Shelter animals brave Oklahoma earthquake at its epicenter

EDMOND, OK (KTRK) -- Dogs and cats at an Oklahoma animal shelter received the surprise of their lives when the earth beneath them started shaking yesterday.

The Edmond Animal Welfare shelter was at the epicenter of a 4.3-magnitude earthquake and the animals were clearly shaken by the seismic event, a shelter official said.

Kenny Stevenson, of Edmond Animal Welfare, told local station KFOR, if the animals could talk, "they would have stories to tell."

Stevenson arrived minutes after the quake to find dogs and cats in distress.

Stevenson said, "You can tell just by some of the stuff on the walls, they were freaked out. Because the dog is normally clean in its kennel. It wasn't this morning. And I think it was definitely a direct result of the 4.3 that it had 'shake rattle and roll' for the dogs this morning and it woke them up."

The earthquake rattled the building around 5:40am, sending tile and light fixtures crashing down on top of cages and cracking cinder block walls.

Though the animals were spooked, none of them were hurt in the quake. The shelter is now clean and authorities say they are running as usual, but are making repairs as needed.