 A dog stranded for days in high floodwaters in New Orleans found shelter in this AC unit cage. He was pulled to safety by an HSUS rescue team. (Tim Carman/The HSUS) |
As Larry Johnson wrote the other day,”Send me a few of these dogs, Mr. President. ARE YOU WILLING TO LEAVE BARNEY BEHIND TO DROWN OR TOSS HIM OVERBOARD?” Larry advises calling the Congress Capital Switchboard at 202-224.3121 and
the White House Switchboard: 202-456-1414 OR 1111.
[From HSUS] Dear Susan,
On Wednesday, one of our Disaster Animal Response Teams in New Orleans rescued a St. Bernard from a rooftop – a dog they described as the most emaciated animal they had ever seen in all their years of handling animals. The veterinarian who treated the dog was shocked that the animal, who weighed just 40 pounds, was still alive.
Who helped us rescue this animal? It was several National Guardsmen, who heeded our rescuers’ pleas to take them through the water on a tank so they could get up on the roof to save the dog.
But the troops’ actions were not ordered by the National Guard – nor by the White House, the Defense Department, the Department of Homeland Security, or the state of Louisiana. In fact, despite our repeated requests, none of these entities has formally agreed to marshal their ground forces to help rescue the pets and other animals slowly starving to death in the affected areas.
At a press conference just a few hours ago, I implored the federal government to come up with the nation’s first animal rescue plan. Now, I am writing to ask you to give them the same message: Please call or email President Bush and other officials today and urge them to help us before it’s too late. MORE BELOW:
Time is running out for these animals. Every hour that passes means more pets, locked behind closed doors in the disaster zone, will die of starvation. Our teams are working as hard as they can to reach as many pets as they can – and as we reported to you on Wednesday, we’ve rescued thousands. But there are thousands more.
At this 11th hour, when so many lives are at stake, we are asking you to help. I urge you to contact these government officials today and ask them to help rescue animals before it is too late. Please click here to call or send an email to President Bush and other federal and state officials who have the power to order National Guardsmen and other responders to assist with food drops, help supply our own operations, and do whatever else it takes to save animals.
One of our rescuers said it best: “We should not have to rely on the compassionate instincts of individual Guardsmen to rescue these animals. We need the full commitment of the government.”
Members of Congress have also been calling on President Bush and the federal agencies to actively assist with direct animal rescue. With most of the human victims of the catastrophe removed from the city, it’s not too late to save animals’ lives. It’s time for the government to recognize the incredible bond between people and their pets, and step in to help.
On behalf of the animals and our disaster teams, thank you.
Sincerely,
Wayne Pacelle
President & CEO
The Humane Society of the United States
P.S. Do you have a question about our disaster response for animals? Then please read our frequently asked questions. If you don’t find your answer there, then call us at 1-800-HUMANE-1 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. Eastern time, or reply to this email (disaster@hsus.org) with the topic of your question identified in the subject line. Thank you!
Anderson Cooper just interviewed a man and woman from San Diego who drove to New Orleans on their own, and are rescuing pets.
The local shelters are overwhelmed. So, unless the animal is injured, they’re giving them food and water in their homes, or on the street, and they’re remembering where they found each dog/cat, and returning to check on them. They think that’s better than trying to put all fo them in overwhelmed shelters which, the man said, haven’t been able to take animals for three days now.
I know that HSUS is doing something it never has had to do before — and that’s BUILD and staff shelters rather than simply help local shelters, which they always do (with money, supplies, staffing).
May this Red Regime rot in in their own stools and bile.
Susan, I have a credit card.. can I call that number and give them some money? Please?
I’m looking that up for you .. in the meantime, I’d like to say that i’ve never met Wayne Pacelle but Darcy has met him.
In 1999, she gathered signatures to stop the cruel trapping of animals in Wash. state. She went to every single Mariners home game, standing outside for hours. Unpaid, of course. And she gathered the 5th most signatures in the state. (And that initiative became law.)
Wayne Pacelle came to Seattle as that initiative campaign began, and conducted training classes for volunteers. Darcy attended, and was so impressed with him. He’s also impressive when he’s interviewed on television.
I don’t see a number to call to donate. It’s either mail a check or do the CC# thing on their Web site.
https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005?
But if you don’t like to do that, why don’t you try that phone number and see if you can talk to someone?
P.S. Keith O. has a segment coming up on the rescue of the dolphins .. those poor things. Never been in the wild and now they’ll be shipped all over the country to other aquaria.
Computer has been acting up and we need to reinstall a few features before I can feel “secure” with my number. I’ll call em
Hey I saw Wayne on KTVU a few days ago and he was outfuckingstanding.
That dog photo.. damn. This is NOT AMERICA!
I can’t look at all of those photos. Just a couple at a time. You’re like me … you’re always feeding critters that come around, and there’s such overwhelming need for shelter space and vet care and decent food, even without any disaster.
I’m beginning to have a real problem with the “no kill” shelter system. There are simply too many animals. And cats that are neutered/spayed and then released into the wild have such awful, tough lives, and usually die terrible deaths. I dunno.
