How To Help Gulf Coast Animal Shelters

[agogoboots]

My friend Scot Chandler owns an xray company that services vet clinics and animal shelters in south MS. Due the hurricane his customer base has been wiped out. He has no idea how he will make a living for the next months. Yet he is making daily runs to these clinics from Hattisburg to Gulfport and Biloxi with supplies he is buying himself. Just a while ago he left with 75 gallons of gasoline, 80 gallons of water, two 3000 HP Briggs and Stratton generators, two new chainsaws, and as much canned pop-top food and soap that we could come up with. Yesterday he reported that there were thousands of animals left behind in shelters now with no water, no food, no air. They are running generators with fans to try and keep them cool. He said all the horses were dead. The vets and families who are caring for them also have no food or water and some have lost their homes. He said there is no water for cleaning the overcrowded pens and dogs were dehydrated lying in feces. Scot is spending thousands of dollars of his own and waiting hours in lines in Jackson to get gas. He is trying to reach two two three of his customer clinics a day. It's appx. 150 miles one way. Scot has 7 kids of his own and no electricity or working phone service at home. If you want to help and know your money will go directly for supplies for these vets and animals, you may send to:
Scot Chandler
Animal Relief
Xray Services
126 Covenant Drive
Braxton, MS 39044

He does not know I am asking. He is an amazing person wth a heart as big as Texas.

Here is a photo of Scot:
http://www2.netdoor.com/~vannoys/terri7/scotcar2.JPG

If you aren't interested in helping, please just ignore. Thanks.

[agogoboots]

As an afterthought, Scot is also a diabetic who requires frequent monitoring and daily shots so this isn't an easy thing for him to do without putting himself in a bad position.

Please at least send good thoughts for he and his partner as they make these trips.

[rossshow]

Such a mess. Thanks for posting this, Terri. So glad you're safe.

[rockinwriter]

Thanks so much for letting us know. I will send a donation.

[rossshow]

I think you can earmark contributions for New Orleans.

http://www.noahswish.org/

[rossshow]

https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005





In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, The HSUS has launched a massive relief effort to rescue animals and assist their caregivers in the disaster areas. Our highly trained Disaster Animal Response Teams are now in Louisiana and Mississippi coordinating a multi-state animal rescue and recovery effort. Our Disaster Response Unit, and other rescue vehicles affiliated with our teams, are in Mississippi.

[rossshow]

http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/9/emw280068.htm

A response team made up of South Floridians is organizing a series of animal recovery efforts to assist dogs and cats in the area affected by Hurricane Katrina. It is estimated that over 250,000 animals have been displaced by the catastrophic hurricane and many dogs and cats are in desperate need of medical care and a place to call home.


How you can help Hurricane Katrina relief efforts:

• Secure Internet Donations http://www.rescuerehabhome.org (http://www.rescuerehabhome.org/)
• Telephone donations 561-241-3977
• Donations of Polaroid film and cameras to help owners locate their missing pets, folding crates, towels and dog food can be dropped off at PetLover Central Boca Valley Plaza, 7491 North Federal Highway, Boca Raton (next to Publix north of Yamato Rd).

About Rescue Rehab Home
Rescue Rehab Home is devoted to the care of injured, neglected or discarded dogs. Our motto is “Saving one dog at a time.” Our animal rescue team provides medical care, shelter and socialization with a goal of finding forever homes for every dog.

HEY! What about CATS?????????

[rossshow]

http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&rls=SNYC%2CSNYC%3A2004-13%2CSNYC%3Aen&tab=wn&ie=UTF-8&ncl=http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/breaking_news/12546810.htm

[rossshow]

http://dallas.bizjournals.com/dallas/stories/2005/08/29/daily62.html


The SPCA's McKinney facility had opened Pet Haven to offer temporary pet housing for evacuees' pets. By the end of its first day Thursday, 150 animals had been placed, almost three times the number the facility was expecting. Bias now expects the cost to house the pets -- and others to follow -- to skyrocket to between $30,000 to $50,000, up from $5,000.

Jennifer Pflugfelder, spokeswoman for Phoenix-based PetSmart, said its stores are taking collections to help care for animals. In addition, donations can be made online at petsmartcharities.org (http://petsmartcharities.org/).

San Diego-based PetCo has 22 stores in the North Texas area. In addition to its national donation drive in stores and on its Web site at www.petco.com (http://www.petco.com/), the chain has authorized food and supplies to be dispersed through Dallas-Fort Worth area stores directly to shelters working with animals affected by Katrina.

PetCo has already dropped off four pallets of food to feed animals of refugees that are being housed in Reunion Arena.

"It's just the tip of the iceberg," said Karen Myron, district manager with PetCo. She expects thousands of adoptable animals to reach North Texas in the next weeks.

