KC-DARTFIELD LOG

Hurcn Matthew

KC-DARTFIELD NOTES

Hurricane Matthew

Hurcn Matthew

Matthew floods span North/South Carolinas. Kinship Circle Matthew floods span North/South Carolinas. Kinship Circle

Dark Water

KC-DART — Trisha Fravel, Cheri Deatsch, Ron Presley, Missy Hargraves, Sister Michael Marie. Kinship Circle works with Brother Wolf in South Carolina.
LocationNichols and nearby towns.
Field LogsBrenda Shoss/KC-DART

Kinship Circle Disaster Animal Response officers are activated for Hurricane Matthew as the Cat-4 storm closes in on Florida's east coast. Matthew promises to exceed wind gusts of 165mph, with storm surges as high as 11 feet. Governors in Florida, South Carolina and Georgia order large-scale evacuations. Florida's Governor claims some shelters “accommodate pets.” Still, we all know animal victims suffer most in the aftermath of any disaster. Volunteer responders are on standby as we await a request for out-state animal aid. Post-landfall, Matthew wreaks havoc beyond seacoasts, with inland flooding from swollen rivers and creeks. A county shelter, already at capacity from pre-storm animals, is inundated with evacuee surrenders and hurricane-displaced animals. Animals are traumatized and disoriented in the chaos. The second 2016 Presidential Debate steals headlines from Hurricane Matthew. The storm doesn't care. South Carolina waterways swell for days, reluctant to crest. Kinship Circle Disaster Animal Response Team (KC-DART) is stationed in Nichols, SC to work with Brother Wolf Animal Rescue (BWAR). Teams navigate dangerous waters where animals are stranded. But the work has barely begun. With homes submerged, residents face a long evacuation. Animals need rescue, emergency shelter, food/water… With your support, we can deploy more top responders now.

ON THE GROUNDTeams ferry stranded animals from flood zones to a disaster shelter in Marion County. Bloated rivers such as the Lumber and Pee Dee leave flood-pockets everywhere. Downtown Nichols still stands beneath several feet of water. Here, in the water and muck, we find “hurricane animals”. Each has a separate story. Though many are happy to see us, all are very frightened and disoriented. With only a few hours notice, Kinship Circle Disaster Animal Response volunteer Trisha Fravel drives over six hours from Virginia to meet Brother Wolf Animal Rescue at the volunteer base in South Carolina. Though Hurricane Matthew has weakened from Cat-4 to Cat-2 force, rivers and creeks have just begun to rise. By mid-week, communities are engulfed in water. In some spots, water laps at rooftops. A dam bursts, forcing volunteers and animals to evacuate to safer grounds. More waterways over-top banks in South and North Carolina. DONATE NOW • Register as a disaster volunteer.

Trisha Fravel does animal search-rescue in flooded Nichols, SC. (c) Kinship Circle

Animal search-rescue in Nichols, SC.

Trisha wades out to homes where animals are stranded. (c) Kinship Circle

Trisha wades to homes where animals are stranded.

Matthew ➊Dark ➋Leo ➌Noise ➍Waiting ➎Flood USA Aid
Leo found after 5 days in flooded home (c) Kinship Circle Leo found after 5 days in flooded home (c) Kinship Circle

Finding Leo

Finding Leo

Finding Leo

All Lost, But Love

For Love

Ron Presley looks for Leo, trapped 5 days. (c) Kinship Circle Ron Presley looks for Leo, trapped 5 days. (c) Kinship Circle

Ron Presley looks for Leo.

Kinship Circle Field Response Manager Ron Presley and KC-DART responder Missy Hargraves search for Leo, a cat now alone five days in a flooded home. Here's the story — unique yet common, for animals in disasters — in Ron's own wordsSometimes animal rescue comes down to one single little guy and one nice lady. While waiting for our boat batteries to charge at the Marion County animal shelter, I was approached by a friendly but troubled woman named Bonita Bailey. Near tears, she explained how she had lost everything in the floods and had recently lost her husband to a long illness. All she had left in the world was her cat Leo. She had evacuated to a neighbor's house but had to leave him there when the boats came. He had been there for five days by this time. Could someone please get him out? I took her address and also passed it along to the other boat team. Ms. Bailey lives in the town of Nichols, SC. My boating partner Missy and I were sent to addresses in the town of Gresham, SC however. After boating around Gresham looking for animals, we were unexpectedly told to stand down from SAR operations and wait. After waiting 30 minutes, we decided to start looking for Leo. It wasn't as easy as we thought. At every turn in trying to get to Nichols we were thwarted by washed out roads and bridges, polite but firm law enforcement officers, and sketchy internet connections. We drove for hours…

