Posted on 09/12/2005 3:45:16 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
NEW ORLEANS - From their small boat floating through the streets of the 7th Ward, John Maretti and Kim Elmslie hear a dog's cry.
The sound is coming from inside a house.
Maretti, a Chico, Calif., firefighter, climbs inside through a back window and pushes a small brown dog through the back door's metal railings and into Elmslie's waiting hands.
But he's got an 80-pound problem. A listless black retriever mix lies inside, too weak to move or even bark.
The pair tries to use a crowbar and a 2-by-4 to force open the metal security door. When both fail, they summon other rescuers and form a human chain to lift the hulking dog through a window and over the putrid floodwaters into the boat.
Finally, they succeed.
One saved. Perhaps tens of thousands more to go.
Maretti and Elmslie, an emergency relief worker from the Ottawa branch of the International Fund for Animal Welfare, or IFAW, are part of a growing team of animal rescuers who fan out across New Orleans every day to save animals.
As part of a special water operations team, they seek out flooded areas where animals, mostly dogs and cats, struggle to stay alive.
Sometimes the rescuers find pets marooned with owners, who refuse to leave until they know their animals have been taken to safety. Take Connie Schrader and Jim Parson. They stayed put until late last week, when the rescuers picked up Rooty, a 300-pound, house-trained, pot-bellied pig.
The water rescuers move swiftly and listen for barks, meows and almost inaudible whimpers. Many rescuers are old hands, having responded to disasters all over the world, including the tsunami in Thailand, floods in India and oil spills in Spain and South Africa.
But this rescue is different.
"This is one of the worst disasters I've ever seen, primarily because of the huge devastation," said Anand Ramanathan, a veterinarian who heads IFAW's disaster relief programs.
Warren Craig runs the operation. He works with Code 3 Associates, a disaster response team from Denver that rescues distressed wildlife in the United States and Canada. Craig directs a 27-member team of rescuers, created from animal response groups around the country, from the grassy median near the A.P. Tureaud Civil Rights Memorial Park.
He knows before he sends them out that the task before them is daunting. Some of the animals are so sick they face death even if they make it to the shelter. Others will perk up with dog treats, glucose or water, he said.
"We take every one we can get," he said. "If we think that there's any chance at all that this animal is going to make it, we take it."
Craig will sit for hours on the median and wait for teams to bring back their catches. He sends the rescuers out with a warning about the murky water.
"If you slip and fall, I'll have to kill you where you fall," he said smiling. "You kids have fun. Check in with dad every so often."
Once the animals are rescued, they begin the long process back to domestic life. The lucky ones will reunite with their owners or find new homes through adoption.
When Craig's crew catches abandoned animals, they take them to a temporary veterinary center, where they are bathed, fed and examined by veterinarians.
Once cleared, the animals travel to a massive, makeshift shelter, the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, a town 45 minutes north of New Orleans.
Usually reserved for horses, the Expo Center's stalls teem with pets. There are more than 2,000 dogs and cats alone. Other animals include horses and the French Quarter mules. Rooty, the pink, pot-bellied pig, shares a stall with a goat. There are also iguanas, parrots, parakeets, rabbits, rat snakes and an albino boa constrictor.
At capacity, the facility holds 1,300 animals. Saturday night, it had well over 2,000 animals with more waiting outside the gate.
Laura Maloney, executive director for the Louisiana Society of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said the group takes in 500 animals a day. At this pace, she expects to have shuffled at least 9,000 animals through the shelter by the end of this week.
"We're racing against the clock," she said. "This is the biggest disaster we've ever seen in our history for animals."
More examinations occur at the Expo Center. Animals are treated for injuries and put in stalls. Volunteers create an identification file, which contains each pet's care instructions and, if possible, the address at which they were rescued.
Soon, Maloney said, volunteers will post photos of each animal on a Web site, www.petfinder.com with the hope of reuniting pets and owners. So far, about 100 animals have been reunited.
But the center is overcrowded. Maloney planned to ship 650 dogs and cats to Marin County, Calif., on Sunday to clear space for other pets. She is frustrated by the confines of the temporary shelter. Shelters in Kentucky and San Diego have offered to take pets, too.
Tampa Bay has already become home to dozens of animals rescued from the Gulf Coast region. On Saturday, pets relinquished by owners around Gulfport, Miss., began to arrive at a shelter in Largo run by the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Pinellas County.
So far, about 10 cats and 15 dogs have been placed there, but more are expected in the coming days, said Beth Lockwood, the county SPCA's executive director. Several of the animals are fighting health issues, including diarrhea, but once those are addressed, they will be available for adoption locally.
"As they need us, we'll respond," Lockwood said. "The people in our community are already stepping up to the plate to adopt these animals and give us space for more." In Louisiana, Maloney plans to reopen the gates and allow more distressed pets to enter once some of the animals clear out.
Until, then she tries to tamp down frustration.
What happens at the Expo Center makes a big difference to the water rescue team. When they break for lunch Saturday, they unload pet containers at a shattered Liberty Bank drive-through area.
Every container is full.
The volunteers delight in the morning's victories: the scrawny black kitten that was about to let go of a wooden railing and drown until Montana rescuer Kim Little snatched her out of the water. Cinnamon, the brown, black and white pit bullterrier was Daryl Palmer's favorite rescue of the day. The dog reminded Palmer, a Houston engineer, of his own dogs, Cinabon and Bon Bon.
