Animal Rescue Alerts 10-11-2005
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Tuesday October 11, 2005
Back from New Orleans *Luann's amazing story* 08:20
From: "Kelly Sperber" mailto:KSPER334@FOXTV-dot-COM Sent: Tuesday, October 11, 2005 8:20 PM Back from New Orleans *Luann's amazing story* CONTACT, AND AUTHOR OF THIS EMAIL IS LUANN at: mailto:Luann.J.Keys@nasa-dot-gov
CROSS POST ** CROSS POST
From: Betty Hodgson mailto:Betty.L.Hodgson@grc.nasa-gov-gov
I received this from a woman here at NASA that works with AlterPet out of Medina, and recently went to help with rescuing Katrina dogs.
Here is her story below.
From: Luann J Keys mailto:Luann.J.Keys@nasa-gov-gov
Back from New Orleans
I just returned from New Orleans. This trip has changed my life, the images and the smell of death will be engraved in my memory forever.
First I want to tell you they are still finding dogs alive in houses! We cannot give up. If you were thinking about going, don't hesitate, they need you now.
Please contact me if you want to go, I can give you phone numbers and information you will need.
I volunteered at the Louisiana HSUS Camp Katrina: http://www.humanela.org/
It is a 5 acre site located in Tylertown Mississippi. A small house and temporary fencing make up the complex. They have about eighty 10x10 foot dog kennels made of temporary fencing (rent-a-fence panels) covered with tarps for shade and a kiddie pool for cooling off in. Each dog has it's own crate with bedding for the animal to sleep in.
There is an intake area of 20 large wire crates that dogs are put in and covered when they come to the facility. This calms them until it's time to tag them, collar them, and give them a decontamination rinse and to see the vet. After this is done, and if they are not in need of more complicated vet procedures, they will be placed in one of the 10x10 kennel runs.
Dogs are fed first thing in the morning, then walked and pens cleaned out. They are walked again before dinner and then the evening feed begins. We were housing from 100 to 200 dogs at a time. Several kennels held 2 -4 dogs, one group of 10 dogs were rescued together, so they were kept in a larger dog run together.
We would go into New Orleans in the morning, 2 hour trip. We would meet at a Winn Dixie parking lot. A man named Mark who owns a Pet Supplies Plus knew if he did anything through the HSUS or SPCA there would be too much red tape, so he started the Winn Dixie rescue on his own, and soon after asked for help. The parking lot has many canopys and there are about 85 wire crates that house dogs. Rescuers go out daily and bring the animals to Winn Dixie to be photographed and catalogued. There is a semi truck with food in it, a few overflowing portapotties, remember, there is NO service of any kind! Mountains and mountains of garbage are everywhere. People have pitched their tents in the parking lot and spend their time there.
At Winn Dixie, you might meet up with other rescuers, you might be handed a list of houses to check from people who call in and request their homes be checked for pets. We headed into the 9th ward. Houses are falling down, wires down everywhere, debris, boats, cars abandoned in the roads. This is a poor residential area, houses very close together, no front yards, and maybe a 10 foot square back yard. We would slowly drive down the roads, we might spot a dog, we'd jump out with a can of cat food and try to coax the dog. Most times they were scared and would run from you. Some we were able to confine in back yards and capture, most would run under the houses (they all have a 1.5 foot crawl space). Once they were under the house, we were helpless to save them. We would note the address and try again the next day.
We would also leave food and water and spray paint on the house that there were "2 dogs under house - F/W 10/1" which meant food and water was left on the date 10/1. We broke into many houses, crawled through windows, searching for dogs. The houses were moldy and filled with black muck. The bulldozer will claim them soon.
The first day we were out, we met up with a unit from the national gaurd. They were patrolling the neighborhood, they were bored, and they would tell us where they heard barking or where they spotted a dog, and we would respond. That day we rescued 12 animals with their help. When it starts getting dark you have to get out and get back to the safety of Winn Dixie parking lot. The national gaurds found a litter of 3 day old puppies right at dusk, and we had the gaurd escort us back to Winn Dixie after we rescued the pups.
The only way I can describe the area was a war zone. Houses demolished, telephone poles knocked down over the roads, upside down cars, broken windows, debris in streets. National Guard patrolling with machine guns. They were our friends.
