Hurricane Katrina
Jan 31 2007
Born Amid Ruins
- Help Us Aid Katrina's Homeless!
- Katrina Dogs Need Way Home
- Uncertain Fate In Shelters
- Kittens, Kittens Everywhere
- Saving Animals From Disaster
- Lakeview Roaming Cats
- Pass MS Cruelty Law For Buddy
- Animal Strategies Conference
- HSUS Grant Serves NOLA
- ARNO Sweeties Need Homes
- Operation Outta Here
- Abused Horse Struggles
- A.R.K., Animal Rescue Katrina
- Missing Since The Storm
Help Us Bring Food And Funds To New Orleans!
Please donate now, so Kinship Circle can not only feed animals while in NOLA, but also give funds/food to Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO), plus Katrina animal recovery efforts in Lakeview and Plaquemines.
Kinship Circle will service (many long unused) food/water stations and document animals sighted in the East/West sections of Upper 9th Ward, Lakeview, Plaquemines…
Landscapes have changed since Katrina. Residents rebuilding often want feeding to stop) Some areas have seen little recovery. Animal survivors and their offspring tend to roam near former homes. Reunions are still possible via documentation on feeding routes.
While in NOLA, we'll also help out at Animal Rescue New Orleans, plus transport animals for out-state adoptions. Please donate for the continued care of Katrina animal victims. Their suffering is not over. Thank you! Kinship Circle
Uncertain Fate In Shelters
St. Bernard Parish ShelterBefore Katrina floods, 67,000 people inhabited St. Bernard Parish. Katrina left just four homes standing. Most who still live in St. Bernard Parish are in FEMA trailers, where large dogs are not allowed. Residents have no money, are barely getting by, and cannot adopt strays. St. Bernard Parish Shelter is no-kill, but full. Watch video and find out how you can help.
Hammond, Louisiana Shelter
1/28/07, Kathy Sweeney ~ Please consider opening your heart and home to an animal who needs you desperately. The shelter in Hammond, LA is experiencing such overcrowding and influx of animals daily that mass-scale euthanasia occurs every day. In one week, 32 litters of puppies arrived!
The county has cut off Hammond Shelter staff due to budget shortages. Workers try to save animals by finding them homes, but numbers are staggering. Please adopt, or if you can't, consider foster for one of these little angels until a new home or transport to a no-kill shelter can be arranged? Volunteers are working to find such shelters right now.
Get Katrina Dogs Home
Reply To: Christiane Biagi, 914-632-46721/29/07 ~ Junior is a Katrina dog in Roanoke, VA whose original guardians were found near Baton Rouge. Jack is a Katrina dog in West Virginia whose person was located in NOLA. Both dogs can go home, but we need transport! There are no direct flights to NOLA or Baton Rouge. Also, airlines won't take them in winter months due to unheated cargo compartments. Anyone driving to NOLA who can pick up these two guys on the way? We can reimburse some gas.
Kittens Everywhere
Reply To: Ramona BillotAnimal rescuers in NOLA, please consider going home with cats/kittens to adopt into loving homes. We see another surge in kittens here! There shouldn't be kittens this time of year, but there are. Sadly, there are very few places for them. I beg everyone, if you can help, please do.
Book Review
Rescued: Saving Animals From DisasterBy Allen and Linda Anderson
New World Library, $16.95
Times-Picayune ~ Allen and Linda Anderson, founders of the Angel Animals Network, chronicle tales of the army of animal rescuers who converged on the city after the flood to help care for the suffering animal population. Rescued is the most comprehensive book to date on what became a major news story after the storm — caring for the animals of New Orleans, an estimated 250,000 left behind.
This book describes virtually every facet of animals and disaster, from the smart and heroic preparatory efforts of Louisiana SPCA and Audubon Zoo to the sad [guardians] who left behind a beloved cat, thinking they'd be reunited in a few days.
The Andersons give us tales of heroic volunteers who came from around the country to search for surviving animals. And there are animal stories to break the heart in every chapter. Along the way, they provide an examination of why people do it, a guide to various groups, and celebrities who have used their fame in the cause. Rescued describes the boat rescues, airlifts…
Readers who have pets will find the book a useful guide to evacuating with animals. Some may find themselves moved to train as rescue volunteers. The Andersons do an admirable job of balancing hard facts with emotional realities. Fact: At some point in their lives, many people may need to evacuate with their animals. Reality: "The animals will help us heal."
