Hurricane Katrina Rescue Diary

	September 02, 2005

A resident of the Coliseum's improvised animal shelter.

Friday, September 02, 2005
From Debbie Hill,
director of Rescues & Investigations

Today HSUS (Humane Society of United States) deployed four strike teams to Jackson County (Pascagoula) in southeast Mississippi. Two of those teams (with two people each) are from Humane Society of Missouri:  Brett Huff, Kyle Held, Tim Rickey and Carmen Shelly. They will be out for 2-3 days taking water and pet food, and assessing the situation. They will be self-sufficient and living out of their trucks as there is no power, food, water or fuel in the area.

John Anderson shares a bright orange Bark in the Park Frisbee.

Linda Campbell, John Anderson and I spent much of today helping to set up and operate the temporary animal shelter now in place at the Mississippi Coliseum. More than 700 people, many with personal pets, are being sheltered at the Coliseum, including some who have come from the New Orleans Superdome today.

Brian helped to deliver 300 gallons of water to overheated wild animals kept in a roadside zoo.

The eighth Humane Society of Missouri team member, Brian Thomas, is deployed with a HSUS team in the Jackson area investigating reports of animals in distress and shelters in need. They delivered 300 gallons of water to overheated wild animals kept in a roadside zoo.

Late this afternoon, our team in Jackson was deployed to an animal shelter in Gulfport, Mississippi where as many as 85 dogs and more than 30 cats have been without food and water for at least two days. We plan to rescue those animals and bring them back to the Jackson Coliseum shelter late tonight.