This one's for Snowball! - another $50 to HSUS Disaster Services.

[expatriot]

The tragic story of the animals have moved my wife and I to tears so many times the past week. As my wife said in tears when she got home from work yesterday after hearing the Snowball story on NPR (I had read of it the night before on DU and commented 'I hope my wife never hears this story.'), "When humans are being treated worse than animals should be, animals become nothing to so many people."

We had agreed that we had already donated our maximum. $300 between various rescue and relief groups ($200 to human, $100 to animal) and three weeks of lost wages for me as I will take three weeks unpaid leave to go with the Red Cross to volunteer in a week. But Snowball's story and the story of so many other abandoned and suffering animals have pushed us to give again. $50 to the HSUS Disaster Services. For Snowball! Please join me. 5, 10, 20 dollars whatever you can afford. I know we have all given so much already.

If you are one who feels that moneys to help the animals is useless when there is so much human need, then I challenge you to "replace" our $50 donation to HSUS with a $50 donation to the Liberal blogosphere's RedCross fundraising drive.

In the name of COMPASSION!

HSUS Disaster Services Contribution page
https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005

United Animal Nations - Anotehr group that is rescuing animals in LA/MS area
https://secure.ga3.org/01/UANdonate

Liberal Blogosphere's Hurricane Relief Drive
http://www.dropcash.com/campaign/hurricanerelief/liberal_blogs_for_hurricane_relief

Here are Snowball's and so many other's stories.

Many forced to leave loved pets behind
In one example, a police officer took a dog from a little boy waiting to get on a bus in New Orleans. "Snowball! Snowball!" the boy cried until he vomited.The police officer told a reporter he didn't know what would happen to the dog.

CNN: Pumps sucking water from flooded city
Floating on a car tire, a man who identified himself as Robert refused to climb into a rescue boat.

"When this thing happened, you got people shooting each other," he said. "The only thing I trusted was my dog. I'm not going to leave him."

Black Bag Operation
http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/hsus_disaster_center/recent_activities_and_information/refusing_to_leave_them_behind_evacuees_smuggled_their_pets_out_with_them.html
Moret Williams and Sebastian left New Orleans together. Sebastian floated on an air mattress at his owner’s side as Moret Williams waded through polluted, neck-deep floodwater, pulling the mattress along with him. Man and beast managed to reach an elevated portion of Interstate 10, but the helicopters that were taking evacuees to buses weren’t allowing pets on board.

“There was no way I was leaving without him,” Moret Williams says, and so he did what so many have had to do in the past week: He improvised. He put Sebastian in a large black trash bag and begged him not to make noise.

Amazingly, the dog obeyed, though he did squirm at one point—a point that could have ruined the whole plan. “He bumped against the pilot,” Moret Williams says, a small smile creeping onto his face. “The pilot just goes, ‘I didn’t see nothing.’ ”

The pet owner’s black bag operation was secret enough to get the pair a one-way ticket to Houston on a bus that also didn’t accept animals. Sebastian made the whole trip with his nose sticking out the top of the bag. And when they arrived at the Astrodome on Friday, the staff of the Houston SPCA were waiting, ready to offer shelter to Sebastian while Moret Williams became one more evacuee looking to scratch out a new life. Today, he has plans to stay with his sister—and thanks to the SPCA, he has his baby back.

[nicknameless]

1. Some good news, including the probable rescue of Snowball:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=4650234&mesg_id=4650234

[expatriot]

2. Awesome news nt.

[expatriot]

3. self-kick. nt

[GoddessOfGuinness]

4. Thanks Expatriot...

and Mrs Expatriot as well! :yourock:

[expatriot]

9. you're welcome... but we're just like probably 95%-100% of DUers

we couldn't live with ourselves if we didn't do SOMETHING.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

15. I'm taking Cookie's things to the Humane society tomorrow.

Cleaned out her carrier and dish...

She'd be pleased that they were going to some needy kitty. :)

[mirandapriestly]

5. People Underestimate The Importance Of Animals

as companions to people and for their own sake. I will gladly donate, because helping animals helps people.

