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FEMA has now allowed multiple agencies into NO, including the Humane Society and the LASPCA. The LASPCA is beginning to go door-to-door along with people rescuers as of today.
Also, citizens of Jefferson Parish are being allowed to go back to their homes to retrieve pets.
This story will make you feel better. Lots of evacuations already...
Humane groups reach out to animals
Sunday, 4:12 p.m.
By Sandra BarbierStaff writer
Humane groups and parish animal control agencies are hoping to stem the tide of what could become another heart-breaking after-effect of Hurricane Katrina, the deaths of hundreds or thousands of pets left behind in houses and yards by owners expecting to be able to return to their homes in just a few days.
"We've received thousands of requests from all over the area, asking us to go in and look for their pets," said Paul Berry, an official with the Utah-based Best Friends Animal Society.
Berry, a former New Orleanian, and the society have been in the area assisting the Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter in housing some of the parish's stray dogs and cats.
The society has built an emergency shelter at the St. Francis Animal Sanctuary in Tylertown, Miss.
"We're at about 600 (animals) right now," Berry said. The society has taken in strays and rescued animals, but rescuing animals from homes will require a more coordinated effort, Berry said.
Public agencies' first priority is rescuing survivors, and "they need to search houses. Why not pull the pets out at the same time? If they make us wait until the water goes down, they're (pets are) all going to die and we have one more tragedy," he said.
In some cases that has been done, officials said.
Louisiana SPCA director Laura Maloney said New Orleans shelter workers follow other agencies and crews through neighborhoods and rescue pets, some that are locked in houses. At the owners' request, "we break in," she said.
The Jefferson Parish Animal Shelter has not received many calls about rescuing pets from homes, shelter director Bert Smith said. Whether they do "will depend on the kind of calls we get. We'll try to deal with any situation as best we can."
The shelter has been operating with a short staff and poor communications for several days, he said.
It evacuated 215 animals last Sunday to the Washington Parish Fairgrounds. The hurricane knocked out the area's water and electricity Monday. "We were sleeping in our cars," Smith said.
Shelter workers emptied the fairgrounds with the help of Best Friends, which took 130 of the animals, and individuals who volunteered to temporarily keep the rest, he said.
"We got back here Friday and were called to pick up pets at the I-10 and Causeway," where evacuees were waiting for buses to take them out of New Orleans, he said. "There were thousands and thousands of people and hundreds and hundreds of pets...They weren't letting them (evacuees) take their animals with them."
Smith said the human and animal misery and suffering overwhelmed shelter workers, who picked up 55 cats and dogs and a ferret. "It was back-breaking," he said. The animals were taken to Jefferson Parish’s west bank animal shelter, which had water and electricity.
On Saturday, evacuees were moved to Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner, and could bring their pets."They were allowing people to take pets. Thank God for that, or else who knows how many animals we would have running around and loose," Smith said.
However, officials would not let evacuees take aggressive dogs or dogs big enough to displace a human on the evacuation buses. "Those were apparently abandoned," Smith said. By Saturday afternoon, very few were still on the interstate, he said.
Smith said members of the American Veterinary Medical Association's disaster team helped treat evacuees' pets at the airport.
Also Saturday, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office deputies reported animals stranded at the Petco store on Veterans Memorial Boulevard in Metairie.
Workers rescued birds, "pocket pets" such as hamsters and gerbils, as well as snakes and tarantulas. The store doesn't sell dogs or cats, he said.
With Jefferson residents being allowed to return to their homes today, Smith said he expects many calls about strays and dog bites as homeowners are out trying to clean up. Best Friends will assist by taking about 100 more pets to the Mississippi facility.
Each will be photographed and their pictures posted at the group's Web site,www.bestfriends.org, along with an electronic form owners can fill out if they see their pet, Berry said. The organization will hold animals for up to three months, using a network among its 250,000 members nationwide to provide foster homes.
"Fifteen thousand of those have stepped up," to offer temporary homes, he said. The three months could be extended for up to another three more months. If an animal is not claimed, it will be offered for adoption. The photo gallery should be available about Wednesday, Berry said.
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