There were many sad sights, many dogs were left on chains in backyards and never had a chance. I would say a little prayer for the dog, hoping he went quickly and I'd move on. There was no time for tears then.
We spent a day in waders where the levy broke. We were walking down streets calling for dogs, dragging a boat full of food. We were checking on an address on Tupelo street that a woman called in, but there was no house there, it was gone, washed away. Some dogs were seen earlier on rooftops, tho that day we didn't see any. We did rescue a pregnant dog who didn't want to leave her mate, an injured black dog that wouldn't come out from under his house. We set a trap for him and as far as I know, have never caught him. We had to be very careful in the water, there was black muck, you would trip on 'things' underwater, and our biggest fear was open manholes. We would walk with our catch poles horizontally so if we fell, that would keep us from going all the way down. You better make sure you have a buddy with you.
At the end of the day, we would stop at Winn Dixie, and if we had any room, we would take as many dogs out of the Winn Dixie facility as we could.
Camp Katrina is better than the cages these guys were living in. We would arrive at Tylertown just before midnight, process the dogs and get them settled for the night, and then try to sleep. Very difficult to sleep with 100 dogs barking all night. Then get up at 7am and do it all over again.
For you cat people, we did rescue several cats. We set traps where cats were seen. Cats are more leary of us than dogs, so most of what comes out of New Orleans are dogs. We also can't leave traps set overnight, can't risk catching a cat and then the pit bulls coming by... We did pull a mama cat with 4 babies. Mama was skin and bones, the kittens were healthy and fat. Poor mama, she did a good job caring for her babies.
Seventy percent of all dogs seen and rescued were pit bulls. There is no such thing as spay/neuter in the state of Louisiana. Every male is intact, every female is either pregnant or has recently given birth. Dog fighting is a way of life. Many of the pits we rescued were the gentlest dogs, but their scars proved that they had been in the ring on a regular basis.
I had a terrible opinion about these people, until I met a few of the locals. A man (PJ) flagged me down (we had HSUS signs in our windows so we could get past police checkpoints) and asked me if I'd seen a white pit with a brown spot on his head, the dog's name was Junior. Apparently Junior was trapped in an attic with this man's grandfather for 3 days. The grandfather died.
The dog escaped when the rescuers came to do a house to house search and found the body. PJ said the dog was all he had left, and wanted to save the dog, because it had spent the last days with the grandfather. PJ and I cried on the side of the road as he told his story.
One happy ending was a family flagged us down near where the levy broke. They had slipped by police checkpoints and got to their house. Their dog was still alive. Could we take her and care for her until they got housing that would allow dogs? This dog was skin and bones. She is in the ICU at Camp Katrina now. Zena will survive and be united with her family.
Camp Katrina needs volunteers. They also need vets and vet techs! There will be a need for a long time for volunteers. The dogs found now are in serious shape. They do not need any items donated. Camp Katrina has been very fortunate and donations pour in daily, food, crates, bleach, medical supplies, collars, leashes blankets... They are better equiped than a pet warehouse! They know they are blessed and daily send shipments to smaller, poorer shelters that are struggling to get by.
The only thing that is needed in New Orleans now is volunteers and LARGE DOG TRAPS. We found a trap in a back yard and took it. That trap is like gold. It is the only way to get these dogs. The dogs on the streets are well fed and scared. We leave bags of dog food and buckets of water on every corner. These dogs aren't going to come to us now. We have to trap them before the bulldozing begins.
Best Friends also has a shelter set up right next to Camp Katrina. I walked through their facility and they have probably 1000- 2000 dogs there. Hard to imagine how they can take care of that many dogs! I'm sure they need volunteers too.
Here is a website for the Winn Dixie center http://www.petrescuevolunteers.com/ Another is http://www.ericsdogblog.com/
The trip was exhausting, both mentally and physcally. When I got home, I laid on the floor and was covered with dog kisses from my 4 'kids'. You know, they all look so fat to me now after seeing starving dogs all week!
It's good to be home, but I want to go back. If anyone is thinking of going, PLEASE I want to send a dog trap with you!
I will be taking donations to send to shelters in the area. I'd also like to raise enough money to buy a dog trap, $350, and send it down to New Orleans.
Luann
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