Hurricane Rita Rescue Diary
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September
29, 2005 |
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| Welcome Home! Humane Society of Missouri staff members pause for a photo
with their formerly absent friends and the well-traveled rescue vehicle. |
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Thursday, October 6, 2005
After helping more than 1000 animals in Texas, the five-person Humane Society of Missouri Disaster Response Team returned home from their rescue mission accompanied by 44 dogs and 10 cats. Most of the pets had been surrendered by their owners who could no longer care for them due to extenuating circumstances caused b by Hurricane Rita. Because people and animal welfare organizations in the Rita-affected areas were prepared for the hurricane, and the after-effects of the storm were less severe than those of Hurricane Katrina, most of the pets are healthy. After medical evaluations, the pets will be available for adoption.
Wednesday, October 5, 2005
from Debbie Hill, director
of Rescues and Investigations
From Day One back in August when these hurricane rescues began, we told everyone we met who we were and always gave out our cards, and that continues to pay off.
A woman from Louisiana who is staying in Joplin, Missouri, contacted Tim. She told him how she was rescued from her New Orleans roof during the flooding, but wasn’t able to take her dog with her. Tim got in touch with the contacts he had made while in New Orleans and learned that the dog had been rescued from the woman’s house and taken to the Lamar-Dixon temporary animal shelter in Gonzales, Louisiana. So then he contacted the folks at Lamar-Dixon and made arrangements to pick up the dog for her. After we leave Texas, we’ll meet up with Tim and the dog in Texarkana and convoy back to Missouri.
Kyle got a call from a Port Arthur police officer who had received a report of eight horses on a highway. Luckily, Kyle is a “horse guy.” He and I responded and encountered an angry, injured stallion with a possible broken right rear leg as well as a feisty mare with a bad laceration. Stirring up trouble was a loose rottweiler. Fortunately, the other horses didn’t seem to be injured. We slowly and carefully corralled the horses long enough for the owner to show up and call his veterinarian, but not before the head mare turned quickly and kicked Kyle in the hip. Kyle’s cell phone took the brunt of the injury.
We checked on a woman who has 26 dogs, all rescued. All of her dogs are in good condition, but she’s having trouble obtaining dog food, fuel and so on, so she's parting with six of her dogs on the condition we take them to Missouri and find them excellent homes. We promised her we would.
Kyle and I revisited the areas we’ve already been to, checking on the loose dogs we’ve gotten to know over the past few days and leaving more food and water. These are dogs who are obviously people’s pets, but are not injured or in distress, so local orders are to keep them out of the shelter so there’s room for the ones who are hurt.
This has been really tough on us. Kyle is concerned about a white German Shepherd he likes a lot. And me, well, that little black and tan Manchester Terrier came running up and went crazy licking my face again.
Tuesday, October 4, 2005
from Debbie Hill, director
of Rescues and Investigations
It’s been quite the week for snakes. Yesterday Tim and Kyle took their rattlesnake to the Houston Zoo and it turned out to be 11-lb. western diamondback. We also found two Burmese pythons, which were taken to the Houston SPCA.
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Two Houston SPCA staffers display Burmese pythons found by Humane Society of Missouri rescuers. |
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We spent today checking on dogs left at homes to make sure the owners are there and if not, that the animals are still OK.
Tim traveled to Louisiana today. He’s coordinating a rescue for a dog that we will bring back to
St. Louis with us.
The Houston SPCA is overflowing, so we’re returning to St. Louis later this week with pets from the animal shelter to put into our foster care. This will be a similar operation as we did with lost pets from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and Gonzales, Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina. These are pets without identification and without anyone claiming them. Their photos will go online with those of the rest of the pets in our foster care. We're hoping for some happy reunions.
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At the pet owner's request, Brett gains access to another home to rescue animals left behind. |
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Monday, October 3, 2005
from Debbie Hill, director
of Rescues and Investigations
The number of animals Brett and I brought in today has really filled this small temporary shelter. We just feel like we need to give every animal possible a chance and we feel guilty if we're not dropping from exhaustion at the end of the day.
Heartbreaking story attached. Reader discretion advised. |
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Sunday, October 2, 2005
from Tim Rickey, assistant director
of Rescues and Investigations
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Tim confines an escaped pet rattlesnake while a local resident looks on. |
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We're rescuing a lot of exotic animals. Yesterday we rescued that 4 ½ ft. iguana and today we found a smaller one. Today we also found a 7-ft. rattlesnake that had escaped from an aquarium (and had probably eaten a couple of kittens that were in the house, which depressed us). We also brought in a young coyote hybrid that appeared on the porch of someone's home.
In two days we have rescued at least 40 dogs and about eight cats, most have been loose or in an unsafe yard with hanging tree limbs, downed power lines, etc.
We’ve been working in Orange, Bridge City, Vidor, Wildwood and Silsbee, putting lots of miles on the van.
There are no area gas stations open but there is gas available at the staging area in Beaumont. The damage is not quite as bad as it was in Mississippi and Louisiana after Katrina, but it’s still bad enough. Some residents are coming in during the day but are not allowed to stay as there is no power or drinkable water.
