ANIMAL WELFARE ALERTS

Overview:
Tuesday, 6 September 2005, 9:30 pm EST
The amount of rescue operations in the hardest hit areas of Mississippi and Louisiana have increased dramatically as rescue workers are gaining access to more of the devastated areas.

In addition to an increase in the amount of rescue efforts we are starting to hear more success stories of animals being reunited with their owners. We can’t stress enough the importance of calling the hot-lines to provide descriptions of lost pets and, if owners looking for lost pets are still in the area, stopping by the shelter to look for their pet.

The out-pouring of support from the animal welfare community, our corporate partners and the public has been phenomenal. We are inundated with inquiries from the public on what they can do to help. We have had one gentleman pledge the use of a cargo plane to fly animals out of the disaster area when needed and the use of his farm in Nebraska to house animals.

The best way to assist in the disaster relief efforts is to make a donation to the organizations involved so that they can purchase much needed supplies and equipment for the rescue and relief efforts and provide assistance to animal welfare groups impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

Shelters and Hotlines
Tuesday, 6 September 2005, 7:00 am EST

Louisiana residents If you are in Louisiana, please call toll-free (888) 773-6489 between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm. All others, please call (225) 925-3980 between 8:00 am and 6:00 pm (a toll-free number for out-of-state callers is being established).

Evacuees can house their animals at the following temporary animal shelters, owners are required to come by twice a day to care for their pets.

Lamar-Dixon Expo Center 9039 St. Landry Road, Gonzales, LA
Blackham Coliseum Cajundome Blvd. Lafayette
LSU Agriculture Center @ Parker Coliseum Baton Rouge
Ike Hamilton Center (large animals) 501 Mane Street, West Monroe
Monroe Civic Center (small animals) 401 Lea Joyner Memorial Expressway, Monroe

Mississippi Residents: A temporary animal shelter has been set up at the State Fairgrounds in Jackson, MS at the intersection of I-55 and High Street for more information you can call 800-252-0923.

National Hotline for reporting lost pets 1-888-pets-911


Updates of Current Animal Welfare Rescue Efforts:
Tuesday, 6 September 2005, 9::30 pm EST

North Shore Animal League America: Our mobile unit has been used as a triage unit in the staging area in Mississippi for the first hundreds of animals being rescued out of the area. Our associates are examining the animals, giving medical care and then transporting the animals to safety. We are coordinating with local rescue groups in the area as well as national groups to ensure the rapid and effective rescue of animals to safety.

Best Friends Animal Society: Best Friends and its sister sanctuary, St. Francis Animal Sanctuary, are setting up emergency housing for the animals rescued from metro New Orleans. Capital Animal Care, a Washington DC-based non-profit animal welfare organization is taking their state-of-the art vet mobile clinic to Best Friends Animal Society’s animal rescue operation base in Tylertown, Mississippi.

Capital Animal Care will be deployed under Best Friends Animal Society’s disaster team leader Paul Berry to provide critical care and emergency vet needs. They have stainless steel cages for up to 50 animals, hot and cold running water, heat/ac, onboard generator and three fully equipped operating room stations.

American Humane Association:The American Humane Association is working with a host of animal welfare organizations to find, rescue, and care for the hundreds of animals still stranded or unaccounted for after Hurricane Katrina. Many American Humane volunteers are caring for pets at a temporary animal shelter in Lafayette. Other American Humane volunteers are in New Orleans with boats, gear, and specialized skills to rescue animals in flooded areas. We're coordinating back-up resources to get more support to the shelter in Gonzales that is caring for abandoned animals.

LSU School of Veterinary Medicine: The Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry, the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (LA/SPCA), the Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association (LVMA), the Louisiana Animal Control Association (LACA), and the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine (SVM) are managing animal evacuations and recovery plans for New Orleans pets and displaced animals, which includes managing a hot-line for pets needing rescue, coordinating the activities or professional animal rescue volunteers and assisting with emergency animal shelter operations throughout the state.

Over 600 animals are being cared for at LSU’s Parker Coliseum, as they have received animals evacuated from five veterinary clinics, two animal shelters and from people who are located at associated Red Cross shelters. They are still accepting animals. Please click on the above link for more details

Humane Society of the United States: HSUS is the lead national humane group working in Mississippi under the direction of the Board of Animal Health. Their support teams are setting up major staging areas in the coastal county of Jackson near Gautier and in Hattiesburg to serve as their primary operational bases.

