Katrina: It's a Dog-Gone Crime

Coming to the rescue in a dog-eat-dog world
Gary Mason, Globe and Mail, Sept. 12, 2005

This Online article needs a subscription, so I thought I would provide a transcript of some of the major points it makes,about animal resuce in the Aftermath of Katrina.

If the rescue of humans was completely disorganized the rescue of companion animals was even more so.

Add to that the refusal of Buses and other evacuation transportation to take companion animals on board, what's with that?

Another question is, while a lot of focus has been on dogs, what about the other companion animals, cats, birds, etc.


Ethan Gurney on a seperate boat climbs into the putrid water and heads toward the open window. He hoists himself inside while the pit bulls snarl viciously inside. "They had them locked in a room with no water, no food. It had to be 90 degrees in there." the two men bring the dogs onto the front porch where we have placed a bowl of water and some dog food, which are devoured in less than a minute. The rescuers slowly and cautiously begin petting them and eventually scratch behind their ears while whispering, "that a boy", "good doggie","yeah that tastes good, doesn't it?" Soon both the dogs, both of them bearing disfiguring scars that suggest they had been used to fight, are licking the hands and faces of their rescuerers. They are no longer aggressive but instead two scared animals profoundly thankfullfor the kindness they have been shown.

For those of you from Ontario please note that the appreciation two pit bulls used in dog fights, gave to their rescuers, sort of makes you wonder about that Anti-Pit Bull legislation Ontario passed. There are no Bad Breeds just Bad Owners (as in this animal is my property, chattel slave, etc.). Ontario Bans Pit Bulls

Ten thousands have died, not people but pets, companion animals and the death toll can only go up because the rescue operations have been bogged down by bueracracy and the negligence and incompetance at all levels of government. There was no animal rescue plan, and in the aftermath of this disaster there still is no plan! In fact the old bureacratic machinery of local, state and federal agencies are blocking rescue attempts with red tape .

Because of Katreina many have already died or will soon if not rescued. It's a number that Paul Berry, who is directing the Best Friends operation here, estimates will be in the tens of thousands. And as poorly organized as the rescue operation to save humans here was, the one to save animals has been worse. You see there wasn't a plan. "It's a disaster and a national disgrace" says Mr. Berry. "The national agencies FEMA, the Humane Society, someone should have been in control of animal welfare but it didn't happen."

Imagine this many people who evacuated their homes brought along their pets. But when the buses arrived to take the residents to shelters they were told they had to leave their animals behind---right there on the highway. Consequently , there were upward of 1,000 pets, mostly dogs, roaming the freeway there. Several were hit by cars and killed. There have also been reports of dogs being rounded up and shot by the authorities.

The emergency response NOW, two weeks late, to the plight of animals left behind has even gotten local humane soicities involved.
City animal shelter workers to join animal rescue effort
Gordon Kent The Edmonton Journal
Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Ontario women rescue Louisiana dogs

September 18, 2005

CAMBRIDGE, Ont.-- Fifteen dogs that survived hurricane Katrina are still alive thanks to two southwestern Ontario women.

Bonnie Deekon and her friend Meg Brubacher rescued the dogs from an Alexandria, La., shelter this week, north of New Orleans.

The women left for the devastated area in a van, donated by the University of Guelph, on Sept. 7 and just returned to Cambridge.

The pups don't know how close they came to death.

Shelters are so packed with animals left homeless from hurricane Katrina that several are euthanized every hour.

The dogs - seven puppies and eight adults - are now being put up for adoption.

And stupid red tape of the United States Department of Agriculture is NOT helping.

Humane Society of Louisiana president helps pet-rescue efforts from afar

Animals another component in need of hurricane relief

Dogfight brewing over Katrina's furry victims

NEW ORLEANS — If Cindy Healer has her way, 50 dogs and cats rescued from the homes and streets of this devastated city will be loaded into a moving van and driven to Texas, where they'll find refuge at the Humane Society/SPCA of Bexar County.



Animal rescue volunteer Larry Roberts, of Atlanta, carries a dog out of a yard in New Orleans. The animal was suffering from dehydration.

Many of the animals, trapped in homes, have gone two weeks without nourishment. Some, in dire need of medical care, barely cling to life.

"Half these animals were locked in homes and they're emaciated," said Healer, director of operations at the Humane Society. "They need to get out of the state."

It's not clear if authorities will permit that. A spokesman with the U.S. Department of Agriculture said authorities are becoming increasingly concerned some rescue groups are taking animals across state lines without regard for whether the animals were someone's beloved pets.

"They're picking up people's pets and assuming that, because the animals were loose, they were abandoned, but that's not (necessarily) the case," said Larry Hawkins, a USDA spokesman.

Hawkins said transporting animals out of state would complicate efforts to reunite animals with their owners.

He said his agency, working with the Humane Society of the United States and the Louisiana Society for the Protection Against Cruelty to Animals, is deciding how much time to allow evacuated residents to claim their animals from shelters before they're allowed to be put up for adoption.


To help out with the rescue of Katrina's forgotten victims contact:

www.bestfriends.org

www.noahswish.org

And if the treatment of companion animals has been outrageous well there was no plan to evacuate confined sea mammals from the Aquarium in New Orleans.

Swept from aquarium pool, dolphins found alive offshore

By Beth Daley, Globe Staff | September 14, 2005

Eight bottlenose dolphins that were washed out of their Mississippi aquarium pool during Hurricane Katrina have been found alive, huddled together in the fetid waters off Gulfport, Miss. Now, deeply worried about the dolphins' chances of survival, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials and aquarium biologists are racing to rescue the weak and wounded animals -- some of which have never before ventured into the wild.

''These animals found us, they came back after Katrina . . . they came home," said Moby Solangi, director of the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport. ''All eight are together. It's the most wonderful news."

Established in 1956, the facility suffered catastrophic damage in the storm. Along with the dolphins, 19 sea lions were swept out of their pools when a giant storm surge engulfed the Oceanarium. Five of them are missing.

On the other hand to give credit where credit is due the New Orleans Zoo had a plan, one that was even better than the one the city had for it's citizens!

New Orleans zoo animals survive Katrina's wrath

04 Sep 2005 21:40:59 GMT

Source: Reuters
By Mark BabineckNEW ORLEANS, Aug 4 (Reuters) - Thousands of people are feared dead in the rubble of storm-shattered New Orleans, but at the New Orleans zoo only three of its 1,400 animals died in the wrath of Hurricane Katrina. The famous Audubon Zoo has the good fortune of being located on some of the city's highest ground, but it also had a disaster plan for the animals that worked better than the city's plan for humans. It suffered no serious flooding, but the storm's fierce winds toppled several large trees and knocked down branches throughout the 52-acre (21-hectare) grounds. The only fatalities so far were two otters and a raccoon, zoo curator Dan Maloney said on Sunday. Fourteen staffers stayed at the zoo to care for the animals throughout the storm and the aftermath that has left New Orleans in ruins. "We stayed here because the animals can't leave," he said. "We were almost done with our ark and were training the animals to march in two-by-two, but we just didn't make it."