Kinship Circle ~ Humans invented "companion animals." Saving them is about a centuries-old agreement with the animals we domesticated and further bred to wholly rely upon us for survival. Just as we do not leave human children behind, we do not leave nonhuman animal kids behind. Any law enforcer who aims a gun at an evacuee (or an evacuee's animals) should be prosecuted for terrorism tactics. Any government disaster plan that excludes animals is inept and dangerous.
Lakeview's Roaming Cats Need Relief
Kathy Sweeney and Jeanette Althans created Lakeview Cats Roaming to feed, trap, and reunite animals roaming since Katrina. Remote Reunion Campaign, ARNO, Kinship Circle and others provide assistance.An estimated 200 cats still roam in Lakeview, just one New Orleans area hard hit by Katrina in August 2005. These felines have struggled to survive since levees broke. Many were much-loved family members. For almost a year and a half, volunteers have done their best to fill stations with food/water. Still, this system is constantly challenged when donations for food run low, when kittens present more mouths to feed, when roaming dogs prey upon kittens and cats, and when countless other obstacles occur.
Every effort is made to reunite cats with their guardians. Jeanette Althans and Kathy Sweeney, ARNO volunteers who feed and trap in Lakeview, also photograph cats regularly. Remote Reunion Campaign volunteers currently work with them to determine potential matches. When matches, verified once cats can be trapped, are exact, some cats finally make it home. Katrina's destruction ranges for 650 sq. miles, with many hungry, homeless animals in grave need.
Foster And Forever Homes For Katrina Cats
- Fosters Needed While We Search For Guardians: Foster friendly adult cats who survived Katrina.
- Foster/Adopt Traumatized Cats: Many adult survivors were former family cats. With patience, love and a stable environment, they can be re-socialized.
- Foster/Adopt Various Age Kittens: Kittens from 2 to 8 months need gentle attention until they adjust.
- Contact: Jeanette Althans, 504-430-6477 / Kathy Sweeney, 504-343-3683
Lakeview Residents: Contact Us…
- If you can oversee a feeding station in your neighborhood or at your house. To ensure cats are fed regularly, we ask residents to assist with our food/water program.
- If you recognize your cat, a friend or neighbor's cat, or if you can foster/adopt.
- Contact: Jeanette Althans, 504-430-6477 / Kathy Sweeney, 504-343-3683
Pass MS Cruelty Law For Buddy
Kinship Circle ~ Buddy, a 16-week-old Labrador retriever, was left for dead inside a diaper box at road's edge in Gautier, MS. The puppy's eyes, ears, throat and mouth were sealed in PVC pipe glue. Mississippi animal cruelty law lacks felony penalties, so at best the perpetrator will get six months incarceration or pay a meager fine. Katrina blew the lid off a Pandora's box of antiquated laws and social systems. With animals, we saw neglect, abuse, and scant cruelty law enforcement. Many animals needed rescue long before the storm. Mississippi has some of the most lax animal cruelty laws in the nation.Action: We Owe It To Buddy To Pass SB 2499
Since our first alert, Buddy's House Bill 1538 and Senate Bill 2097 died in Judiciary Committee hearings [2/12/07 Buddy's Law Dies]. But a Mississippi felony animal cruelty law has been reintroduced as SB-2499.
The latest Buddy's Law upgrades domesticated animal abuse to a felony, punishable by up to 5 years prison and a $10,000 fine. It mandates psychological evaluation of convicted abusers.
Contact Information
Senator Gray Tollison
Senate Judiciary Committee, Division B Chairman
Room 409A, P.O. Box 1018 / Jackson, MS 39215
601-359-3425, gtollison@senate.ms.gov
Source: billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/members/senate/tollison.xml
Senator Michael Watson
Senate Judiciary Committee, Division B Vice-Chairman
P.O. Box 1018 / Jackson, MS 39215
601-359-3234, mwatson@senate.ms.gov
Source: billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/members/senate/watson.xml
Animal Strategies Conference
Reply To: Jeff Dorson, 901-268-4432Humane Society of Louisiana
P.O. Box 740321 / New Orleans, LA 70174
1/30/07 ~ About 75 participants attended Successful Strategies for Helping Animals, the first annual statewide animal protection conference held at Denham Springs City Hall 1/20/07. Humane Society of Louisiana and Pet Aid hosted.