United Animal Nations (EARS) , IFAW and Code 3 Associates combine resources: Today the ground animal rescuers will once again venture into the city along with other groups responding. The plan is to undertake door-to-door search and rescue missions to evacuate as many animals as they can who have been left behind. On Tuesday, we assisted Houston SPCA with the evaluation and intake of 60 dogs rescued from several Louisiana shelters. These dogs were in good spirits but smelled badly due to the unsanitary conditions from which they were rescued. Two of the dogs required immediate medical attention and one older black lab had both eyes encrusted from a bad infection.

ASPCA: ASPCA’s First team is based at the Louisiana SPCA Staging Area (Gonzales,LA) and is currently in the City of New Orleans with a convoy from LA/SPCA, HSUS, Code 3 and the Animal Rescue League of Boston, with vehicles and boats. The second team is en-route to Gonzales in a mobile veterinary unit. Tuesday afternoon the convey rescued six animals from Mercy Hospital but they had to leave the area because of bio-hazards.

Noah's Wish: Noah’s Wish currently caring for close to 300 animals at the temporary animal shelter in Slidell, LA. People from the area are stopping by the shelter to fill out lost animal reports and they were able to reunite one woman with her three dogs and her iguana.

Read past animal welfare alerts >>


Humane Society of the United States:
Monday, 5 September 2005, 7:00 am EST
Is preparing to leave the staging area in Jackson, MS to set up operations in the Hattiesburg area to be closer to the hardest hit areas of the gulf coast communities. They also have a team in Gonzales, LA assisting the LA SPCA with rescue and emergency shelter operations. Preparations are being made to send the adoptable animals, rescued from the Gulfport area on Thursday night, to shelters outside of Mississippi for adoption.

American Humane Association:
Monday, 5 September 2005, 7:00 am EST
Has received permission from Governor Kathleen Blanco to enter the state of Louisiana and are directing the majority of their team into the area. They are coordinating with the liaison from the State of Louisiana to determine which areas need their resources and are taking on Incident Command for the coliseum in Lafayette, LA.

United Animal Nations (EARS) , IFAW and Code 3 Associates combine resources:
Monday, 5 September 2005, 7:00 am EST
Beginning last night, we are now assisting with operation of an animal shelter in Monroe, Louisiana. EARS has also been asked by HSUS to take over their role at the pet friendly shelter in Jackson, Mississippi. At that shelter yesterday, our team assisted with the decontamination of approximately 120 animals who were rescued from the Gulport, Mississippi area. The dogs and cats were from a shelter located near a sewage plant that overflowed.

Noah's Wish:
Monday, 5 September 2005, 7:00 am EST
Noah's Wish is working in conjunction with Slidell Animal Control in Slidell, LA. Their 65 member team has been setting up the emergency shelter, as the animal control facility was flooded with ten feet of water, and responding to rescue requests from victims and law enforcement personnel. Pet owners who live in Slidell are urged to report to Heritage Park to report a lost or stranded pet between 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. and determine if their pet is at the emergency shelter.

Humane Society of the United States:
Sunday, 4 September 2005, 12:30 pm EST
Late last night, HSUS rescuers, working with The Humane Society of South Mississippi, picked up 42 cats and 89 dogs in Gulfport, Mississippi and drove them to a staging area in Jackson, Miss. There they are providing triage medical care and temporary shelter for the animals before arranging to transfer them to animal shelters around the country.

Individuals who learn of stranded pets are urged to call the HSUS phone bank at 1-800-HUMANE-1, provided they have location information that can be relayed to the teams in the field.

United Animal Nations (EARS) , IFAW and Code 3 Associates combine resources:
Sunday, 4 September 2005, 12:30 pm EST
UAN, IFAW and Code 3 Associates are working together to provide rescue and relief in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. They are working with the Houston SPCA in Texas to provide emergency animal shelter for animals being evacuated from Louisiana. They are also staged in Jackson, MS preparing to provide assistance where needed.

ASPCA:
Sunday, 4 September 2005, 12:30 pm EST
ASPCA is sending a team of veterinarians, technicians and medical staff to Jackson, MS and will also send their mobile veterinary clinic into the area. In Austin, TX they are helping local animal care agencies coordinate efforts to develop a staging area for arriving evacuees.

Noah's Wish:
Sunday, 4 September 2005, 12:30 pm EST
Noah's Wish is working in conjunction with Slidell Animal Control in Slidell, LA. Their 65 member team has been setting up the emergency shelter, as the animal control facility was flooded with ten feet of water, and responding to rescue requests from victims and law enforcement personnel.

