It's a race against the clock to save dozens of animals from defunct Daytona Beach nursing home

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - The clock is ticking for Shoshannah Tempest. She's been working to get at least 70 cats, 11 birds, a tortoise, several horses, and even a chinchilla off her property before July 19. "We lost the property entirely," she said, "it wasn't something we expected."

Tempest used to run Compassion in Healthcare in Daytona Beach, a pet-friendly assisted living facility. After the pandemic, the business suffered. They couldn’t sell the building, so it went into foreclosure. 

Now, it’s under new ownership and the buyer wants everyone and everything out. 

"We got foreclosed and they got a writ of possession, and they're coming Wednesday to lock us out, but I've got all these animals to consider," Tempest said.

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The birds, along with the other animals there, originally belonged to the nursing home residents. When they all moved out, the animals stayed. On Sunday they managed to solve some of the problems.

"We had a plan to come up and help her with the birds, and the tortoise and the horses," said Susan Oddo, from Palm Beach Parrot & Bird Rescue. She said they were taking the birds, and found homes for other animals. "So the tortoise will be leaving tomorrow with a friend who runs Florida's Wildest Animal Rescue," she said, "and the horses will be going to a private home on 20 acres about three hours north."

They're still hoping to find homes for all the cats. Shoshannah lived on the site and also needed to find somewhere new to live. She said the industry had been hit hard. "Group homes in our area almost got extinguished with the pandemic. The group homes, they're just gone."

If you’d like to help out, you can contact Poodle & Pooch Rescue of Florida here.