[ SHOWGSD-L ] A day in New Orleans and it is LONG
- From: RihadinK9@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 18 Sep 2005 12:02:24 EDT
I thought you guys might be interested in the diary of a Rescue volunteer
for PAWS OF AUSTIN.
Permission Granted to Crosspost.
I've attached pictures of few dogs we brought from Raceland.
For additional photos go to
_http://www.midnightfantasy.com/cyber/puppies/vt.pl?D=_Rescue/New_Orleans_
(http://www.midnightfantasy.com/cyber/puppies/vt.pl?D=_Rescue/New_Orleans)
This journal was writen by one of PAWS volunteers who went to New Orleans to
help with rescue operations.
I'm still trying to decompress from my three days in Louisiana helping out
with the Pasado's Safe Haven animal rescue crew. Mere words don't seem to be
enough to describe the experience, but I'll try. When I heard that there was a
PAWS of Austin caravan, I KNEW I had to go. If there is only one thing in
life "Wookies" like myself (6'3", 260lbs, lineman build) are good for it's
"Open That". :) Two days later I was in New Orleans.
First off, animal shootings in the city are not happening. Apparently
there was one bozo cop that did shoot a dog, but in general the cops and
national guard troops are being VERY good to those rescue orgs entering the
city
and the animals that need rescuing. We certainly got scrutinized at a
checkpoint or two (and there are a LOT), but we always got waved through after
a
minute or two. The area we worked was at I-10, Canal street, and down to just
about St. Alexander street where the flooding was still too deep - maps can be
viewed at: _http://tinyurl.com/73swx_ (http://tinyurl.com/73swx)
For the first 4 hours, a team of 18 people (4 teams of 4 broken into to two
teams of two so you didn't have to cross the street through the 6" of sewage
running down the road while searching houses, 2 people at the "triage" base
station) found only one dog. A Chihuahua who had been locked in the house
without food and water (the norm). There was a bathtub filled with water,
which
at the time we thought was left for the dog which didn't make sense as the dog
wouldn't have been able to get to it, and if so, wouldn't have been able to
get out, but I realized later it must have been for the owners. Turned out,
the HS-US had been through that zone the previous day right after it was
drained, but didn't mark the grid
off or spray the houses. We moved south until we started to hear dogs
barking and we finally started making progress. The HS-US showed up in the
afternoon, which is how we found out they had been there, and worked a combined
search the rest of the day with them searching west and south of Banks and us
going east and south. We hit water at Alexander, about waist deep, so our
Pasado's search teams broke into wet and dry search teams.
The wet teams had almost no luck. In the next 4 hours, they only managed to
find a few dogs, but those of us on the dry team found many. My partner and I
found 18 that afternoon. The conditions of the animals was extremely varied.
We found a pair of pitbulls that we VERY sweet, and were honestly the
roundest dogs I've seen in my life. They had been surviving on fat stores for
the
two weeks and didn't look a BIT the worse for wear, and were still seriously
obese, if not in serious need of fresh water. Nothing like kicking open a door
with dogs barking on the other side, to find yourself looking at two
pitbulls that are not at all sure if your one of the "good guys" or not. :)
Luckily,
these were the typical pitts that want northing more than tummy rubs and to
be told just how good
of dogs they are. Tho, putting a loop leash around their necks proved to be
mighty difficult, considering from shoulders to nose was a constant taper in
the form of a triangle. ;)
We also found some that broke our hearts they were so bad and barely hanging
on to life. I have no idea at all how many of these animals survived here.
The water was very deep, about 14-18 feet in some places, with the waterline
over the roofs of some houses. Most of the houses were the "shotgun" style, a
new home style for me, where it's a duplex that's a series of 5-8 rooms, all
in a line, front to back. Between each room was typically bedsheets hung as
privacy curtains I guess. Living room in front, bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom,
was the typical order of the rooms, with a small shared back yard.
For conducting the search, you'd beat on the door and sides of the house,
yelling out "Animal Rescue! Animal Rescue!" with the general rule being you
could not yell it too loud, or too often. While we never ran into a home
owner,
there was always that possibility, and we'd really rather not end up shot
with someone thinking we were a looter or something. If there was a dog inside,
they would typically start barking when you started banging. If there was no
answer, you'd peer inside and look for feces and
other telltale signs like "beware of dog" signs, leashes, puppy Santa
pictures, what have you... if we thought there might still be an animal
inside,
we'd go in. Sometimes this was easy, sometimes it was not. I commandeered a
bat
for knocking on doors and a fire axe from a shed which made entry far easier,
but most times it just took one or two "Wookie nudges" to gain entry.
We'd find dogs that would saunter up to us and look for love, one was at the
door barking when we knocked but when I kicked the door it went silent. By
the time we got in, he was nowhere to be found. After extensive searching I
finally found him hiding in the last room in the house, hiding in the closet
behind some clothes. Flashlights were a requirement once you got inside most
times. The houses had been under water for two weeks, and the floors were
treacherous, with boards giving way under foot quite often. (NOTE: Anyone
considering Pergo... reconsider if you live in a flood plain! Think Tile!!!)
with
windows and walls coated with slime, sewage, and mold.
