GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) – The Greenville Humane Society on Monday announced that their facility would be closed to the public for two weeks, beginning Tuesday.

The facility will reopen on March 31.

Kim Pitman, CEO of the Greenville Humane Society, offered this statement in a news release:

“It is the mission of the GHS to preserve the lives and enhance the well-being of animals. As a destination for animal lovers, we see a high volume of public visitors each day. Because our team of staff and volunteers are family, we need to protect them from potential exposure to the Coronavirus. Therefore, following the recommendations from Gov. McMaster, the CDC and DHEC, effective March 17 – March 31 we will be closing GHS to the public. Our team will ensure the animals in our facility will continue to receive the same level of excellent care every day. We are fortunate that the GHS Board Executive Committee pro-actively approved covering all of our staffs’ pay for up to 30 days.”

In the meantime, GHS will be fostering out both healthy and sick animals, by appointment only, between 10 a.m. and 3p.m., beginning Wednesday. Potential foster homes should contact Rachel Delport at <a href=”mailto:racheld@greenvillehumane.com”>racheld@greenvillehumane.com</a> and should contact Haley Mazanec at <a href=”mailto:haleym@greenvillehumane.com”>haleym@greenvillehumane.com</a> if interested in fostering a sick animal.

Additionally, the shelter’s biggest fundraising event, the Mutt Strut, originally slated for April 25 will be postponed until the fall.

The Pickens County Humane Society also announced that they will stop accepting animals on March 17 until further notice. Currently, the facility in Easley is still open for adoptions.