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Ford Park, a complex located near Beaumont, is usually home to sporting events, concerts and ice shows. These days, it is the staging area for FEMA, the National Guard and the Salvation Army. It is also the receiving area for pets rescued from hurricane-damaged areas. From here, rescued pets are transported to the Houston SPCA.
In the foreground, Kyle and a rescued Lab wait to be processed. The frequently used Humane Society of Missouri rescue vehicle is in the background.
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Saturday, October 1, 2005
From Debbie Hill, director of Rescues and Investigations
Since the animal receiving area is filling so quickly, we are under orders since mid-day yesterday -- like during Katrina -- to only bring in sick and injured animals, or animals that appear in distress. We’re supposed to leave food and water out for animals that look healthy and safe. This is EXTREMELY hard for us to do -- to just walk away and leave these animals.
Yesterday we saw a group of dogs in Port Arthur and left food and water for them. We went back to check on them again today. One was a timid, scaredy-cat Rottweiler. The other was this little Manchester Terrier who raced up to me jumping up and down, licking my face -- she was just beside herself to see someone. She was in good condition, body-weight and so on, so we all could do was leave more food and water for that group because they were all healthy and OK. We’ll try to keep checking on them.
We’ve been doing owner-requested break-ins of homes and apartments with pets inside. We got inside one house and removed a really nice, fat white cat named “Snowball.” I don’t know if the owners are planning on coming back or not.
Today we were in Sabine Pass on the border with Louisiana, which was under between 4-7 feet of water. We ran into a Methodist pastor who told us about some dogs who had taken refuge under her church. This same pastor and her husband had rescued some fish and a bird from their renter who left the pets behind. They found the bird with water up to within eight inches of the top of the bird cage. The pastor and her husband rescued the bird and the fish, but called us to help with the dogs, since they are so overwhelmed with their flooded church. We got to the church and saw the dogs. They were obviously someone’s pets. One was a nice little dog who had a puncture wound in his chest. We coaxed three out, but needed a trap for one. When all was said and done, we thought it was neat that the animals had taken refuge in a church.
The mosquitoes are so thick, you can hardly see what you’re doing and you have to try to not breathe them in. A crop-duster plane flew over camp yesterday and it didn’t do much good, so they’re bringing in a C-130 to spray.
Friday, September 30, 2005
From Debbie Hill,
director of Rescues and Investigations
After two days in the cool weather of St. Louis, we’re back in the swampy heat.
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Tim and Kyle rescue a 4 1/2-ft. iguana from a Beaumont tattoo parlor.
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Tim and Kyle have been responding to calls in Beaumont. Their total for yesterday was 29 animals rescued. One report was from an owner of a tattoo place who had left behind some unusual critters in his shop. Tim and Kyle responded and brought out a snake, an iguana, a ferret, a flying squirrel and a chinchilla.
Brett and I spent yesterday working the Silsbee, Lumberton and Kountze areas north of Beaumont and ended up with 13 dogs. Today we were in Port Arthur, which is still closed to the public. There a few people around, but not many. We ran into Port Arthur’s animal control officer and it was his first day back in town. He knows there a lot of animals needing help, so we exchanged numbers.
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Someone left this dog behind in Port Arthur for days without any food or water. |
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We were stopped by someone who said he knew of a dog left in a garage. He wanted to help him but couldn’t get to him, and here it’s been several days. Brett and I got in and found a thin little black and tan dog with absolutely no food or water left for him – there weren’t even containers left for him – nothing.
We’re seeing dead animals in streets and in backyards, and packs of dogs everywhere. One pack was hanging around a female in heat. Other packs are sticking together for comfort and also for survival. You couldn’t go two houses without seeing loose dogs in the streets, on the highway and pretty much everywhere. We’ve got a full load of animals now that we’re heading in to unload, and then we’re going to come back out. We’re going to be pretty busy for the next few days.
Thursday, September 29, 2005
From Debbie Hill, director of Rescues and Investigations
After more than 13 hours on the road, we arrived at the Beaumont, Texas staging site at 10 p.m. last night. We were still about 80 miles outside of Beaumont when we hit total blackness and realized the power is still out. No gas stations are open. In fact, our team drained the reserve tank we had taken just for this purpose. There is gas available at the staging site here in Beaumont. The National Guard and FEMA are both here.
Early this morning we met with officials from Houston SPCA and received assignments: Tim and Kyle are taking our van and our smaller horse trailer as one team; Brett and I have the four-wheel drive truck and larger horse trailer as another team.
Since residents are not being allowed into the area and it might be days or even weeks before power and fuel are again available, our teams might be making multiple visits to locations where animals are safe, but need to be fed and watered. Here’s the plan: Both teams have been assigned counties to check. If we encounter animals who appear confined and safe, we’re to leave food and water, mark the house as inspected and make notes of location for follow-up visits. If we encounter animals who appear in distress or who are unconfined, we pick them up and take them to the Houston SPCA.
John will remain based in Beaumont with our large rescue vehicle. He will be receiving animals from the field brought in by the rescue teams; when the vehicle gets full, he will transport them to the Houston SPCA – much like he did with his daily drives to Hattiesburg after Katrina.
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Workshop and Nestle Purina
Pet Care are proud major supporters of the Humane Society
of Missouri's Hurricane Katrina rescue team. |
