Update [2005-9-5 21:23:44 by susanhu]:
Shaggy Dog Story:
“A dog wanders through the debris around the Superdome in New Orleans on Saturday. HSUS rescuers and Louisiana SPCA staff rescued dozens of animals from there on Sunday. (AP Photo/Bill Haber)” — at the HSUS site
Do you have your own Web site or blog?
You can add an HSUS banner to your site.
Here’s a snippet from the HSUS field report:
So far, however, rescue workers dealing with Katrina have barred pets from buses, shelters, and other facilities. And the Red Cross does not permit animals in its shelters. The harsh and depressing fact remains: In most disaster scenarios, people and their pets have to go their separate ways.
Little deeds of kindness
Even on the bleakest landscape of loss, there were a few bright spots. Louisiana State Treasurer John Kennedy, helping people board buses at an Interstate 10 overpass near Baton Rouge, intervened when some evacuees balked at being told to leave their pets behind. One woman told Kennedy, “I’ve lost my house, my job, my car, and I am not turning my dog loose to starve.”
Kennedy joined other volunteers in taking down the names of those leaving on the buses and asked the Louisiana SPCA to come out and collect the animals. The SPCA took two cats and fifteen dogs, including a mixed-breed dog Kennedy found tethered near the road with a unopened can of dog food next to him and a note that read, “Please take care of my dog, his name is Chucky.” All of the animals will be cared for until the evacuees are able to secure shelter in other cities and states.
Kennedy was not alone in his sense of duty to evacuees trying to hang onto their pets. Some 250 miles to the west, at the Houston Astrodome and the Reliant Arena, workers with the Houston SPCA were accepting hundreds of animals from evacuees, with the goal of eventually reuniting animals with the people who love them — people who would never have given up their pets but for the violent disruption of their lives wrought by Katrina. …
Urgent: Tell Your Federal Representatives to Demand Animals’ Safe Evacuation From New Orleans!
Dear Friend,
Your immediate attention and response is requested. No animal rescue groups have been allowed into New Orleans to help animals, who have been left stranded on their own. Sending money is not solving the animals’ problem, which is worsening by the hour.
[F]ederal authorities are forcing everyone—including elderly residents who have stayed in water-logged residences five days to safeguard their beloved animals—to leave their animals behind. More:
In some cases, people are told that they must choose between bringing vital medicine and bringing their dog when they are evacuated. This is illegal and it must stop.
PETA has issued a media advisory stating that we will prosecute any known violators, but that is not stopping federal evacuators from insisting that animals be left to die. Today, Rue McClanahan wrote to President George W. Bush, calling on him to order officials to allow people to evacuate with their animals.
Please, immediately call your member of Congress today to ask that people be allowed to evacuate with their animals. Leave messages for them in Washington and at their home offices and get everyone you know to call. The names of—and contact information for—your representative and senators can be found online. Please forward this alert to others willing to lend their voices to help with this emergency. …
Jesus Christ, just how many groups are being denied going into NO to help?
Susanhu, this one’s for you.
These 3 little cuties, (Yes, 3. you only see 2 faces, but if you look closely there’s a 3d tail in the pile.), used to live in the tree pictured below. Sadly, Hurricane Katrina, in it’s first incarnation in Florida, damaged this tree by cracking the trunk in a way that threatened to split the tree in two and send it crashing down onto my friend’s house below.
So the tree cutters came and took down the tree, and the mother raccoon left the scene in a hurry, unable to take the little ones along.
All this happened yesterday and we hoped mama would return last night to pick up the kids. I’m happy to report she did.
What a happy, beautiful ending! It’s wonderful that the mother was trusted … they’re such good mothers.
The photos are exquisite! And so is that marvelous gnarled tree.
Thank you for a wonderful treat.
Yes, they are ordering the entire evacuation of the city now by bullhorn and guns, though there are many on high and dry land who don’t want to leave and could help care for animals left behind, and help with the cleanup. My feeling is, paranoid as it is, that they don’t want citizen observers when the dead count begins.
