New Brunswick ex-pat hunkers down with 300 animals as Irma approaches

A veterinarian and Woodstock native is bracing for the impact of Hurricane Irma while also taking care of animals at the veterinary hospital where he works.

Christopher McLaughlin is an emergency and critical care veterinarian at the Coral Springs Animal Hospital in Coral Springs, Fla.

He expects the hospital will be sheltering more than 300 animals during the storm.

It's already been an emotional few days at the hospital.

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"Some people say goodbye to their pets and then [fly] up north somewhere," McLaughlin said.

It's been a trying couple of days for McLaughlin as well, since he just bought a home with his partner a week ago.

"[We] haven't even made the first mortgage payment and didn't have any hurricane protection," McLaughlin said.

"So we have been scrambling to find spare pieces of plywood, concrete screws. My partner and I waited in line from 4 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursday at Home Depot to be given six pieces of plywood."

McLaughlin will wait out the storm at the hospital, taking care of sick animals. Family members of employees will help care for the animals taking refuge from the storm.

The wait

McLaughlin isn't worried about where he will be but about what will happen when he leaves the hospital.

"While I feel safe in the building that we'll be in ... I don't know what I'm going to see when I come out, and that's the hardest part," he said.

McLaughlin said people in the area are resigned to the hurricane's approach, and the only question now is how bad the damage will be.

He's only lived in Florida for a year and has taken his cues from longtime residents when it comes to the storm.

"People who've lived here all their lives, they don't panic about hurricanes," McLaughlin said.

"So once I started seeing people who'd been here for years start to get worried, then I knew it was time to be worried."

Change in attitude

When McLaughlin lived north, he said, he wondered why anyone wouldn't leave an area when faced with the power of a hurricane. He doesn't now.

"The concept of getting on the road, hoping that you can make it, hoping that you can get gas and hoping that you find some place to stay … ultimately it's exceptionally difficult to evacuate," said McLaughlin.

"I feel in the past maybe I was a bit harsh when I was thinking about people who didn't evacuate, and now I know how challenging that actually is."