[rossshow]

"Louisiana SPCA"

http://www.la-spca.org/forms/donations.htm

[rossshow]

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/news/breaking_news/12546810.htm



At the Humane Society of the United States call center, frantic calls are coming in from New Orleans pet owners: Their animal is stuck in an apartment. Can the Humane Society go in and get them out?

In Slidell, La., animal rescue workers are trying to find and care for animals left behind after their owners evacuated the hard-hit area.

New Orleans and Louisiana evacuees are arriving in Houston and Baton Rouche, La., with pets and need a place to put them.

Yes, tens of thousands of people are hungry and thirsty, stressed and dying and they desparately need help. But so do the flood-ravaged region's dogs and cats, zoo animals, wildlife, exotic pets, horses, chickens and pigs, says Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States in Washington.

The government and other nonprofits handle the people, said Pacelle, but they do not handle animals. That is left to the Humane Society and other similar organizations.

"We are getting a frantic resonse. My animal is at 1700 Charles Street on the third floor. Will you get get her? We absolutely want to. But we need access to some of these areas and we don't have access to the city of New Orleans," he said.

Normally, the answer would be "yes."

But at the moment, the Humane Society is not allowed into New Orleans, said Pacelle. He's asked, but the society, which has a disaster arm, can't get in.

Like the Humane Society, other animal-care and rights groups are responding, but the scope of the disaster is huge.

The main Humane Society in New Orleans did move its animals out in advance, said Pacelle, but other individuals, other animal shelters, farms, roadside zoos across the Gulf Coast did not.

Sunday morning, before the hurricane hit, the Louisiana SPCA moved more than 260 animals to the Houston SPCA, according to the Houston SPCA Web site. The Houston SPCA is now accepting animals from those who are staying in Houston area shelters. The Humane Society is helping with that.

To handle this influx, the Houston SPCA is asking for donations to cover the cost of caring for the extra animals, as well as for items, such as newspapers, rolls of paper towels, travel crates for animals, bowls, gallon bottles of water, first-aid kits and cat litter.

The Humane Society has set up rescue teams in Mississippi, Baton Rouge, and Houston, he said. "We have teams ready to go and have others from all parts of the country ready," he said. The society already has 60 people in the Gulf States and expects to send far more. It has trained hundreds of staff and volunteers in disaster relief and animal rescue, Pacella said.

To aid this effort, the society has already raised more than $1 million and hopes to raise $10 million. It is setting up a bigger call center to handle both donations and the pleas for help.

A group called Noah's Wish, a nonprofit based in Placerville, Calif., has about 400 people in Slidell, La.

Patricia Jones, spokeswoman for the group, says that the group's founder and director, Terri Crisp, is working with local animal control officials in Slidell, which was walloped by Katrina. They've set up a temporary shelter in a warehouse, "to be able to house hundreds of animals, cats and dogs." Behind the warehouse, they are putting up tents and chain-link dog runs, where they can house larger dogs,

"Right now, there's a huge problem in Slidell because of a lot of stray animals running around. Law enforcement is cutting dogs loose that were tied up in kennels. About 200 have been rounded up," she said.

The volunteers are going out in rescue teams to pull animals out of houses. Twenty-five veterinarians are coming in to volunteer their services. The ultimate goal is to reunite the pets with their owners.

Crisp and her volunteers got down to Slidell on Tuesday. They are taking time off from their jobs and paying their own airfare.

"Right now in Slidell, the amount of work to be done is just overwhelming. The e-mails that are coming in [from pet owners] are just heartbreaking. They're mostly from people who've been evacuated... and are desperately trying to find any information. They're desperate, frantic," said Jones.

In Mississippi, Pacelle is concerned with pets and also farm animals. The state, he said, processed 753 million chickens last year. It was the fourth-biggest poultry producer in the country. That doesn't speak to the hogs, cattle, laying hend, horses and other farm aniamsl. The state has many factory farms that hurricanes or side tornados hut when they blew apart buildings, he said.

"We are trying to identify areas for sanctuaries," he said. "And identify what the most urgent needs are... We are not talking about 300 pets. We are taking about tens of thousands of animals."

Not only is rescue an issue, rebuilding is as well. Many shelters, like the one in Gulfport, Miss., were destroyed. Money is needed to rebuild them and the $10 million he hopes to raise won't cover that.

"Every day I worry about what is not happening. We are not moving fast enough to save the animals in distress at this very momeht. They are hungry and stressed and dehydrated and hot and need relief," he said.

Noah's Wish and the Humane Society have worked in other hurricanes and disasters. The Humane Society, for example, also deployed staff to the tsunami-hit areas.

Pacelle says the Society has been working for a decade with FEMA and other agencies on disaster plans for animals. It has made proess, said Pacella, but not enough.