To paraphrase Jonathan Pryce (as Lytton Strachey) in “Carrington”–goddamn, blast, confound and FUCK the feds.
Why in the name of all the hell that these people have gone through can’t someone have a little compassion? They’ve lost their entire world–don’t make them abandon their pets to certain death.
Dear Susan,
I fear that your concern for the animals might be twisted so that you seem to be advocating rescuing dogs before black people.
There’s always one in every crowd.
Sorry I have to agree…
They can’t even save the people… I am not going to scream about them not saving animals.
Those animals — every one of them — are as worthy of our love and our care and attention as all human beings.
I’ve written almost exclusively about human beings here for days.
Think of what the animals have given us for tens of thousands of years:
… their labor, their fur, their skin, their milk, their offspring …
and, for the luckiest of animals who are companion animals, their unending devotion and love
not to mention all the dogs and other creatures who we use as guards, who we ask to be companions to the blind and the deaf and the infirmed, who we ask to find drugs and explosives, who we ask to DIE in wars so that our soldiers can stay safe …
and even if none of the above means much to you, try to empathize with your fellow humans for whom it does mean a lot and who also love human beings as well.
Well said.
There is a lot of heartbreak at lost pets for the people of New Orleans.
I think the concern is that effort to save pets might come at the expense of effort to save humans. As long as that is not the case, the effort to save animals and pets shouldn’t bother anyone.
Take this to the bank: There isn’t one single animal rescuer who, if they saw a human being in distress, would not immediately spring into action and help save them.
Thank you, Susan. That brought tears to my eyes, and was considerably more eloquent and polite than what I might have said.
The government, especially under Bush, divides us into “people” and “animals”. We’ll set aside for now our suspicion that they actually set the dividing line at “people like us” and “animals and those other people”.
Some of us strive to minimize these distinctions, and we support groups like PETA and practice some form of vegetarianism.
Others happily consume meat but make a distinction where pets are concerned. These people deserve our sympathy and support. in the present circumstance – they possess more of humanity and compassion than an army of Bushes and Chertoffs and Browns.
The utter lack of compassion we’ve seen demonstrated by the authorities just makes me want to scream. They have had all the fucking manpower they need to address the human tradegy – they just can’t get their shit together. Those whose expertise lies in animal rescue, and who are wiling to take the risks, should be allowed to enter the city. They should be permitted, nay, enthusiastically invited, to accompany the evacuation teams.
How many of these people may have risked their lives to stay with their beloved animals? If I were in their situation, and I was then FORCED to surrender my pet to probable death, I would brim with grief and hate forever. For some, notably some of the elderly, the companionship of a pet is all they have.
They will be unnecessarily and permanently darkening the spirit, if not breaking the minds, of a number of NO residents.
Yes, there is. I don’t know how many times you have to say “this isn’t an either/or situation.”
Maybe this will help change a few minds: One of the main reasons remaining people are refusing to leave now is because they are refusing to leave their animals. If this was organized better and the rule was relaxed, we could get more PEOPLE out!
I would be one of those. I would not leave my cats behind.
A bit of levity: My cat Bear could NOT fend for himself.
When we lived in a three-story house near woods, the other two cats would sit in front of the kitchen stove at night, stalking some outdoor tiny, tiny mice who came up through some hole behind the stove … and they’d catch them, torture them, until I threw a big towell over them and took them outside to release them. Bear never once joined in. He had zero interest.
Now, Althea, the cat we rescued from the building next door to WalMart. She is tough as steel…. and poeple were always cruel to her. No one in that building would feed her (they told me so). Kids and adults threw things at her all time — including full cans of pop that broke and splattered her with sticky Coke.
But. Since she became a part of my home, she refuses to go outside. She remembers. I can leave the doors wide open, and she’ll never venture out. She NEVER wants that life again.
One of my daughter’s cats is also like that. He was found with a group of feral cats under an abandoned house in Seattle. He never wants to go outside, and refuses.
So, it’s clear that there are many companion animals who cannot fend for themselves.
