No animals were hurt, but a fire left a Southside Indianapolis animal shelter devastated

The cause of a fire at Rosie’s Southside Animal Shelter remains under investigation.

The blaze broke out early Monday in a two-story barn that housed all donations.

Shelter manager Bryce Brady said a truck driver who works near the shelter alerted authorities to the fire.

“The barn was a complete loss. But due to the 911 call from this Good Samaritan, and the proficient and amazing response from the fire department. The barn was the only loss,” Brady said. “We were very close to losing our administration building and our cat intake building, which houses roughly 40 cats at this time. So, it could have been horrific.”

Brady said it appears no animals were hurt in the fire.

“We have a small feral colony that lives on the property and the barn is their home. As of this moment, we're almost 100 percent accounted for with our feral cats that live on the property.”

Brady said the shelter has received tremendous support from the community.

“We're a nonprofit, you know, so we operate on a shoestring budget. So, the kind of help that we're getting from the community right now is going to be the only reason we can stay open and help these at-risk animals,” Brady said.

To date, $30,000 has been raised through a GoFundMe page.

Donations can be also made on the shelter’s website, on the Facebook page.

Contact WFYI Morning Edition newscaster and reporter Taylor Bennett at tbennett@wfyi.org. Follow on Twitter: @TaylorB2213.