Presenters offered tips to upgrade efficacy of animal control, humane societies and concerned citizens. Louisiana State Police Gaming Enforcement Division, Louisiana Dept. of Agriculture and Forestry Livestock Brand Commission, Pet Justice, Livingston Parish Sheriff's Dept., and humane organizations spoke on how to investigate cruelty and improve living standards.
Humane Society of Louisiana, based out of New Orleans, oversees 8 chapters statewide and hopes to establish similar chapters in Tangipahoa and Livingston parishes. Those interested in establishing a local humane org. are encouraged to contact us.
HSUS Grant Serves New Orleans Animals
1/18/07, 2theadvocate.com/news, Sonya Kimbrell ~ Students from LSU School of Veterinary Medicine will provide animal health care in hurricane-ravaged areas of New Orleans. Homeless animals and overpopulation were problems in south Louisiana before hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but have grown more intense, said Dr. Susan Eddlestone, who will direct the student program. "Just a month ago, volunteers found a Rottweiler with a litter of puppies in the bathtub of an abandoned house in the 9th Ward."An $800,000 grant from the Humane Society of the U.S. funds the program, which includes a spay/neuter component and gives veterinary students field experience in clinics, animal-control facilities and shelters. "We're going to take our students to clinics and shelters in the New Orleans area that are already working on spay/neuter efforts," Eddlestone said.
The Humane Society was involved with efforts to rescue companion animals when hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit south Louisiana. More than a year later, animal welfare efforts continue in those regions. Stray-animal populations, especially cat populations, are exploding in vacated areas.
"We're seeing people give up their pets because they don't have space — people who wouldn't normally abandon a pet," Eddlestone said. The major part of the program will be low-cost spay/neuter, she said. "The goal of any high-quality spay/neuter program is to reduce the euthanasia rate," she said.
The program also addresses animal rehabilitation, important in south Louisiana where some animals have been stray for a while or placed in several homes in a short period of time. The program is offered as a service-learning course to students and includes field work, community practice, pet population dynamics, shelter medicine, disaster medicine and working in low-income communities.
According to a Humane Society news release, the goal of the grant is to help improve the health of cats and dogs in the region, where heartworms and other diseases are common. "An annual visit to a veterinarian is the most important predictor that a companion animal will not be abandoned," said Dr. Andrew Rowan, Humane Society executive VP of operations.
A veterinary surgeon, social worker and vet technician also will be hired. Students will go in two-week rotations to the New Orleans area. LSU will work with animal welfare groups such as Louisiana-SPCA, Southern Animal Foundation and Spay Louisiana, plus smaller clinics and shelters such as Animal Rescue New Orleans. Eddlestone said, "This means a new generation of vets will be well-versed in preventive medicine," she said.
Abused Horse Struggles To Survive
1/18/07 Humane Society of Louisiana, Janet Lyons 337-654-4392, Jeff Dorson, 901-268-443 ~ The Acadia Chapter of Humane Society of Louisiana has been trying to save the life of a malnourished horse. On Dec 12, Janet Lyons, Acadia chapter president and a veteran animal cruelty investigator, responded to a complaint in Scott, LA, about suspected neglect of 3 horses. In Scott, Lyons was met by a sheriff's deputy. They visited the property and discovered a pregnant mare had died on the scene, and they observed 2 other horses who were severely malnourished. The custodian of the horses arrived on the scene and immediately offered to surrender surviving horses to Humane Society of Louisiana, which then took possession of the horses.The custodian, not charged with a crime at this time, surrendered an 18-month old filly and a 7-year old thoroughbred who was about 400 pounds underweight. As the thoroughbred was loaded into a horse trailer, he collapsed. A volunteer crew spent the next several hours attempting to lift the horse to his feet with ropes and harnesses. Finally, using the last bit of strength left in his depleted body, the horse managed to stand and walk into the trailer. The horse, now named Radar, was transferred to Ms. Lyon's residence in Church Point, which functions as a recovery center for abused and neglected animals.
Once at Church Point, Radar was examined by a veterinarian, given intravenous fluids and placed on a special diet of premium hay and feed. Radar's fight for survival, however, continued for the next several weeks. Even with round the clock care and additional feed, Radar went down 5 more times over the next two weeks. Each fall was traumatic for Radar and Janet, who had to call her volunteers to help Radar stand. Even after one month of treatment, Radar's hip bones and ribs are still noticeable.
