Hurricane Katrina Rescue Diary
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September
15, 2005 |
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Thursday,
September 15, 2005
From
Debbie Hill,
director of Rescues & Investigations
Photos from the New Orleans Team
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Tim
rescues two standard
poodles |
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Brett
searches New Orleans
in chest-deep water |
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Tim
feeds starving
dogs stranded
on porch steps in New Orleans |
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Using
humane traps to catch
dogs |
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Mississippi Team
Some of the dogs we’ve been rescuing lately are difficult
to catch. They're very frightened and some are not very nice.
Well, we just heard that some of those dogs made it to Hattiesburg
and were becoming much easier to handle along the way. In
fact, when the staff put the dogs into their decontamination baths,
the dogs gave out a nice, long sigh and became nice and relaxed,
and everything was great after that.
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Debbie
rescues a stingray
from a pool...
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We had another unusual rescue today. We got a call from
an Alabama State Trooper assigned to the Waveland area to investigate
a swimming pool that was seven miles inland from the gulf. We
got there and fished out of the pool a stingray about the size
of a dinner plate. We were able to find some fuel for the
owner so he could run a generator and pump out the pool and, as
the pool drained, we found six turtles, some eels, flounder, crappie,
shrimp, bass and crabs.
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...and
Kyle releases the
stingray at the gulf
shore seven miles
from the pool. |
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The state trooper told us that he had been trying for days to
get someone to deal with the strange thing swimming through the
murky water of that guy’s pool, but no one wanted to deal
with it. The trooper found us, and well, we’re willing
to do pretty much anything.
Thursday, September 15,
2005
From
Kathy Warnick
President, Humane Society of Missouri
We’ve received many offers from kind people willing to
foster hurricane-displaced pets. We’ve even received proposals
from people willing to make trips to the Louisiana shelters to
remove animals and bring them back to St. Louis to foster. The
Humane Society of Missouri has been in close contact with shelter
and animal care officials in Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas,
communicating with them frequently each day. A pet transfer is
a possibility; we promise to notify our constituents the minute
this possibility becomes a reality.
We've also been pursuing sending shipments of pet goods to the
shelters in Hattiesburg, Mississippi and Gonzales, Louisiana, via
trucks generously donated by A-Mrazek
Moving Systems, but have been told by officials in several
locations that supplies are stocked and not needed at this time. Unloading
unneeded supplies would only take staff away from caring for the
pets.
This week, we sent two more Humane Society of Missouri veterinary
staff members to assist at the temporary shelter in Gonzales, Louisiana.
Their close proximity will provide us with up-to-the-minute information
regarding the possible transport of animals. Two other Humane
Society of Missouri staff members continue to work out of Gonzales;
they are being sent on daily search and rescue trips into New Orleans
to save even more animals. The remaining members of our team are
still rescuing animals in Mississippi. Out of the reported
5,000 pets rescued from the various areas to date, more
than 1000 of those animals have been rescued by Humane Society
of Missouri personnel.
Back in St. Louis, we have been providing veterinary care for
evacuees who are in the area with their pets. There is a steady
demand for this service. Furthermore, we set up kennels at
both Boeing and the facility at Gumbo, but those facilities were
not needed for evacuees.
The Humane Society of Missouri is a four-star charity as ranked
by Charity Navigator. We pride ourselves on spending donated
money as wisely possible. If you want to help the animals
being rescued by our staff, please help pay for gasoline and other
essentials to enable them to stay in the area longer and save as
many animals as they can. You can make a tax-deductible financial donation to
the Katrina rescue effort securely on our website.
Again, we will notify everyone immediately as soon as we learn
more about any transport of animals out of the hurricane zone and
into St. Louis. In the meantime, please continue to read
this rescue diary for up-to-the-minute rescue news. We thank you
tremendously for your donations, support, thoughts and prayers.
All
copyrights in photographs and diaries are claimed and reserved
by the Humane Society of Missouri. |