"We do coordinate with FEMA and with other federal agencies. We are recognized in this domain. Their responsiblity is people. They have not had a history of helping animals during a disaster. Not that they are not concerned, but it is not a priority of federal agencies."

[agogoboots]

Thank you.

We are fine Ross. Still no electricity here. I do have phone and gas stovetop and water. Am running a generator and keeping the freezer going. Jim left me with his truck full of 30 gallons of gas for the generator before he went to the coast to work. I saw on the news that people including travelers waited over 30 hours at the Texaco 6 miles away to get gas today. I did not leave the house today. Have been cleaning up the yard what I can do without a big chainsaw, and washing laundry on the generator and hanging it out to dry. I rotate the tv, the washer, the lamp, the laptop battery, etc. alongside the freezer. The news says Jackson is instating a 10PM curfew because of so many from the coast and NO wandering the streets. Last night there were gangs of teens wandering in gated yard of a neighbor but letting her dogs go got rid of them. Gas is being rationed to $20 (6 gallons?) for vehicles, no cans allowed. Some power is coming back on mostly at gas stations. They have to post police at stations to control it and lines have been as long as 5 miles both ways at some stations. Only stores other than few gas stations open near me are tiny independant country stores and the drug store is working by candlelight. I am comfortable. Just waiting. Hot, bored, restless, grateful for my circumstances. Kids want to go to school.

I think all of you can expect the consequences in time. NO was headquarters for several banks and many other national businesses. Most of America's pineapple and bananas come in to the MS coast. Fuel, refineries, rigs, the only place in America to unload a supertanker. Cruise ship business, etc. etc. I think even after the rescues, even when the lights come back on, this is going to have a tremendous impact on the entire economy for a very long time.

I have no idea where all these people will end up, what they will do to replace their jobs, where they will live. As much as I would like to start helping some of them find permenant homes as soon as they are ready, insurance settlements will be a long time coming. One can not exactly get a mortgage when they still have a mortgage on rubble and no job. 6 months (?) 8 months (?) is a long time to sit around waiting "to go home" ...or back to work.

I think everybody is going to hurt from this even if it seems very far away and unbelievable right now.

Are you all anywhere else seeing disruptions in fuel supply? Or is it just here? Scot said he saw literally thousands of cars abandoned on the interstate between here and the coast, out of fuel, no where to get it. Even here 6 gallons won't get you far in a Ford F-250 and you will wait hours to get it. I've got a full tank thankgoodness and I am only using it for the very basics.

[Eriu]

quote from Terri

I have no idea where all these people will end up, what they will do to replace their jobs, where they will live.


Well, on the local news tonight, Cincinnati is opening up a school for anywhere between 50-500 people. It was just closed this year when a new one opened up. The Red Cross has been busy putting in cots, etc.. The first busload was suppose to arrive by 5:00 pm.

But, that's only a drop in the bucket for where people need shelter.

[agogoboots]

That is great Eriu. But I was thinking more long term. People can not live jobless in shelters for months on end though. Shelters can not possibly manage to keep taking care of them for months and months. They need homes and jobs. Most of the poor will never make it back "home".

(I see Maryland power trucks going by out my wondow again.)

Low Battery

[Eriu]

Thry are going to try and find them work here also until they get back on thier feet. Also, the kids will be enrolled into school.

[agogoboots]

That is wonderful. Thank you Ohio. You need a little of the South there too. :)

[Eriu]

Well, I'm in KY, so they may send them here to work, but for school they will have to stay in CIncinnati

[babyhippie]

This story about broke my heart.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050903/ap_on_re_us/katrina_pets

Petfinder has a page of links & updates.

http://www.petfinder.com/disaster/

[rossshow]

http://www.aspca.org/

[rossshow]

http://www.aspca.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=22565&security=2620&news_iv_ctrl=1400



(New York, NY) September 3, 2005 -- The ASPCA® (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals®) announced today that it has set up two databases to help in the aid and recovery of animals affected by Hurricane Katrina.

To help aid the people affected by Hurricane Katrina, the ASPCA has set up two databases, the first to help families find their lost pets. In order to register your pet, please send your contact information and a description of the pet including name and breed to disaster@aspca.org or register via telephone at (212)876-7700, ext 4700. Pictures of lost pets are unable to be accepted at this time.

The second database is for people who would like to volunteer with the animal relief efforts. Please register via email at disaster@aspca.org or via telephone at (212) 876-7700, ext 4700. Leave your contact information and special skills you possess to help with animal relief.

Over the past week, the ASPCA has received nearly $800,000 in donations for help to aid the animals affected by Hurricane Katrina with its board of directors allocating an additional $250,000. All monies raised will go directly to the relief efforts.

The ASPCA estimates it will take millions to effectively re-build the local shelters and provide the necessary animal assistance to the local companion animals including basic necessities.

