Many Tears Animal Rescue in Carmarthenshire is slowly recovering after the “most terrible night ever” when Storm Arwen’s nearly 100mph winds ripped through the buildings.
The rescue centre had lost all power and with freezing conditions, 10-day old puppy Florence, could not keep warm and sadly died.
An update has since been issued as the centre posting on Facebook said: “After every storm, if you look hard enough, a rainbow appears:”
Read more: Public raises £65,000 overnight for animal rescue centre badly hit by Storm Arwen
The night after the devastation, the public raised £65,000 for repairs as well as continued care of the animals and yesterday, a pregnant German Shepherd gave birth to 10 healthy puppies.
It was a post-disaster miracle the rescue centre needed and a video shared online shows staff and volunteers rubbing the puppies straight after being born with smiles on their faces.
As the birth had been via a c-section, it was up to the staff and volunteers to rub the puppies to get their first cry which makes sure it has been a healthy birth, like with humans.
Owner Sylvia Van Atta spent last night with the litter as mum, Frisby, had yet to wake from her c-section and the puppies needed feeding every couple of hours.
They also shared the news that make-shift restorations had been put in place by volunteer builders who straightened the roof panels and patched the gaps as a temporary quick fix, and others screwed them in.
They will, however, need to be completely ripped off and rebuilt from scratch.
The rescue centre also updated the Facebook page with news of the rest of the family who had lost the 10-week-old puppy.
A post said: “We are still devastated at the loss of Florence the puppy, but Libby the mum and her remaining puppies are doing well and are all warm, cosy and settled again.
“The response has been absolutely amazing with everyone rallying together to help however they can and the local community has really been wonderful too.
“Sylvia would like to thank everyone so much for all that they have done and for the staggering amount of donations raised.
“This will enable us to help so many more dogs as well as facilitate the repairs and fix other areas of the rescue too. Thank you.”
To prevent the same situation happening again, Many Tears is investing in a small generator to protect against a loss of power.
It will also invest in four warmer kennels on the sites of older, damaged sites.
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