Probably my favorite rescue was a male Rott. He had been spotted by a human
rescue crew, and had spray painted "1 dog" on the front of the house. We went
in and found they had left food for him, but not water. We found a gallon
water jug in the fridge (we were out of water for ourselves at this point and
had none to share with him) and tried that first. There was feces everywhere,
but no dog to be found. Then I heard him upstairs. We went up, and found out
why the HS-US had left his the previous day... he was growling and active
VERY uneasy about strangers in his house. We tried coaxing him to us for about
15 minutes with water and cookies, before I told my partner to let me try.
When you'd approach him,
he'd put his head down and growl while backing away, if you stopped and
backed up his ears would go up and he'd approach you a bit. I tried for 2-3
minutes before I decided to use his behavior to my advantage. I backed him
into
the last room in the house, up onto a bed, and into a corner. He was trapped,
nowhere to go, butt in the corner. I was able to get him with the snare stick,
and WOW did he fight. He had been a big boy before the flood, but was down
to about 75 lbs now, probably about 20 lbs light, but still PLENTY strong. We
tussled about a minute, then I made my
way out of the house with him. After about 5 minutes outside I had him
eating cookies out of my hand and getting scratches behind his ears. He is a
very
gentle soul and was obviously just was freaked out and terrified. He's in
Austin now in foster care, and we have his address so hopefully will be able
to
find his owners and return him. Here is a pic of him being vetted at the
Pasado's shelter:
_http://www.midnightfantasy.com/cyber/puppies/_Rescue/New_Orleans/DSCF0003.JPG
_
(http://www.midnightfantasy.com/cyber/puppies/_Rescue/New_Orleans/DSCF0003.JPG)
We did find death, tho far less than I expected. I have no idea how some
survived. One was SOOO sick. He had been on a 4 foot chain, padlocked to the
bottom of a post and his collar. The water level there was almost over the
roof.
He should have drown, but there he was in the back yard, still chained. maybe
the structure floated and he was able to climb onto something, who knows. I
couldn't find bolt-cutters, but was able to cut his collar off without
cutting him, to free him. Pasado's had to euthanize one of the dogs we rescued
today, and of all the ones we hauled in, I suspect it's him. He was in
seriously
rough shape. I'll be trying to find out who it was and if it was him. I VERY
clearly remember which house he was pulled from... anyway... here is a
picture of him back at the Pasado's shelter getting vetted and an IV, I hope
it
wasn't him:
_http://www.midnightfantasy.com/cyber/puppies/_Rescue/New_Orleans/DSCF0002.JPG
_
(http://www.midnightfantasy.com/cyber/puppies/_Rescue/New_Orleans/DSCF0002.JPG)
Most dogs were easy to catch, as they were so weak, hungry, and
thirsty.First order of business was getting them water, then we would take a
picture of
them with the ID cards we carried with us, take a picture of the card with the
address, and leave the card someplace the owners could find so they would
know their animal had been rescued, what it's rescue ID number was, and the
contact info to call. We went to great lengths to make sure we knew we could
associate which animals went to which homes, with reuniting them with their
owners one day in mind. The strays we captured are going to have a harder time,
but not many owners are trying
to reclaim animals yet, with many trying to find family members so...
Sometimes we'd not hear anything, not see any obvious signs of an animal in
the house, but just have a feeling... you'd go in, and find 2 or 3 rooms in
the feces, and a dog in the back cowering. Sometimes you'd see "big dog" feces
everywhere, go in, and not find anything at all. It was a total mixed bag. I
know some houses had dogs that just were not barking, and many had blinds up
that we couldn't see through, so some were left behind, but there just was
not time to do a house by house search without a clue or feeling that
something might have been home. We did find one
dead dog, but considering the number of houses searched and dogs found, I'm
shocked it was that little. We found more dead cats than anything, mostly
ones that were either declawed or very young. One house, well, SOMETHING was
dead in there, but we dared not venture further to find out just what. As soon
as I opened the door it hit us like a wave, and that smell was death. Nothing
in there was alive, so we moved on to the next house and continued the
search. You just gotta keep moving sometimes...
Some were found on porches, with MRE rations strewn about, obvious signs
their humans had been evac'd and forced to leave their animals behind. Many
times in the houses we would find suitcases half packed, ladders leading into
attics, firearms and ammo out and at the ready, and everything a shambles. The
news is doing a good job of showing what that city went through, and it's a
warzone of hell, fire, and brimstone if I've ever seen it. When you see the
pictures on TV, many figure they are showing the cherry picked sites that
showcase the worst damage they could find... well, not in this case. It's bad.
REALLY bad. Tornadoes level
everything in their path, but try to imagine a tornado survivor then
being dropped in a bucket for two weeks, and you get the idea of what it's
like. Nothing was spared.