And those companions who have had to fend for themselves never ever want any part of that life again.
Then there are the dogs. Reporters say that abandoned dogs have formed packs and are roaming the streets, breaking into garbage, etc. Probably — just like in Fallujah — they’ll eat dead bodiees just to keep from starving.
Their fate? Oh it goes without saying that most of them will end up being shot by police and National Guard.
The Humane Society IS in NO, and has started rescuing animals:
Sunday, September 4, 2005; 9:48 p.m.
In their first foray into the embattled city of New Orleans, members of the HSUS Disaster Animal Relief Team (DART), together with animal control staff from the Louisiana SPCA, targeted animals stranded at the Superdome as their priority goal. There, they rescued dozens of animals relinquished or abandoned by desperate evacuees who fled the city to escape Katrina’s rage.
Link
“LA SPCA reports that they may have found Snowball, as they evacuated animals from the Superdome Sunday. Sept. 5, 10 p.m. EST
. . . .Ed’s note: Many conflicting stories have been circulating about Snowball. The original AP story reported that he was at the Superdome, not the Convention Center, although there has been some contradictory information since then. He has also variously been reported to be a Bichon, a poodle, and a terrier-type mutt. No one really knows at this point, but we will cross our fingers that this is him. (And if it is not, we will be happy for the family this little dog does belong to. . .)“
Read the rest at Best Friends Animal Society’s news page.
Found this via the Times-Picayune’s Pet Rescue forum.
but people must be the priority. Animals are much better at fending for themselves and are often better off without people.
Sometimes we have to let nature take its course.
Domesticated animals aren’t better at fending for themselves and are not better off without people. These are animals that have been raised to be completely dependent on people. These animals have been bred domesticated for centuries to serve humans. They are not wild animals.
I remember standing outside a Mariners game collecting signatures for
an initiative to ban steel-jawed leghold traps. Those are those nasty traps that clamp on an animals leg and the animal sometimes gnaws off its own leg to get out of it, and dogs and cats get caught in the traps, too. Anyway, an older woman who looked like a sweet grandmother, who was walking inside the stadium to attend the game, screamed at me – “WHY DON’T YOU HELP PEOPLE? YOU’RE WASTING YOUR TIME! GO HELP PEOPLE! SELFISH!”.
I thought: I’m standing here along with my fellow volunteers and we’re spending our time trying to make something better while I could say you’re spending your time going to a Mariners game. But I would never say that to you because I’m not one to dictate to people how they spend their time or what charities I think people should be working with or what causes they should be working on. If I see someone volunteering for a charity, that’s all it takes for me to be happy.
Think of how that little boy will feel if Snowball really is found. His home is gone, god knows what else has happened to him or what family members he has left, and he’s gone on a horrific journey, but maybe he’ll get Snowball back. And I think that will make a huge difference in his life.
Animals and humans can both be the priority. I have given money to both the Red Cross and PETA.
I saw a segment on either NBC or MSNBC a few days ago interviewing a woman who is head of NOAHS ARK, (noahsark.com)?, and she was in New Orleans rescuing animals. I first heard of them during the Tsunami relief – they were there too. Look them up and send a contribution. I’m about to do the same myself.
I think you mean
http://www.noahswish.org/
I gave money to them–they seem pretty legitimate.
Thanks Sarah – you’re right! I had e-mailed another organization named Noah’s Ark in Iowa
and they redirected me to Noah’s Wish. I just went to their site, and not only are they offering
shelter to pets, but they’re also offering shelter to their owners. I just made a donation too.
FWIW,
I also e-mailed all three major cable stations and asked them to do some stories on the trapped and stranded pets.
I’m sure a lot of viewers are wondering about this, too. There have been numerous pictures of stranded dogs but no real stories on the subject, yet. At least I haven’t seen any. Maybe we can draw more attention to this subject through the media?
This report says thay are shooting the animals.
Now that of course leads me to wonder whether this is another form of discrimination. I really want to know what they mean by ANIMALS! Does the classification include bipedal animals who stand upright .