[nicknameless]

6. They moved the Black Bag story to this link:

http://www.hsus.org/hsus_field/hsus_disaster_center/recent_activities_and_information/refusing_to_leave_them_behind_evacuees_smuggled_their_pets_out_with_them.html

With all that’s happened to him in the past week—the loss of home, friends, and probably family; the frightening journey out of the city and into the chaotic environs of the Houston Astrodome, his temporary new home—it might seem strange that today Moret Williams was crying out of relief and happiness. “I spent most of the morning crying when I knew I could come get him,” he says, gazing down at the dog at his feet.

He’s just reclaimed Sebastian, a large black cocker spaniel with red markings above his brown eyes, from his temporary shelter at the Houston SPCA. “Sebastian Moret,” Moret Williams specifies, emphasizing the dog’s second name, the one that defines the animal as part of his family. “I got no children. This here’s my baby.”

On one hand, I can't begin to understand how anyone couldn't get that these pets are family members. But on the other hand, look how "authorities" are treating human beings. What the hell country is this.

:cry:

[expatriot]

8. thanks... i fixed it... for some reason I couldn't make it linked text nt

[Be Brave]

7. It's very heartbreaking to see the images of the pets left behind in NO.

[AgadorSparticus]

10. we gave to the LA-ASPCA. we lost our dog last oct to cancer and

we made this donation in her memory.

[expatriot]

13. how sweet

that is really sweet. :cry:

[enigmatic]

11. The thing that alot of people don't understand

Is for a good chunk of people (more likely, most)their pets are their lifeline; they keep them alive w/ hope, companionship, and commitment. They are every bit a member of one's family as their human counterparts, and asking them to leave them behind, especially after losing everything else in a catastrophe like what happened w/ Katrina, is pretty much killing those people inside and out.

That's why stories like these happen; i completely, totally understand why they won't leave w/o their pets, and why dying w/ them is preferable to living w/o them, especially abandoning them like this. I couldn't do it; my wife and I would rather die w/ our kitty then leave w/o her. We couldn't leave her.

[expatriot]

14. I definitely couldn't do it. nt

[rumpel]

12. Here is an e-mail I got from a Pet Ins. company, on organizations

Veterinary Pet Insurance Responds To Hurricane Katrina
In response to the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina, Veterinary Pet Insurance is donating $25,000 to the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) Disaster Relief Fund. HSUS is one of the nation's leading humane organizations. VPI employees have a tradition of caring about others. They are also raising donations for a variety of organizations – some focused on people, others putting their efforts on both people and pets. As Katrina touched down on American soil, the HSUS immediately launched a massive relief effort to rescue animals and assist their caregivers in the disaster areas. The HSUS Disaster Animal Response Teams in Mississippi and Texas are coordinating a multi-state animal rescue and recovery effort with volunteers working non-stop to save as many pets and caregivers as possible. The HSUS is also working with Days End Farm Horse Rescue, adding a truck and horse trailer to the fleet of rescue-specific vehicles that are designed for sheltering all kinds of animals—pets, horses, and livestock. In times of crisis, many people donate to more than one group, often to both human and animal organizations. Some others that welcome your donations include:



American Veterinary Medical Foundation
1931 N. Meacham Road – Suite 100
Schaumburg, IL 60173
[phone]
www.avmf.org

American Red Cross
2025 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
(800) HELP-NOW (800-435-7669)
www.redcross.org

Feed The Children
PO Box 36
Oklahoma City, OK 73101-0036
[phone]
www.feedthechildren.org

Noah’s Wish
(non-profit dedicated to helping animals during disasters)
PO Box 997
Placerville, CA 95667
[phone]
www.noahswish.org



As we prepare for our Labor Day Holiday Weekend, we join VPI policyholders in remembering our fellow Americans in the Gulf State Region who will need our support long after the floodwaters have resided. Together we will make a difference for the pets and caregivers suffering from Hurricane Katrina.