Hurricane Katrina

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Friday, September 16, 2005
From Debbie Hill, director of Rescues & Investigations

Mississippi Team

Graphic, unpleasant details and photo follow - reader and viewer discretion advised.

While out searching for animals, Carmen was flagged down by a resident who cut through the yard of a house demolished by the storm.  In doing so, the neighbor came across wire cages and plastic crates in a shed, also destroyed.  The crates and cages contained animals, deceased and covered by layers of hardened mud and muck.  The neighbor told Carmen that the older couple who had resided in the house had at least 20 animals, including more inside the house. 

Carmen requested assistance, so Kyle and I joined her.  The house, in ruins, is barely standing and looks like it could collapse at any moment.  We carefully entered through a window and were saddened by what we saw – even though all of us in the rescues department have seen this type of behavior a million times – the house, or what was left of it, was packed with stuff.  In addition to antiques, we found more crates and cages of dead animals.  We searched and searched to see if any of the animals might have survived, but being trapped in cages, they had no place to go when the wind and high water came.  We found more cages in the kitchen that were crushed by the refrigerator that toppled down on them. 

The neighbor told Carmen that he had seen five cats roaming the rubble in the yard. We set some traps and, so far, have caught four of the five cats.  The neighbor also said that the couple wasn’t planning on evacuating before the storm, but that neighbors convinced them to go.  Just before leaving, we noticed a note in the yard stating that another animal rescue group had been there, found six Yorkies and had taken them to a shelter.

A disturbing sight: the remains of a small dog - one of several found still in their crates, drowned and covered in dried mud. The mud seems to have mummified the bodies.