I forgot to add the link on the shooting of animals Which is more grotesque human stupidity based on the Christian assumption that Humans are superior to animals. The Universe does not care what type of animal you are. The Hurricane did not discriminate between white and black, cat and dog, spider and fly, Humans do the discrimination and ranking. The Universe is a little bit more powerful than humanity and it’s illusions of superiority sitting on a planet on the edge of a galaxy populated by billions of other galaxies and perhaps billiions of other Universes. It is not comphrehensiblle. It is beyond us. But we are led by a Christianaholic who believe in fairy tales of a man named Jesus. There is no objective reason to think we are superior. Why not save the damn animals?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4215390.stm
Eloquently, philosophically said.
Thank you . You know I don’t thnk it is philosophical. It’s observable. It’s the only information we have access to.
Something else that bothers me a lot. I hope I can articulate this well.
I’ve heard people in the past days say, over and over and over, that “we’re living like animals”!
Who in their right mind would ever wish such a living situation on a single animal?
And why is this phrase so common?
Those people who said it — well, we know they meant not one iota of disregard for animals. They were simply trying to find the language to express their horrible state of existence.
I just wish we could find, and adopt, another phrase.
Well, I just saw a story on Anderson Cooper’s 360. A man refused to leave because he won’t abandon his dogs.
The rescuers were in a Duck Boat with tons of room. But they didn’t offer to take the man with his dogs!! They left him there! Then Anderson Cooper came on the air and said “officers” told him the dogs would die anyway from swimming in the water.
So get them away from the water! For God’s sake the HSUS and the SPCAs are down there trying to help. Why don’t they coordinate with them and get the last hold-outs and their pets the hell out??
Mostly the rescue groups can’t get in there.
Plus, they are overwhelmed. They only have so much “manpower.” And Mississippi is in dire straits too — and HSUS and other such groups have also had to go in there.
On the bright side: There are lots and lots of little groups that are helping, animal by animal. I hear about them on the Yahoo raccoon list I’m on.
There are little groups in places like Wisconsin that are organizing relief and getting supplies. And that story is retold around the nation.
There are dead horses everywhere. Packs of dogs.
Probably hundreds of thousands of animals have died or drowned in this tragedy.
I just think it comes down to helping PEOPLE also. As others have commented, the evacuees from New Orleans have lost nearly everything that’s important to them. Animals provide them with love and with a link to their past, before this tragedy. Why not restore a little love and kindess to their lives if we can?
There have been times when the only thing that pulled me out of a suicidal depression was knowing that my cats needed me.
There have been times this past week when the anger and the tears have overwhelmed me, and the only comfort has been a purring cat in my lap.
If there’s enough money in this country to pay grown men (and a few women) millions to play games and to pay corporate executives enough for running businesses into the ground that they can have three or four or more homes and commute via private jet, there’s enough money to fund relief for both people AND animals.
It’s not a case of either/or, sometimes in order to rescue a person, you have to take the animals that they have determined to protect as this story shows.
Many years ago I worked in London’s County Hall (now a hotel complex) One of the women who worked there was affectionately known as “the cat lady” by everyone. She raised money in the building and would go out in her free time trapping feral cats. Those young enough to adapt she arranged to be rehomed, probably half the catowners who worked at CH got their cat from her. The older ones she had neutered so they would not produce more kittens.
Although my terror is not from her, she was plucked from the streets and in less busy times I will try to post a moggy missive.
My daughter and I do that a lot … we just were able to capture a mother who had her third litter that we’d socialized and gotten adopted out … and now she is spayed. Whew. She lived a horrible existence at WalMart.
I have two new strays I am feeding and plan to capture/neuter or spay. The local welfare group will pay for the operation.
I do hate releasing them though. That is NOT much of a life and they usually die in awful, awful ways.
I am somewhat opposed to the current fashion of no-kill shelters. There are simply too many animals. And the local no-kill shelter is half full of cats that no one will likely ever want to adopt — they’re too skittish, or have problems. I dunno.