The rescuers compare dog bites; rub their lesions with Betadine and scrub their hands incessantly with bottles of Purell hand sanitizer.
They also talk about the ones they left behind.
"We were full; we couldn't bring them back," said Sam Hall, a Largo developer who joined the effort late last week. "A lot of them aren't going to make it through the night." The crews vowed to return, but bad news doused their plans.
The temporary veterinary triage center in Jefferson Parish was not accepting animals. Dozens of animals sent there earlier in the day were turned away.
There were no more empty crates for the animals left behind.
Craig, the operation leader, worries that the dogs already in the crates will overheat. He orders the crews to pack up and head to Gonzales.
"I want to get these dogs there alive," he said. "I'm not wasting everybody's good work."
But when they reached the Expo Center, there was more disappointment. Officials there turned them away, too. It was already overcrowded.
The team eventually found refuge for the animals at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. Every animal, even the injured, made it there alive.
But the day had taken its toll on the water rescuers.
"I'm disappointed," said Shirley Minshew, and IFAW disaster on-site coordinator from Macon, Ga. "The animals haven't done anything wrong, and it's not fair for them to pay the price. We're risking our lives being in that nasty water to save these animals because we believe in what we're doing."
With the shelter closed to incoming animals, the rescuers spent Sunday loading up animals for shipment to Houston.
Special place in heaven for these folks.
Indeed there is.
After you have sent your donation to your favorite human charity, please consider sendinga sem to Best Friends, the Humane Society, petfinder.com, or your favorite animal rescue group. NOT PETA. As far as any of the stories I've read about the people engaged in pet rescue are concerned, PETA seems to be absent from all of the efforts.
I've also seen http://www.noahswish.org is helping out.
Bump for later
Thibodaux church sheltering pets
Animals Face Urgent Threat After Katrina Strike, IFAW Responds
They wouldn’t leave without their pets
Absolutely -- Noah's Wish is another good one.
Here's a link to a press release from Purina that you might want to add to your list:
http://www.purina.com/company/press/2005/HurricaneKatrina.aspx
And one from Doctors Foster and Smith:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/general.cfm?gid=435&ref=3691&subref=AN
From the link:
What Shelters Need Most
In addition to Dogs & Cats, please consider donating supplies for the hundreds of Birds, Reptiles, and Small Pets displaced by the disaster as well.
Needs include: large air kennels and metal cages, leashes, disposable bowls, canned cat and dog food, disposable litter pans, spray bleach, paper towels, sheets, towels, locks, hoses, bottled water, trash cans, trash bags, pooper scoopers, cat litter, extension cords, and fans. The volunteers also need ice, beverages, and food. Other animal supplies, such as vaccines, antibiotics, bandages, and catheters are also welcome and needed.
Thanks- copied & saved.
Two more worthy organizations which are helping:
http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=2599
http://www.takethelead.org/
WOW!
Thanks LINK King!!
"The Pet Show" mentioned an audio clip they they decided not to play of a NO law enforcement official shooting dogs. Anyone know of this?
My wife will not evacuate, period- in part because of her animals, and in part because of her Mom, who won't leave either. Nor would I leave my old dog to die in a storm alone- this old Victorian pile survived one Cat 3 storm in 1898, so I guess we'll how well it's holding up should a storm return here.
The dominion we were given over the beasts of the fields carries with it responsibility for their well-being, too. Bless those who care for the ones who cannot speak of their hurt and fear.
Pets count on us.
And I'm glad your wife-unit is getting some of your time.
LOL
I sent to Louisiana Humane Society, Noah's wish and Best friends so far. I will give to local group who has a lot of the evacuee dogs.
Anyone with a pet shoujld have an electronic FriendChip placed in its skin. That way if, God forbid, you and your friend are separated by some disaster and your firend's rescued, there's a good chance you can be reunited.
Armed law enforcement and National Guard troops also search the city for MORON ANIMALS (those violent criminals responsible for the looting, shooting, supply/car-jacking, raping, and murdering).
Unfortunately, these cops and troops are also ignoring their oath to protect and defend the Constitution, by following the orders of the local gun-grabbing, demonRAT mayor. Coming down on the self-reliant, and prepared, law-abiding citizens of New Orleans, by breaking down their doors and coming in with armed force to do illegal searchs and seizures (especially of these citizens privately-owned firearms - their promary and most efficient means of protecting themselves from the roving criminal element), and then leaving them behind in a defenseless situation (or evicting them), is TOTALLY UNSAT and CANNOT be allowed to STAND.
I had a store in the Mall that burned to the ground here in 1983, and in the aftermath, we were setting up operations in an old building downtown, which required extensive construction work to bring it up to code.
One of the crew I had- can't recall whether he a a plumber or electrician, but he looked like a wild man-- tall and thin as a rake, scruffy denims, long hair, full beard. All he needed was a cutlass and a parrot to resemble Blackbeard the pirate...
But we were talking one day, and out of the blue, he said to me,
"Ya know, nobody ever thinks about all the little animals that died in that fire when the Woolworths burned up. Nobody ever talks about the rabbits and birds and little animals... I just hope the smoke got 'em before the fire got to them."
And he was right- this rough-as-cob character saw something everyone else- including myself- had not even thought about.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.