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Time\'s Fleeting for Storm-Displaced Pets\' Free Care

Two puppies whose owner was displaced from the Rockaways by Hurricane Sandy played at a temporary shelter set up by the A.S.P.C.A. in Brooklyn in November.Victor J. Blue for The New York Times Two puppies whose owner was displaced from the Rockaways by Hurricane Sandy played at a temporary shelter set up by the A.S.P.C.A. in Brooklyn in November.

In the comfort of a warm Brooklyn warehouse, they have had free meals, walks, shots, flea removal, behavior therapy and even laser-light shows. But now the party's over for 140 pets still left at the temporary shelter set up by the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for owners uprooted by Hurricane Sandy.

Officials with the organization are preparing to close down the facility and are asking pet owners to come claim their animals. Since the boarding center opened on Nov. 17 in a 20,000-square-foot warehouse in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, it has provided for nearly 280 pets. The promise was for one month's care, but officials extended that by 30 days due to what they said was overwhelming need.

“We're working with some owners who just want their pets back but still don't have a place to go with them,” Tim Rickey, the senior director of the society's field investigations and response unit, said on Thursday. “And there are a small percentage of pets that we still don't know where they came from.”

He added: “We went through a lot of reunification efforts in the last month and a half. Some folks have claimed animals; others, we don't know if their owners have left the area or didn't want to keep the pets.”

Mr. Rickey said he expected 30 families to claim their cats and dogs this weekend. The shelter will not sponsor an “adoption event,” as it did after the tornadoes in Joplin, Mo., because there are not enough pets remaining. Instead, the organization's officials, Mr. Rickey said, will work with local shelters and animal rescue partners to find foster homes or permanent homes.

“Every one of these operations is different,” he said. “The impact on people is different. The real challenge is the length of time it has taken people to get back into houses. We haven't seen the same struggles in other communities in other disasters I've worked.”