There aren’t enough homes to take in all of those rescued dogs and cats… and i think it’s very cruel to keep animals in a shelter for any length of time.
Here’s PETA’s new urgent message — with William Shatner in a video, holding a dog. Their site includes :
You need to edit your Peta link… You forgot the “h” in the HTTP
A … William … Shatner … PETA VIDEO
(fixed it for you…)
“The link is braking up Captain. I don’t know if I can her together much longer!”
The link is breaking up
CONTRARY to the RUMOR mill around here, we can’t edit comments. (And, boy, if I could, I’d abuse the heck out of it.)
Seriously, I can’t edit it…. and THANKS for FIXING IT! 🙂
Well… There is a rumour I hadn’t heard yet.
lol
And your welcome.
Just gave. I wish it was more but with the impending trip to DC and all the other charities… I could only give $75… so far.
The lovely lady said every bit helps though.
People can call with their credit card donations at 1 800 HUMANE 1 from 9 till 9 EST EVERY DAY even on weekends.
((((Susan)))) thank you for this diary!!!! xxooxxoo!
THANK YOU!
That’s great you were able to call and talk to a person!
Did i tell you that the co. Darcy works for, Tom Bihn, donated a lot of its bags to HSUS’s awards program that was aired on Animal Planet a couple months ago? Darcy enjoyed working with them very much. They have a TINY staff that runs itself ragged … which told me that HSUS doesn’t waste a lot on hiring expensive people.
My daughter loves animal planet but we can longer watch those Animal Cops show… it just got too sad for a little kid.
Passed this along to my hockey buds.
Pssst Danni has a crush on Pet Store, Mario Lopez 🙂
And people shouldn’t BUY pets. NOt while so many can be rescued.
Nuzzles rescue Kitty 🙂 and Shinobi 9my big arse black lab) is getting some extra lovvin’
Darcy won’t watch Animal Cops either.
Who is Mario Lopez?
You are right. Don’t buy pets. Mutts are great anyway.
And spay/neuter (!) — so people like Darcy don’t have to end up spending hundreds of dollars feeding, and dozens of hours socializing, batch after batch of kittens.
(We finally caught the mom when we picked up the third batch of her kittens that Darcy had raised/socialized. These were two days old, and we had mom nurse them in Darcy’s kitchen. We put her on expensive kitten food (for nutrition) and gave her lots of formula, which she lapped up. The kittens didn’t go for the formula … it was to keep the mom’s milk good. And they all turned out the healthiest of any batch, and all five have been adopted to marvelous homes. But we’re glad she won’t have any more kittens — she was spayed two weeks ago and will go to a farm soon owned by Darcy’s landlords. She’ll never be quite tame, and they’ll look out for her.)
oops sorry, Pet Star (a show on Animal Planet) she watches it before school in the morning. He’s a young Antonio Sabato type 🙂
Here in Austin, our survivors are getting settled in apartments and houses. Today we got to take Liz to get her dogs at the Humane Society. Quite a story how she and her dogs made it to Austin (in a tote bag, with help from Troy and Ari at the NOLA convention center, as they were trying to get on the helicopter).
Anyway, Liz said how great it was that the Humane Society was waiting at the Austin convention center when they arrived, ready to give the pets a temporary home.
adastra took some great pictures of us picking up Skye and Jandy – see them at othniel’s diary A Place to Lay My Head.
WOW! Bless your heart for helping … doesn’t surprise me one bit.
And that’s neat to hear — from real evacuees — that HSUS was helpful and on the ball, ready to step in at the convention center.
Will look for the photos! Keep us posted, will you…. these are ongoing stories that we all want to hear.
Hope you found the pictures – they really are sweet. And I hope you caught othniel’s Gumbo and Jambalaya diary about the feast at his house with more of our very welcome guests from New Orleans.
I wrote the President and my Senators and my Congressman about this. Animals are still alive in that city (amazing, considering how long so many have gone without food and water). They still need our help.
Just found out a friend of mine who thought he had lost his cats in the storm recovered them just yesterday. His windows blew out while he was gone and, although neighbors who stayed thoughout had offered to feed the cats, they reported the sad news that both were missing about a week ago.
When he returned yesterday to survey the damage, the cats literally ran up the stars and straight into the house after him. One more happy ending!
Ohhhhhhh. That’s a wonderful story! I hope if i ever have to evacuate that i can put my cats in the car with me, and we can all stay together.
Oh yes, I’ll take mine with me, too. Previously, I only had one carrier as I take my (3) cats to the vet one at a time. Far too difficult to take them all at once.
But now I’m better prepared. They each have their own new carrier, I have a “pet friendly” plan and no one gets left behind!
felines are that way. I could tell you stories about my felines pets. I am happy that they are alive and found their masters. I intend to donate my &&& tomorrow and thank for reminding me what I just must do! I only wished I were a multimillionair…what I could do with that money!!!! I wonder if the Donald is giving his money like he should…:o)
The helpless of ppl and animals are so sad….I just can not take much more…hopefully when they pump the water out they can find more.