American Humane Association:
Sunday, 4 September 2005, 12:30 pm EST
Has received permission from Governor Kathleen Blanco to enter the state of Louisiana and are directing the majority of their team into the area, they are in the process of securing additional permission from the National Guard to enter the city of New Orleans which is now under the authority of the Louisiana National Guard. The rest of their team will stay on in Mississippi to continue to assist in coordinating sheltering and care for animals.

Overview of Animal Welfare Response in Mississippi and Louisiana: Saturday, 3 September 2005, 12:30 pm EST
Numerous trained animal rescue personnel are on the ground in both Louisiana and Mississippi, as most of the national animal welfare groups have teams of employees and trained volunteers on site with their rescue equipment to complement the local rescue groups.

In Louisiana, rescue efforts in the hard hit area of New Orleans were being conducted primarily by local agencies, like the LA SPCA and animal control organizations. However, they had to stop some of these operations due to the mounting violence in the area. Efforts are on-going to move animals from the temporary animal shelters to out-of-state shelters.

In Mississippi, the MS Animal Rescue League has been staffing the animal evacuation shelter at the state fairgrounds, which is located near the evacuation shelter for humans. The fairgrounds are also serving as the staging area for the national groups, which were just allowed to go south of Hattiesburg into the hardest hit areas. The rescue team from HSUS was able to assist the Humane Society of Southern Mississippi in transporting over 130 animals out of devastated Gulfport, MS, to the evacuation shelter in Jackson.

ASPCA's hurricane hotline
Friday, 2 September 2005, 12:30 pm EST
For pets that have been left behind or to volunteer in affected areas, leave a message on the the ASPCA's hurricane hotline at 866-275-3923 x 4700. Be sure to leave as many details as possible and a way you can be contacted.

United Animal Nations Emergency Animal Rescue Service (EARS) activated in Louisiana
Thursday, 1 September 2005, 12:30 pm EST
"We are being activated to respond to Louisiana, with our first goal to assist with the rescue of a reported 175 animals who are at a Metairie animal hospital, which is now flooding." Click to learn more about UAN>>

American Humane Association (AHA) deploying volunteer responders
Wednesday, 31 August 2005, 12:37 pm EST
American Humane Association's Animal Emergency Services volunteer responders are deploying to areas hardest hit by the hurricane.

The Humane Society of the United States launches massive relief effort
Wednesday, 31 August 2005, 12:35 pm EST
In response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, The Humane Society of the United States has launched a massive relief effort to rescue animals and assist their caregivers in the disaster areas.

LA ARF has opened pet shelter in Lafayette
Wednesday, 31 August 2005, 11:50 am EST
"Please let all Petfinder members know that we have opened a pet shelter at Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette, right next to the Cajundome. Evacuees may bring their pets there for housing. We have PLENTY of food, water, crates, cages, bedding and newspaper. BUT the owners are responsible for feeding, watering, walking and medicating their own pets."

Interested parties may call Lafayette Parish Animal Control at 337-291-5644 for more information. (please do not tie this phone line up with non-essential calls)

NSALA Update:
Wednesday, 31 August 2005,9:30 am EST
"We have two rescue vans in the area already and tomorrow they will be doing the first pick up from a shelter in Florence Alabama."

Noah's Wish update:
Wednesday, 31 August 2005,12:00 am EST
The ten member Noah's Wish initial team is now in the outlying areas of the disaster area. Since their arrival earlier today they have been:

gathering supplies they will need in disaster areas
determining what the road conditions are, where the closures are, and the best routes to take into some of the worst hit areas tomorrow
listening to reports on where it is flooding
completing rescue requests
networking with other animal organizations to determine where the greatest needs are
Several updates to report on animal welfare efforts in affected areas:
Monday, 29 August 2005, 9:20 pm EST

Noahswish.org has teams in communication with Fema and are responding to affected areas
North Shore Animal League America is gearing up for a south - north transport to bring pets from affected shelters up to NY.
Many thanks to PETCO and PETCO FOUNDATION for their help in Shreveport
SHELTER AND RESCUE GROUP CHECK-IN
updated Monday, 5 September 2005, 7:00 pm EST