Finally, as we were pondering our next move, we decided to chase down a passing law enforcement officer. His name was Officer Norton of the Transportation Police. To our amazement, he knew Ms. Bailey and where she lived. As we were talking about directions, he received a radio call of someone stuck in a car in the water. We tagged along and found a young lady stuck in her car on a road about a foot deep in water. Being very grateful for Officer Norton's help and already being in a wetsuit, I pushed the car the 1/8 mile down the road to dry land. He gave us directions to Kemper Road, which got us within a half mile of Leo. By then, it was near dark, so we decided to go for Leo in the morning. We drove around for hours again trying to get back to Mullins. I then called Ms. Bailey and told her we'd have him soon. At that point, we had no idea that others had also been looking for Leo. We found that out the following day after talking to several other very nice local people.

Early the next morning, we loaded the boat up with our gear and crates and headed out. With roads washed out and neighborhoods still underwater, we traveled by truck, boat and foot to find Ms. Bailey's home. Once we located the address, we crawled around looking for Leo. No one can hide like a cat. Seriously. But Leo had been alone so long, perhaps he'd lost a bit of his bravado. We found him coiled into a ball behind a couch. In fact, he'd hunkered in so tightly it looked as if he'd become stuck in the small space. Leo wasn't exactly happy to see us, but eventually we were able to get him into a carrier and back out to the boat. I called Ms. Bailey and told her we had Leo. She sounded like the weight of the world had been lifted from her. We met her friend Beth Shelley on Kemper Road and handed Leo off to her and her husband. One cat may not seem like much to many of you. But he means the world to Ms. Bailey. Ron Presley, Kinship Circle Field Response Manager

Ron pushes a car from floodwaters to dry land. (c) Kinship Circle Ron pushes a car from floodwaters to dry land. (c) Kinship Circle
Leo is trapped in a flood-damaged home, Kinship Circle Leo is trapped in a flood-damaged home, Kinship Circle
Missy Hargraves and Ron Presley find Leo hidden in an empty home, (c) Kinship Circle Missy Hargraves and Ron Presley find Leo in an empty home, (c) Kinship Circle
Donation

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Donation

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Later, Leo reunites with Bonita Bailey. (c) Kinship Circle Later, Leo reunites with Bonita Bailey. (c) Kinship Circle

Faint Noise

A horse in chest-deep waters is nearly unseen behind tangled vines. (c) Kinship Circle A horse in chest-deep waters is nearly unseen behind tangled vines. (c) Kinship Circle
Trisha Fravel wades out to cut apart a mass of tangled vines that entrap a horse. (c) Kinship Circle, Hrc Matthew Trisha Fravel wades out to cut apart a mass of tangled vines that entrap a horse. (c) Kinship Circle, Hrc Matthew
Trisha's PBJ sandwich coaxes the horse to shallow water, where she feeds the hungry animal dog kibble aboard the rescue boat. (c) Kinship Circle Trisha's PBJ sandwich coaxes the horse to shallow water, where she feeds the hungry animal dog kibble aboard the rescue boat. (c) Kinship Circle
This stranded horse recovers at the flood shelter, after a week in chest-deep waters. (c) Kinship Circle This stranded horse recovers at the flood shelter, after a week in chest-deep waters. (c) Kinship Circle
Now safe, this horse stood in floodwaters for a week, hidden from view. (c) Kinship Circle, Hrc Matthew

SOMETIMES THEY NEIGHKinship Circle has tracked meows and woofs worldwide from Japan to New Jersey. Sometimes, we hear oinks or moos. In South Carolina for Hurricane Matthew flood animals, we hear a cry for help that goes “neigh.”