"I've been around horses all of my life," says Lyons, "and this is an extremely special horse. Medically speaking, he was on death's door when we got to him and most did not give him much chance to survive. What gave him the strength, I think, was his own will and sense that someone was trying to help him. He knew instinctively that people cared about him and that spurred him on to live. He had been neglected for so long, I am sure that he was about to give up. That is what makes this volunteer job so rewarding," adds Janet, who has paid over $600 for the care of this one horse.
To recover costs of treating Radar, Humane Society of Louisiana is launching a Radar, the Wonder Horse Fund Drive throughout the tri-parish area. HSL will help collect monetary donations on behalf of Radar, along with fresh hay and cat/dog food for abused animals presently under Lyon's care.
Tax-Deductible Monetary Donations May Be Sent To:
Acadia Chapter of the Humane Society of Louisiana
P.O. Box 697 / Church Point, LA 70525
To Donate Canned/Dry Pet Food Or Other Supplies: Call 337-654-4392
ARNO Sweeties Need Homes
Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO) needs foster homes to give animals a safe, loving environment until transport, reunion and adoption can be arranged. Help us save animals on the streets since Katrina, plus rescue more animals from kill shelters. There is a drastic rise in Katrina surrenders, as many cannot find new homes that allow pets.Adopt From ARNO
Petfinder ■ Save-A-Pet
- Greater New Orleans: Animal Rescue New Orleans
- West Bank/Belle Chasse:
Ramona Billot, ramonabillot@yahoo.com
Volunteers Always Needed!
504-571-1900, arnovolunteer@yahoo.com
animalrescueneworleans.org/volunteer.html
Animal Rescue New Orleans
271 Plauche Street / New Orleans, LA 70123
Donate To ARNO
- Donate Online
- Give By Mail: 1219 Coliseum Street
New Olreans, LA 70130 - Gift Cards: petsmart.com or petco.com
Operation Outta Here
Reply/Donate To: Southern Animal Foundation1823 Magazine Street / New Orleans, LA 70130
Label Donation: Operation Outta Here
1/30/07, Deanna Theis ~ Chris McLaughlin (Animal Rescue Front) and I continue to mobilize transports for puppies and adult dogs out of Waveland, MS and New Orleans. SAF does the medical work, but we need more sponsor support for flights. All we need are more airline approved kennels. I will take 5 puppies to fly via Continental Air. Four puppies go to Cambridge, MA and 1 to San Francisco, plus 5 Waveland pups fly from NOLA to Seattle.
To Sponsor A Puppy Flight: $200 flies 2 pups or 1 adult anywhere in the U.S. We need money and Petsmart, Petco, or Walmart gift cards to buy airline approved kennels. Send donations to Southern Animal Foundation. I'll mail donors a letter as receipt. Volunteer resources have dwindled, with few groups that can take 5 or more (to justify a driven transport). It's harder to find long-distance drivers. So we move them out one or two at a time and it works. A little more costly, but it moves the animal "outta here" quickly and safely.
Download video: MP4 format | Ogg format
Animal Rescue After Katrina
Donate To NOLA Independent RescueKey NOLA rescuers, Katrina evacuees themselves, pay for trap-neuter-release (TNR), medical, adopt/transport, rescue, food/water.
ARNO & Independents
Traci Kestler, 504-975-5971
P.O. Box 55284 / Metairie, LA 70055-5284
ARFL.petfinder.com
Lakeview Cats Roaming
Kathy Sweeney
Jeanette Althans, 504-734-7771
333 Vinet Ave / Jefferson, LA 70121
Plaquemines Cat Action Team
Ramona Billot, 504-606-3116
102 A Omega / Belle Chase, LA 70037
Donate Via Kinship Circle
Kinship Circle, a 501c3 nonprofit, has arranged to accept donations on behalf of these NOLA rescuers.
Donate Online or Donate By Mail
Kinship Circle Disaster Aid Fund
7380 Kingsbury Blvd / St. Louis, MO 63130
State which NOLA rescue your donation goes to.
Katrina's Lost: Missing Since The Storm
Remote Reunion CampaignValerie Sharma, psharma@austin.rr.com / Halle Amick, amick@med.unc.edu
- Missing: Some are still missing, possibly relocated with unknown individuals or groups.
- Lost In System: Some, confirmed as rescued, are now lost in the system.
- Found: Some are found, waiting in foster for a familiar face and voice.
Tee Tee ~ Email gclemmer@urban-research.info if you have tips
Dosey ~ Contact Tammy AllweinGender reports on Petfinder are wrong.
