A Pembroke animal shelter that has been without power for a week is struggling to keep its dogs from overheating, a worker said yesterday.

Kate Terceira, the executive director of the SPCA animal shelter, said that it lost electricity last Wednesday as a result of Hurricane Humberto.

She added that the lack of lights and air conditioning was causing the dogs to become restless and overheated.

Ms Terceira said: “They get very upset and stressed, so we need to keep them cool and relaxed because the hotter they are, the more agitated they are.

“We can’t really exercise them because they can’t breathe well, but they’re getting restless because they can’t move around and that makes them more agitated.

“It’s just a very, very stressful situation.”

Ms Terceira said that the loss of electricity has cost the shelter their running water, which made it difficult to keep the kennels clean.

Many of the 40 animals were moved to other facilities across the island.

Ms Terceira said: “It’s been incredibly difficult. The staff have been working very hard to take care of the animals left.

Ms Terceira said that the SPCA would invest in a generator to avoid a repeat in the future.

She added: “We understand that Belco is working incredibly hard to help bring back power and, of course, they’re overworked, so we really appreciate it.”

A Belco spokesman said that many power lines across the island were hit by uprooted and overgrown vegetation, which made power restoration efforts much more slower than anticipated.

He added that pole fires caused by a mixture of salt deposited in the poles by Humberto and light rains had slowed down restoration efforts even further.

He also said: “Belco crews will continue to work between 8am and midnight across the island to restore power.