Kinship Circle responder Trisha Fravel and Officer Fletcher Estes spot the horse in chest-deep waters. The animal is nearly soundless, unseen behind thick trees and overgrowth. Faint neighs and the rustle of branches are lost in the wind. Trish wades out to cut apart a mass of tangled vines that entrap the animal. How long has the horse stood in deep water, disoriented and afraid? Fortunately, Trish's peanut-butter and jelly sandwich coaxes the horse to low-level water. There, ankle-deep, Trish continues to feed the hungry horse from a dry dog kibble stash aboard the rescue boat. The entire area is encircled by drop-offs, with dark, rapid pools. There is no place to walk the large animal out. Fortunately, another horse rescue crew later relocates the horse near dry grain silos with horse feed. Ultimately, the horse is sheltered at the disaster facility with food, water and supervision. We later learn that after the poor horse had escaped churning waters, he'd stood in the dirty flood-pool (where found) for an entire week, hidden from plain view. Other displaced horses pulled from floodwaters, or left without food and care, recuperate at the increasingly crowded temp shelter. Your donation is a lifeline for these animals! A fragile calf is also situated at the disaster shelter, along with many cats and dogs and even a number snakes (housed separately in an upstairs room).

KC-DART officer Ron Presley works to gain trust from a traumatized Lab-mix who cowers in his kennel. (c) Kinship Circle
Horses displaced by Hurricane Matthew recuperate at the flood shelter. (c) Kinship Circle

LIFE BEFORE THE WATERKinship Circle Field Response Manager Ron Presley works to gain trust from a black Lab-mix who is so scared and distraught, rescuers struggle to draw him out of his kennel. Similar scenes repeat in the field, when rescuers try to move traumatized animals. The dogs are friendly, until rescuers try to relocate them. It's as if they cling to their life before the water — in backyards or porches where they survived flooding — to wait for the people they know as family. Rescues are conducted throughout the town of Nichols in Marion County, South Carolina. Animals found in flooded yards, porches or kennels are transported to the disaster shelter in Mullins, about 7-8 miles away. Downtown Nichols is under several feet of water, with black flood pockets from the Lumber and Pee Dee rivers. By the time rescuers find hurricane dogs, they've survived alone atop dry spots and paddled in murky waters to look for food and missing families. Craving attention, dogs greet rescuers enthusiastically. “But many freeze when rescuers try to remove them from flooded homes or yards,” says Kinship Circle Field Response Manager Cheri Deatsch. “Some animals, like a little dachshund mix and rust-white pup, have to be gently carried to safety.” Though bewildered and afraid, the dogs seem determined to wait for familiar voices and the time before the water. But like human kids, animals are resilient. A little love and attention go a long way! KINSHIP CIRCLE #HurricaneMatthewAnimalAid

A rust-white pup is listless and sad. The dog's family and home are gone. (c) Kinship Circle

From The Flood
A rust-white pup is listless and sad. The dog's family and home are gone. Hurricane animals need hands-on love.

A dachshund is carried to safety. Like many, the dog waits for a family to return. (c) Kinship Circle, Hrc Matthew

Scared Doxie
A dachshund freezes and must be gently carried to safety. Like many, the little dog waits for a family to come home.

A calf recovers at the flood shelter. (c) Kinship Circle, Hrc Matthew

Fragile Calf
A vulnerable calf recovers at the flood shelter in Marion County, along with horses, dogs, cats and even a few snakes.

KC-DART officer Sister Michael Marie soothes horses at the flood shelter. (c) Kinship Circle

Horses Saved
Displaced horses — pulled from floods or left without food and care — recuperate at the crowded flood shelter.

Waiting

Waiting

A dog presses against the door of his deserted home. (c) Kinship Circle
Trisha Fravel coaxes the scared dog onto a rescue boat (c) Kinship Circle

A DOG WAITS AT THE DOORWhen Brother Wolf and Kinship Circle access flood zones by boat, they encounter animals overcome by water and trauma. Food/water is left for those animals the team cannot legally retrieve. Whenever possible, sheltered-in-place animals are moved to dry areas, such as a porch or grassy area, on swamped properties. Cats excel at the art of hiding. If afraid, they slip into walls, burrow under floorboards or otherwise vanish in the shadowy ruins. Rescuers often return for animals unfound during an initial search. Kinship Circle responder Trisha Fravel spots one panicked dog pressed against the front door of a flooded home. It's as if the dog is still attached to life before the water. Before the pain and fear. Trisha gently coaxes the disoriented dog onto the rescue boat. Left-behind animals wait, look and listen for the people they know as family.

