[ SHOWGSD-L ] Re: [KatrinaAnimalReliefLA] Crews coaxing pets to safety
- From: Crossroadsgsd@xxxxxxx
- To: showgsd-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 16:49:53 EDT
This just came to me.
Crews coaxing pets to safety
Weak and afraid, New Orleans animals get help at makeshift shelter
Monday, September 12, 2005
By CRAYTON HARRISON / The Dallas Morning News
GONZALES, La. â?? As Joe DuBois walked between the rows and rows of crates, a
Husky mix
with one blue eye and one brown eye sauntered past.
"Loose dog!" yelled the Humane Society volunteer as he sprinted toward the
dog, which
took off running. Workers at the makeshift shelter froze in their tracks as
Mr. DuBois
caught up with the animal, which had somehow escaped its cage.
The scene at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center â?? which normally serves as an
equestrian center
and 4-H facility â?? was one of orderly chaos as dogs stacked in crates at the
loading dock
awaited their introductory bath.
Inside were rows upon rows of crates holding dogs, cats, birds, horses,
hamsters, gerbils,
goats, ducks, geese, chickens and at least one potbellied pig. There were
1,300 domestic
animals in all â?? and many more coming in daily.
Now that the search for Hurricane Katrina's human victims is reaching its
final phase, the
effort to recover the animals left behind has gained momentum. And rescue
workers from
all over the country are combing the New Orleans area â?? trying to gather as
many of them
as they can.
Though most of the animals pose no threat to humans, they need to be managed
by
experienced handlers, rescue workers say. They're scared and they're hungry.
So far, the animals that have come to the shelter have been in "surprisingly
good
condition," said Micaela Collins, a volunteer with the Humane Society of the
United States.
"Cats are way tougher than humans, and they're way better off than the dogs.
Dogs
depend more on people."
Thin, stressed out. Still, life without humans is beginning to wear on the
animals that have
not been recovered.
Dogs roam the streets in packs, foraging for food with a desperation that
makes people
they encounter nervous. They often cower from humans, though some have
learned to
approach those they see, hoping for something to eat.
Cats hole up in their abandoned houses, hissing at rescuers trying to catch
them and bring
them to shelter at the Expo Center.
"The ones coming in now are a little thinner and a little more stressed
because they've
been in that environment for so long," said Ms. Collins, who was helping
veterinarians
administer shots to cats.
When they show up at the shelter here, some tremble in their cages, curled
into balls of
fur. Dogs puff out their chests and bark nonstop. The chorus of barks sounds
like a seal
colony.
"They're not that feral. They're more scared than anything else," said
Emanuel Maciel, a
Humane Society rescue team member, positioning a net to catch a cat in a
home on
Tchoupitoulas Street in New Orleans.
Avoiding killings
Animal welfare groups acknowledge that there are cases when animals must be
shot
instead of rescued. But they say police should avoid unnecessary killings.
Animal rights activists have decried the shooting of a dog this week by
sheriff's deputies in
St. Bernard Parish, an incident that was video-recorded by a Dallas Morning
News
photographer.
But the Humane Society of the United States, one of the groups coordinating
the shelter in
Gonzales, said the killing was isolated. "It appears to have been one group
of rogue
individuals," said Wayne Pacelle, the group's president.
And Lt. Col. Jacques Thibodeaux, with the Louisiana National Guard said he
had not heard
of the incident. "Most of the sheriff's departments in the area are
integrated with the
National Guard," he said. "I'd have a hard time believing a sheriff's deputy
would do that
with all the other missions we have going on."
Law enforcement officials have assured Mr. Pacelle that their policy is only
to kill animals
that threaten personal safety or the integrity of human remains.
Busy circuits kept calls from going through to officials with the St.
Bernard Parish Sheriff's
Department on Monday.
Jo Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the American Society for the Prevention of
Cruelty to
Animals, said it's best for animal lovers and police to work together.
"We all want to get those animals out of there so there won't be any more
for them to
shoot," because they become dangerous, she said. "We don't need to make
judgments and
make it worse than it is."
Mr. Maciel and several other Humane Society workers and volunteers were busy
tracking
down cats Monday afternoon. Another team had identified a house with 13 cats
and
managed to catch four of them earlier in the day.
The tiny, sweltering guesthouse was covered in garbage and smelled of feces
and cat
urine.
While some team members positioned nets in open doorways in the house,
others went
into the corners and crevices and tried to coax out the cats. Every so
often, a feline would
dart into the open, sometimes managing to evade his rescuers with a graceful
leap.
Cats caught in nets were subdued with a pinch to the scruff, then lowered
into crates. A
few meowed in mourning. The crew caught all nine.
From New Orleans, the cats were to be shipped to Gonzales. Each animal that
visits the
impromptu shelter at the expo center gets an identifying number. It also
gets a chart filled
out with any name and address information on the collar and a description of
color and
temperament. One cat, a sleek, purring Siamese, was described as "friendly
around
people."
The animals are bathed when they first arrive, then boarded into cages.
About 300 are
entering the facility each day with the same number shipping out to shelters
around the
country while they wait to be identified.
Pet Web site
Before they are shipped out, the animals get tattooed and have microchips
inserted
beneath their skin to make them easier to track. Owners looking for a lost
pet can check
the Web site, petfinder.com.
In many cases, rescuers have not been able to do much to identify the
animals.
"If people would put down a name tag, a phone number and address on these
collars, we
wouldn't be in this mess," said Mr. DuBois.
"Hold that Rottweiler," he screamed at a woman walking a dog on a leash
across the room.
"Stay right there! Stay! Stay!"
Staff writer Diane Jennings contributed to this report.
E-mail charrison@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cathleen Bennett
_www.crossroadsgsd.com_ (http://www.crossroadsgsd.com/)
We have puppies
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