By Rebecca Simmons
GONZALES, Louisiana—Hurricane Rita was no Katrina, but the Category 3 storm still wreaked enough havoc to add extra burdens to disaster responders already working to rescue potentially hundreds of animals who remained stranded or trapped in the New Orleans area.
The Lamar-Dixon emergency shelter here, about 60 miles north of the Crescent City, survived Rita without a scratch. Commanders had seven air-conditioned trucks standing by in case the animals needed to be moved quickly as Rita approached, but the vehicles proved to be unnecessary. None of the 750 animals at the shelter were harmed, and Lamar-Dixon itself sustained no damage.
That left incident commanders to focus on the task at hand: rescuing and sheltering more animals from New Orleans, which took another hit when flood waters breached levees in the city's eastern side and reflooded the predominantly poor Ninth Ward. Louisiana SPCA, The HSUS, and other groups stepped up rescue efforts today, sending out about 20 teams to comb the Big Easy for animals. Some of the teams were directed to only feed and water animals who appeared healthy and comfortable in their current locations.
"Our current focus is rescuing animals who are inside homes," said Charles Cox, a volunteer administrator and a former animal control officer in New Orleans. "We have a lot of addresses left to check, and we're planning to do as many as possible this week. We're currently organizing the remaining addresses to ensure that the operation is as efficient as possible."
“It’s been almost four weeks since Katrina hit New Orleans," Cox added. "Hurricane Rita set us back a few days so it’s critical that we get to as many animals as possible this week. These animals are at great risk."
Eric Sakach, director of The HSUS's West Coast Regional Office and incident commander at Lamar-Dixon, echoed Cox's comments, saying the rescue efforts will ramp up noticeably this week, in response to thousands of requests that have come into the HSUS Disaster Call Center over the past weeks. Many of those animals are still trapped in homes with no electricity, no food and no water. To make room for the expected influx of animals this week, personnel at Lamar-Dixon were also stepping up efforts to export animals from the facility, preferably to sites within the state of Louisiana to make reunions between pets and owners easier for all parties.
To that end, an additional 30 animals were taken on Saturday to the Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson, Louisiana, bringing the total number of animals at the facility to 180. Another 30-35 animals were exported on Sunday to North Shore Animal League America in Port Washington, New York, which has now assumed care for about 300 animals from Katrina-stricken areas. And Lamar-Dixon commanders hope to export another 200 animals to a second prison facility in Louisiana on Wednesday.
(Incidentally, every animal exported from Lamar-Dixon is vaccinated, microchipped, photographed, and documented. All available records and pictures are then posted on www.petfinder.com for owners to locate their missing animals. The HSUS will pay for the costs of shipping animals at outstate shelters back to Louisiana.)
Right now at Lamar-Dixon, hundreds of animals live side by side in the heat and amid the constant commotion of people. Bob Reder, director of The HSUS's Pacific Northwest Regional Office and an assistant incident commander at Lamar-Dixon, said, "By moving animals out of the Lamar-Dixon center to an approved facility, we're removing animals from a stressful environment and placing them into a better situation."
The Second Wave
Lou Guyton, director of The HSUS's Southwest Regional Office and a disaster response veteran, was leading The HSUS's efforts in the areas affected by Hurricane Rita. On Sunday, an HSUS assessment team reached Lake Charles, Louisiana, a city on the western edge of the state which took the brunt of Rita's blow on Saturday, and reported that the local shelter was still standing, but that it had no electricity. The team also reported that animals were injured and running loose.
On Thursday, in advance of Rita, The HSUS and other groups had helped to evacuate animals from the shelter in Lake Charles, and to move them to Shreveport. The animals roaming loose in Lake Charles were apparently owned. Flooding, the HSUS team reported, did not appear to pose an immediate threat to the stray animals. While flooding was affecting the Lake Charles area, it was light enough that trucks could navigate the city's streets.
Cameron Parish in the extreme southwest corner of Louisiana also took a major hit from Rita. An animal control officer in the region told our assessment team that at least 100 animals have been left stranded in the storm's wake, without much food or any veterinary services. The officer was hoping to round up the animals and take them to the stricken shelter in Lake Charles.
"We plan to send supplies to the affected area, whatever supplies are needed" said Melissa Rubin, vice president of Field Services for The HSUS. "As we get more reports from the field, we will step up our efforts accordingly."
Texas pets appeared to mostly escape the wrath of Rita, due in large part to the coordinated efforts of humane societies and animal control groups, which offered their services to evacuees in Houston, Galveston, and other areas. The shelter in San Marcos, for example, housed evacuees' pets free of charge, and even admitted animals without the usual required medical records. Shelters in Austin and New Braunfels were similarly stuffed with pets from evacuating Texans.
"Texas has a good federation of humane societies and an excellent animal control association," said John Snyder, senior director of Companion Animals for The HSUS and assistant incident commander at Lamar-Dixon. "They clearly took care of their own before, during, and after Rita."
Rebecca Simmons is the Outreach Communications Coordinator for the Companion Animals section of The HSUS. Additional reporting for this story was done by staff at The HSUS's headquarters.