WATER RESCUEAnimals rescued from Matthew floodwaters go to an emergency shelter in Marion County, SC. There, many are sick with giardia, a parasite that affects a dog's digestive tract. But it's worse in the field, where floodwaters rise 6-feet high in the city of Nichols. Rescuers boat through wreckage to reach stranded animals. In a single day, KC-DART's Trisha Fravel works with county animal control officer Fletcher Estes to save seven dogs. Sadly, three cats are trapped in a floating boat behind a chain link fence. It's illegal to dismantle property, so they pass food through the fence and onto the boat. They record the location for check-back and notify local animal rescue. On another day, Trisha and Officer Estes, along with Eric Phelps of Brother Wolf, search flooded neighborhoods for more animals. They discover two black labs stuck in a watery fenced yard. A large plastic bowl of food sits on a raised back porch. By law animals are “possessions” who cannot be taken from enclosed properties without guardian consent. This forces us to shelter-in-place with food/water (or risk arrest) and return to check on them. The labs splash through 3-4 feet of water, desperate for attention. Gentle voices and comforting hands are not illegal, as far as we know…

ANIMAL DISASTER VICTIMSEvacuated homeowners phone in requests to check on their animals. Unbelievably, some residents rescued by boat say they were not allowed to bring their animal family members — even as floodwaters rose dangerously after the levee broke. “Two Yorkies left in a backyard are very fearful,” says Kinship responder Trisha Fravel. “We leave food and water in their dry yard, with plans to return with nets and catch-poles in order to retrieve them.” Since Hurricane Katrina, federal and state (most notably, Louisiana) animal evacuation laws have been enacted. While FEMA funds can be withheld if emergency protocols do not include animals, many state/county emergency agencies still do little or nothing for animal victims.

Dog rescued from Matthew floods goes to temp shelter. (c) Kinship Circle
Eric Phelps, of Brother Wolf, with left-behind Labs. (c) Kinship Circle
Two Yorkies left in a backyard are very fearful. (c) Kinship Circle
The Yorkies are fed, with plans to return with nets and catch-poles to retrieve them. (c) Kinship Circle

From The Flood

Amy Simcik cuddles a recently born kitten. (c) Kinship Circle
Amy Simcik and Sister Michael Marie set-up a maternity area for flood-cats. (c) Kinship Circle
Amy Simcik cuddles a recently born kitten, Kinship Circle
A really big dog? Calf and pup at flood shelter. (c) Kinship Circle A really big dog? Calf and pup at flood shelter. (c) Kinship Circle
Horses, dogs, cats, cows and snakes reside at the flood shelter. (c) Kinship Circle Horses, dogs, cats, cows and snakes reside at the flood shelter. (c) Kinship Circle
When animals are in toxic waters, they get infections and other medical conditions. (c) Kinship Circle When animals are in toxic waters, they get infections and other medical conditions. (c) Kinship Circle
Keisha lost everything, but hopes to soon retrieve dog Duke and kit Whiney when she finds a new home. (c) Kinship Circle
A tortoiseshell cat is a flood rescue about to give birth. (c) Kinship Circle A tortoiseshell cat is a flood rescue about to give birth. (c) Kinship Circle