As for military and police, I can't say it enough, these guys are helping
rescue. We'd be working a house, banging around, breaking doors and windows,
carrying around bats, axes, crowbars, whatnot, and a guardsman would run up,
rifle in hand, and hand you a strip of paper with a scrawled address on it,
with a wild look on their face and say "There are two dogs stranded in this
house, we can't get them, can you please come help?!" and you'd jump into the
back of the transport and they would drive you there, open the house for you
(I
think they really enjoyed that part), and once
you had the animals, paperwork done, and were ready to go they would give us
a lift back to the triage station. Same for the cops. Heck, even utility
workers were telling us where there were stranded or loose animals. They are
worried about the animals, and we many times would recruit them to help if we
needed a tree moved or something that required more than one Wookie horsepower
of heavy lifting to get access to a yard or house. They were too happy to
help, even when it meant stepping out of
their heavy transport into the slippery sewage of a street that we were all
working in. Other teams that did not have a Wookie for a partner regularly
called on troops and cops to open houses and doors for them that they were
unable to (Second note: anyone that things their French doors are secure,
think
again! Even the ones with bolts top and bottom with multiple deadbolts between
the two doors. I could go through one of those in less than 20 seconds with
ease without breaking the glass even. They blow apart / open with far less
force than I ever expected.) The checkpoints are a mix of safety barricades
telling folks where they can pass and where they are making sure that folks
are
behaving themselves. The roving patrols of heavy transports are everywhere,
and the only real
traffic in the city was military patrols, utility workers, police, and
news crews. We even managed to get a lift from one news photographer gal
that drove us and a dog we'd pulled out of a house on Canal street 5 blocks
from
the triage station toward the end of the day and were not looking forward to
the hike back with the pup in tow.
We would start each morning before dawn, and go straight to walking dogs,
cleaning cages, watering, feeding, and updating paperwork. There were sleeping
volunteers on the ground, in cars, on benches pulled out of the rental vans,
everywhere you could find a flat surface. We'd end the days typically around
3am, there was just that much that needed doing. Nobody lounged, and when
somebody DID stop moving for a minute, you left them alone to rest. Everyone
was
working incredibly hard. Dinner was served
at 10pm, and for most of us, that was the only time that day we ate. It was
a LITTLE tricky, as more than half the rescuers were vegetarians, and of
those many were vegans. Fortunately I'd brought along 10lbs of venison sausage
with me, which I shared gladly with a few of the other "meat eaters" who were
especially grateful on day 2 when dinner was vegan lasagne... no cheese, meat,
or pasta... yeah, I'm not sure how that qualified as "lasagna" either, but
it was warm and tasty... and the eggplant "noodles" weren't nearly as bad as I
feared they might be :)
When day 3 was "finished" at the Pasado's shelter, with all the crews packed
up and headed either into the city or to the Gonzales shelter, we finished
helping with walking / feeding / vetting the dogs there and finished loading
the cars and dogs we were taking back. We hauled 4 rotts, 2 labs, 2 Scottish
terriers, and one poodle back with us to Austin to waiting foster homes. One
of the rotts was the one that I had rescued that previous afternoon, as well
as both labs and the terriers. That was extremely rewarding, knowing that 5 of
the nine were saved by my hand the previous afternoon.
There are still thousands of animals to save, but with hopefully citizens
being allowed back into the city soon, folks will start to save them on their
own. The Pasado's crew was amazing to work with. The Gonzales shelter is
reported as being very confusing, and some folks are reporting that they are
being
turned away, but none of our rescuers were. The place is overflowing with
animals, and volunteers are badly needed. Just think about how much time it
would take to feed, water, and keep the crates cleaned for 20 dogs, or 200, or
the 1000 that they have, and you get an
idea of how much work is being done there. If folks can spare the time, and
get airmiles donated or what have you, I strongly recommend going. They need
help. Pack the tent, clothes, rubber boots and gloves, and pitch in. It's
really just something you'd have to see to believe, and they desperately need
the help.
I was able to take a few photographs... nothing in the city. I wanted
to, but there just wasn't time. We were running everywhere, and every time
we turned around we were running someplace else... In three days, I only took
7 pictures, and 4 of those were back in Austin of my rescue Rott buddy that I
just had to get a pic of, but they can all be viewed here:
_http://www.midnightfantasy.com/cyber/puppies/vt.pl?D=_Rescue/New_Orleans_
(http://www.midnightfantasy.com/cyber/puppies/vt.pl?D=_Rescue/New_Orleans)
If folks have any questions, send 'em on to me directly, and I'm happy to
answer, but there is more than a books worth of text I could write, and I've
now prattled on long enough at this point. I hope that some of this helps to
paint an accurate firsthand experience of what it's like "in the zone", or at
least what I saw and experienced.
Matt Schreiner A.K.A. Cyber
cyber@xxxxxxxxx
Ginger Cleary, Rome, GA
"Those who desire to give up freedom in order to gain security, will not
have, nor do they deserve, either one." Benjamin Franklin.
_http://www.rihadin.com_ (http://www.rihadin.com/)
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