Ascension Animal Advocates reports that their animals at the Ascension Parish Animal Shelter (LA78) are doing well. Staff have been assisting at the temporary animal shelter at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center.
Looziana Basset Rescue - evacuated safely and stayed with another Petfinder.com member, Hokie's Hounds Beagle Rescue, all of their animals are fine.
Mobile SPCA in Alabama is doing fine – office has a big hole in the ceiling but they are absolutely fine. Coordinating with So Mobile County and with MS to offer help where they can.
Chaos and Critters - doing fine, available to help/take in reptiles, small pets (ferrets, rabbits), birds and exotics. Lost power for 3 days, minor roof damage – but fine otherwise.
Cleveland/Bolivar County Animal Shelter sustained minor damage from rain and wind, otherwise doing alright.
LA SPCA - All animals were safely evacuated to the Houston SPCA prior to the storm. Staff are now working on the rescue efforts in New Orleans. The State had to order them to stop evacuation efforts due to the violence in the area.
Humane Society of South Mississippi - unfortunately we have been informed that a number of their animals did drown in the storm and tragically so did one of their staff. They were able to evacuate some of the animals out prior to the storm and are in the process of rescuing and relocating the others.
St Francis Animal Sanctuary - we have heard that their animals are okay but the shelter is not. They are in the process of evacuating to the emergency shelter at the State Fairgrounds.
MS ARL UPDATE: They have electricity back on and are having to boil water prior to use. They are staffing the shelter and the emergency shelter at the State Fairgrounds. If you would like to make a donation to them to assist them in their efforts please visit their web site http://www.msarl.org/ and click on the guidestar donation button on their homepage.
Pearl River County SPCA: "The shelter survived way better than I had expected. All the animals came thru the storm. We have all the dogs outside. The cats are most at risk in the aftermath with the power out. It is estimated to be 4-6 weeks before power is restored. Phones may be almost that long as well."
City Shelter in Jackson, MS reports that the animals are all okay, the building is fine and they are operational.
CAAWS - Capital Area Animal Welfare Society of Baton Rouge, LA, has checked in and is fortunate and doing well.
Animal Rescue Foundation in Lafayette is doing well
Roicy Duhon Animal Control Center in Lafayette report that they are fine and having no major problems
Community Animal Rescue & Adoption in Jackson, MS have fared well. They are fully operational and now have water and electricity. They have taken in a number of animals from people who evacuated their homes and they hope to return them to their owners soon.
Brookhaven Animal Rescue League reports that their animals are all okay.
North German Shepherd Rescue is OK
Gulf Coast Doberman rescue, evacuated to north
Animal Rights for Life is still on-site 5 miles above New Orleans with 35 animals
New Orleans pets evacuated to Texas as part of interagency agreement between Houston SPCA and New Orleans SPCA
Sunday, 28 August 2005, 6:30 pm EST
From Lou Guyton, Director
HSUS Southwest Regional Office & Spay Neuter Clinic and Animal Wellness Center

"I have just been asked to stage an animal transfer in the DFW area with approximately 145 animals from the New Orleans shelter. New Orleans arrived in Houston this morning and they are currently sorting through the animals to establish what can be brought further inland and what must go back to New Orleans or be held in Houston. It looks as if the Louisiana folks will be bringing them here on Tuesday morning. Their entire shelter was evacuated and while a few animals went to Baton Rouge, the abundance of them (300) came to Texas as the New Orleans SPCA and the Houston SPCA have interagency agreements during hurricane events."
MESSAGE FORUM

Please visit our Hurricane Katrina forum in our Disaster and Emergency Response message board to post or to communicate with others about the plight of affected pets, animals and their people.


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We will continue to update this page as information is made available to us.

DONATE NOW TO HELP THE SHELTERS!

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Make a tax-deductible donation to the Petfinder.com Foundation Hurricane Fund. Your gift will go to shelters and animal placements groups affected by Hurricane Katrina.
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or mail your donation to: Petfinder.com Foundation, P.O. Box 16385, Tucson, AZ 85732-6385

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The Petfinder.com Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation (#87-0694641). It will distribute funds as needed to animal shelters and placement groups devastated by the hurricane.


THANK YOU to the following Petfinder Members for their help to animals in need:

Amazing Grace
SPCA of Bell County
True Blue Animal Rescue
The Pet List
Riff's Friends Dog Rescue
Second Chance Small Critter Rescue
Meadow Haven Horse Rescue
Hillcrest Animal Rescue
San Antonio Boxer Rescue
Alabama Small Dog Rescue
Pet Jamboree
Northeast Mississippi Aussie Rescue
Mooney's Boxer Rescue
The Sterile Feral
Northwest Alabama Herding Dog Rescue
Meadow Haven Horse Rescue