OPERATION KITTYAt the disaster shelter, some 80-100 cats are divided between two rooms: Shelter Cat and Flood Cat. Disasters accelerate disease transmission and quarantine demands are complex. Some cats have Coronavirus upper respiratory infections; one has feline leukemia. Several cats are pregnant, with kittens due over the next several days. A tortoiseshell mom is the first flood rescue expected to give birth. Sister Michael Marie, Kinship Circle Disaster PIO/Staff Relations and a vet technician, works with Amy Simcik (with Brother Wolf and also a Kinship Circle animal responder) to set-up a maternity area inside the flood cat room. The new babies will join three littermates about 5-weeks old. As time passes after any disaster event, more cats typically fill emergency shelters. While stranded dogs bark and tend to approach rescuers, traumatized cats quietly hide and survive on their own. Hunger, fatigue, injury or disease eventually drive them out into the open. In the field, Amy and BWAR team leader Eric Phelps find three cats who'd floated on a boat for a week. Another cat inside a deserted home cries out for help. Eric and Amy search the home for two hours before they locate the cat. A sixth cat, locked inside an evacuated home, is rescued with permission from the cat's guardians. Later in the week, three cats perched atop porch railing for days are retrieved from a swamped property. Before caught, the panicked cats jump into floodwaters and paddle from bush to bush.

TOXIC WATERS, SICK DOGSEven as waters recede, rescuers still stumble into waist-deep drop-offs as they search for animals. Sister Michael describes the water as “horrible, a lot of petroleum, oils, waste and other contaminates.” When animals drink and stand or paddle through toxic waters over a prolonged period, they can contract skin-eye-ear infections and other medical conditions. Presently, some 95 dogs occupy the shelter. They are a mix of flood dogs and pre-disaster homeless dogs from the municipal shelter. A little terrier, marooned on a back porch surrounded by water for nearly a week, is authorized for pick-up by his caregivers. As new dogs are admitted, others are transported out to no-kill shelter/foster for longer term care. Sadly, many dogs in this rural area are heartworm positive. Your donation gets boots and gear on the ground for animals! Kinship Circle deploys overseas and in the U.S. as emergency responders for animal disaster victims. We work in unison with officials and nonprofits to offer skill, stamina and leadership — in a spirit of cooperation that best serves animals. Follow us on Facebook for current Disaster Watch News as it unfolds. To volunteer, register with KC-DART for placement on our standby list (based upon your availability). And please make a tax-deductible donation to our Animal Disaster Fund, so we are always ready to go — where animals need help. Your kind heart saves lives!

LOVE RISESStill, happy endings emerge from the wreckage and loss. Some are reunions between stranded animals and their displaced caregivers. Others happen when an evacuee loses a home, possessions and financial solvence — and must surrender animals to the emergency shelter. Driven by love, Keisha is determined to reunite with Duke, her beloved 17-month old pooch, and Whiney, her 5-month old kitten. When Keisha's home succumbed to flooding from a nearby river, she lost means to care for her animals. She temporarily surrendered her black shaggy dog and tiny kitten to the flood shelter in Marion. But she visits the animal-kids regularly as she continues to search for another place to live. She hopes to retrieve Duke and Whiney as soon as possible — to make her family whole again.

KINSHIP CIRCLE CALLS UPON YOUR COMPASSION AND SKILLSRegister today as a volunteer-on-standby for Kinship Circle Disaster Animal Response Team. We seek individuals with the following abilities and mindset:

  • Independently trained volunteers with experience in disaster rescue, animal handling, sheltering, animal first aid, veterinary, photography and documentation, leadership skills.
  • Flexibility to travel to disaster zones for 1-2 weeks.
  • Team players who follow FEMA Incident Command System and Kinship Circle protocol.
  • Self-sustainability in rugged post-disaster settings.
  • Register as a volunteer with KC-DART

Volunteer In Disasters
Donate For Animals

Disaster aid for animals  +  action for all hurt by greed, cruelty and hate.

Disaster aid for animals  +  action for all
hurt by greed, cruelty, hate.

Disaster aid for animals  +  action for all
hurt by greed, cruelty, hate.

KINSHIP CIRCLE2000
info@kinshipcircle.org314-795-2646
7380 KINGSBURY BLVD
ST. LOUIS MO 63130

314-795-2646
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IRS SECTION 501C3
TAX-DEDUCT ID20-5869532

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Kinship Circle

GIVE For Animals
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DO Activism
DO Disaster Aid
In kinship, not dominion, each individual is seen. We do not use the rhetoric of slavery. To define animals as unique beings Guardian, Caregive, Him/Her/They… replace Owner, Own, It… Until moral equity and justice serve all — no one is free.