By Carrie Allan

A Local Hero Helps HSUS Responders

John and Liz McPhail were in Waveland, Mississippi today to get her mother registered with FEMA and the Red Cross, and to check on some friends to see if they'd returned from Atlanta. As they were leaving the street, Liz McPhail happened to look up—and noticed a head sticking out of an upper window of a decimated house nearby. The two animal lovers stopped, and McPhail tried to get into the house.

"It was really deep in mud, and I really didn't want to go in," he says. "I helped get a body out of a house right after [the storm] happened and I really didn't want to find another one today."

Instead, they went up the street and asked a neighbor who was sorting through all his ruined possessions and asked if he had a ladder. McPhail went up to the second floor and, thanks to all the rotted wood from the storm surge, was able to punch a hole in the wall of the house.

He offered his hand to the dog inside to smell, and soon was coming back down the ladder with a real survivor: A young female pit bull with chocolate fur and golden eyes. He brought the dog back to the Waveland response area for treatment, and hopes that she'll soon be joining his family.

"I don't know how anyone could leave their dog behind," he says. "Of course, I could be talking about people who are dead, but if they're not …how could they have not come back for her yet?"

Surviving Against All Odds

Buddy, a 14 year old cat from Waveland, has surely used up at least four of his nine lives. The cat was left in his home when his owner evacuated. The house flooded.

Yesterday Buddy’s owner returned, fully expecting to find that Buddy had died. Instead, when he entered his debris-filled home, he found the cat alive and relatively well, living in a closet.

The cat was matted and dehydrated, but once he’d been treated and shaved down by responders, he revealed himself to be quite a handsome devil. He must have been a tubby sort prior to his weeks of forced dieting, because he doesn’t seem particularly underweight.

His owner brought the cat into the Waveland shelter for a vet check and hopes to reclaim him once he’s found a place to live.

An Early Christmas for Animal Control

When Laura Bevan, coordinator of The HSUS's disaster response teams operations in Mississippi, arrived at the temporary shelter site in Waveland today, she came bearing gifts.

"It's Christmas, baby!" she told Charles Schwartz, the animal control officer for the city of Waveland. Waveland, on Mississippi's southern coast, took a severe beating from Hurricane Katrina when it came ashore more than two weeks ago.

In the back of Bevan's truck were a pair of catch poles, a tranquilizer dart gun, and several boxes of other tools vital to the animal control trade—especially in a town that suddenly finds itself dealing with lots of aggressive stray dogs.

Schwartz, whose own tools were washed out to sea in the storm surge from Katrina, appreciated the gift of the control pole in particular, regarding it with a gaze that almost seemed affectionate.

"It's just like the one I used to have!" he said, peering in at the sleek silver metal.

Another animal control officer teased Schwartz about the practice darts included with the tranquilizer gun, saying, "It's a good thing they sent those, cause you need to practice."

"Hey," Schwartz shot back, loading his new, and essential, toys into his truck. "At least I'm not the one who tranquilized a tree."

A Bull in the Night

Eric Sakach, director of The HSUS's West Coast regional office, has grown the shadow of a stubbly beard after two days without a shave. Working days in the Gulf Coast heat, Sakach has been camping in his car for the last two nights in order to make sure the smaller HSUS compound in Waveland, MS stays secure (looting is still a problem in nearby areas).

Sakach doesn't mind sleeping in the car, he says. In fact, aside from the stubble and the showering with a garden hose attached to the mangled building nearby, he finds it quite comfortable. But he did have an unexpected visitor last night.

"I was sound asleep. Ashley Judd was in my dream, it was great," he says. "Then at around 4 in the morning I got a knock on the window."

A police officer was standing outside of the car. Before Sakach could explain why he was there, the officer stopped him and announced, "We have a cow."

Somewhat taken aback (and groggy), Sakach asked, "Is it a mean cow? Has it been causing problems?"

The officer explained that it was wandering down a nearby street, and pulled out a photo for Sakach to look at. The photo was of a stoic looking Texas longhorn. Not a cow at all, but a bull, Sakach says, noting that it had an obvious set of "low and danglies."

Sakach explained to the officer that no wranglers were on site at 4 in the morning, and that even if he were to capture the bull himself and get it to the temporary shelter, it would probably not fit in any of the hundreds of dog crates stacked up under the tarp protecting the site. He would need to arrange for more appropriate shelter for the animal. He suggested that the officers return later in the morning to get help. The officers left, but did not return in the morning.

A Break from the Mississippi Heat

Call her Queen of the Road: Consie Von Gontard, a Rural Areas Veterinary Services (RAVS) technician who's overseeing the veterinary side of the response in Hattiesburg, is an expert on all things RV. She not only knows how to drive her own giant vehicle, but she can also provide a fascinating guide to the differences between "black water" and "gray water," both of which must be dumped out of any trailer where people shower or use the bathroom.

Von Gontard's trailer has been a welcome and air-conditioned respite for many a volunteer vet, dogwalker, and kennel cleaner these past weeks; people have been able to grab a shower, a bottle of water, or the occasional five minutes of rest.

But Von Gontard's peaceful space isn't just benefiting humans: In the bathroom of her home-on-wheels, she's been harboring a stressed out mama dog and her brand new puppies—all of whom were rescued by HSUS teams a few days ago. Several smaller dogs in cages are also living in the RV's main area. The dogs are enjoying Von Gontard's TLC, and the exhausted volunteers are enjoying a dose of puppy love.

Carrie Allan is the associate editor of Animal Sheltering Magazine at The HSUS.