To donate to the ASPCA Disaster Relief Fund, please go to www.aspca.org or call 866-275-3923 or mail your contribution to us at ASPCA Disaster Relief Fund 424 East 92nd New York 10128.

"As the process of providing aid and rebuilding the communities affected by Hurricane Katrina begins, we are overwhelmed by the generosity of support and funds we have received to assist the shelters and displaced animals in these areas," said Ed Sayres, president and CEO of the ASPCA.

The ASPCA distributes funds from its Disaster Relief Fund to shelters and organizations across the country that are impacted by natural disasters. Its efforts help organizations through the recovery process by providing direct support to help rebuild facilities and relocate animals.

[rossshow]

Bump.

[agogoboots]

In today's state paper:

Week tragic for dogs, cats left at coast shelters

By Brian Skoloff
The Associated Press

WAVELAND — Katrina has been doubly cruel to family pets on the Gulf Coast — many were either left to fend for themselves in the powerful winds or trapped in flooding cages as owners fled. Others survived, only to die after days without food and water.

Even days later, strays were hunted down and killed.

It's been a tragic week for man's best friend.

At the Waveland Animal Shelter, there is the smell of death. Four dogs rot in the muck, one stuffed inside a refrigerator-sized cooler, baking in the sweltering heat. Another lies stiff in the mud on the front stoop swarmed by flies.

Two of the animals appeared to have died in their pens. Three more stand atop the double-stacked 8-foot-high cages, barking and running in circles. A Weimaraner paces back and forth in the office.

The storm surge pushed ashore by Katrina left them trapped inside the 30-foot-by-20-foot cinderblock building in about six feet of water, waste and debris.

The shelter manager fled before the storm, said a town firefighter who refused to give his name because he didn't want to make it seem as if the woman purposely left the dogs to die. She just had nowhere to take them.

Similar gruesome scenes occurred up and down the Gulf Coast in Mississippi and Louisiana as shelter managers either didn't expect the water to rise so high or simply had no way to get the animals out.

"I went in there after it was all over and probably about 80 percent of them survived," the firefighter said of the Waveland shelter. "They had swam up to the water line inside their cages. Somebody turned a bunch of them loose."

Tony Governale, 50, who lives a couple of houses down from the shelter just a mile from the coast said residents were shooting stray dogs on sight, fearing disease.

"We saw a lot of them the first couple of days," Governale said Saturday. "But we're not hearing gunshots nomore."

In Gulfport, about 20 miles east, 17 dogs and six cats died at the Humane Society of South Mississippi shelter. About 125 survived, many of them dog-paddling for hours until the mix of mud and sewage receded.

The national Humane Society chapter came in Friday and retrieved the survivors, trucking them to shelters further north, said Julie Parks, the assistant director of the Gulfport facility.

"We asked for help before but they didn't have the resources," Parks said Saturday.

"We had dogs that swam the entire time in four feet of water and survived," said Parks, who weathered the storm at home further inland. "Even cats were in about 8 to 9 inches of water in the upper cages and they swam and survived, too. Just like everybody else, they're survivors."

She said the national Humane Society's disaster relief team would soon be coming to the Gulf Coast to set up makeshift shelters for the streams of pets that residents continue to find in the wake of the devastation.

"They have portable kennels and everything. They're like a MASH unit."

Parks' shelter can't currently take in any dogs or cats. The place has to be sanitized and the roof repaired. All the food was ruined and the water contaminated. She's waiting for help with disposing of the carcasses that rot in a Dumpster.

Mark and Dawn Wilkinson were turned away Saturday with a yellow Labrador retriever they found wandering the streets.

"He's really well-mannered. He was so thirsty when we found him," Dawn said, sitting in the back of a pickup truck with the pooch as her husband drove out of the shelter lot.

Park said the likely hundreds of pets up and down the coast that became separated from their owners — and survived — face tough times ahead and will have to fend for themselves until Humane Society workers arrive, as police and rescue crews focus on human victims.

In New Orleans, many of the people expressed opposition to being evacuated to another state for an unknown length of time, often because they have pets they refused to leave behind.

"You've got to protect your property, that's the main thing. This is all I've got," said John Ebanks, 69, sitting on his porch with his mixed-breed dog watching rescue boats go up and down his street. "I'm pretty damn old to start over."

[rossshow]

In this other thread:

http://www.therossshow.com/showpost.php?p=65569&postcount=38

Here's a good link for animal rescue:

http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/

The organization linked below has sent a team down there, and has so far rescued over 800 animals (as of last night). They are looking for foster families and donations of money and supplies. I believe they have set up operations in Houston right now. This is a no-kill rescue operation, so all healthy animals will either be adopted or reunited with their owners. Their main website has gone down due to the volume of hits, but they have opened this mirror site:

http://www.noahswish.org/Hurricane%20Katrina.htm

Some of the animals have already been moved to shelters in my state and other states.