Posted: May 13, 2010, 3 a.m. EST
Singer Ke$ha has donated 1,000 pounds of pet food to the Nashville Metro Animal Shelter after witnessing the flooding that devastated the region this month.
“Places I used to hang out, parks I would go to, schools I’ve been to, they were all underwater,” Ke$ha told People magazine after flying over the area on her way home for a two-day break from touring to promote her album “Animal.” “All you could see was a roof in the middle of a lake.”
Ke$ha’s mom, Pebe Sebert, picked up the pop star from the airport and mentioned seeing a news report about animal shelters being overwhelmed by abandoned pets.
“The pets were left alone [in flooded homes],” says Ke$ha, who owns five rescue dogs. “A lot of them unfortunately died, but a lot of them were left stranded without food.”
Ke$ha and her mom went straight to the store to buy pet food to donate to the shelter.
“I was wheeling massive amounts of dog and cat food and I was with my mom and we both got a little emotional,” she says. “Sometimes animals get left behind when people are going through tragedy.”
The longtime Nashville resident says she’ll appear in an upcoming benefit concert to raise money for the beleaguered city.
“It’s one of the best cities in the world,” she says. “It has such a history with music, and it’s made me who I am. It’s going through such a huge tragedy right now and I just want to be here to help rebuild.”