another hot day in the shelter.
"We're pretty desperate to get them out at this point," she said. "It's like a big petri dish and it's just getting heated up."
The Humane Society of the Tennessee Valley took in about 30 at-risk pets after learning the news of the failed air system. That leaves nearly 170 still in the shelter needing help.
"We've set up an email address, Emergencyfoster@humanesocietytennessee.org, and we want people if they can just email us and let us know what they can take," said Gwen Schablik with the humane society. "A dog, a cat, a litter of kittens...anything will help."
Some animals in the shelter are stacked in the lobby where the air works. Others are in rooms only cooled by portable fans which hardly serve to keep the rooms at a safe temperature.
"It was about 91 in this room and I think tomorrow is going to get considerably hotter," said Siwinski.
Sister shelters are expected to reach out Thursday morning, but Siwinski says as far as capacity goes, summer is hard for all shelters.
"This time of year we have record intakes as do other shelters...so everybody's full," she said.