Help for Katrina pets!

[Omaha Steve]

Hearts United for Animals website at www.hua.org

Donations can be mailed to, HUA, PO BOX 286, Auburn, NE 68305. Mark for Katrina dogs.



Animal shelter works to rescue furry, friendly Katrina survivors

By JONNIE TATE FINN / Lincoln Journal Star

Hurricane Katrina victims will make their way toward Auburn next week — victims of the furry, four-legged variety, that is.

About 22 volunteers associated with Hearts United for Animals, a nonprofit, no-kill shelter based in Auburn, will search for the orphaned or displaced animals in New Orleans and surrounding areas.

So far, two groups of Hearts United volunteers have traveled to hurricane-damaged areas. Another will leave today.

Base camp for emergency animal shelter is at the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, La., said Lee Wheeler, who’s been coordinating the Hearts United relief effort from where she works in Pennsylvania. She’s in touch with the volunteers 24/7.

On Friday, Hearts United volunteers searched house-to-house, helping rescue about 500 animals.

“There are thousands and thousands of dogs in need. They’re starving, they’re dirty,” Wheeler said. “One volunteer said the animals are past being scared — they’re blank. The situation down there is horrible.”

It’s also tense. Volunteers have been told they have less than 72 hours as of Friday to rescue the animals, or they’ll be shot, she said.

“This is not acceptable,” she said. “These animals survived the hurricane and they survived 11 days without help. Don’t they deserve a little compassion?”

This disaster-area rescue mission is the first of its kind for Hearts United, an organization that’s no stranger to pulling animals out of breeding mills or abusive situations. And there aren’t nearly enough rescue volunteers, Wheeler said.

“We’re spending buckets of money to go down there,” said Carol Wheeler, Lee’s mother, who founded the shelter with her husband, Dennis, in 1989. She estimated the total cost for the three-group rescue mission to run around $40,000, which will come directly from the shelter’s budget funded entirely by contributions.

“Funds are very important,” Carol Wheeler said. “Our people down there need to have cash, especially because gas is so expensive. And we’ll need to provide medical care and food to the animals when they get here.”

The groups will make their way back to Auburn starting today, Lee Wheeler said, and arrive throughout the week with rescued animals in tow. About 150 animals are expected within the next week to arrive in trucks and vans driven by volunteer rescuers.

“They’ll bring back the animals that aren’t claimed at the shelters down there,” Carol Wheeler said. “If we pull them out of the water or out of the street and they’re alive, we’re taking them.”

For now, Lee Wheeler said, only owner-released animals will come to Hearts United, meaning shelters in disaster areas must first identify animals as not wanted by their owners before out-of-state shelters can take them.

Once the animals walk through Hearts United doors, they’ll be fed and receive vet care, grooming and a dry place to sleep.

“Yes, we’ll be needing adopters for these animals,” Carol Wheeler said. “And I do think they’re going to be very popular.”

Lee Wheeler said Hearts United also will need volunteers for possible future rescue missions.

Stories of pets stuck in toxic waters or trapped in abandoned homes have prompted many Nebraskans, such as Heather and Ron Silver, to help the animal relief effort.

Ron Silver took time off from his law firm and left Wednesday afternoon. The Silvers joined Hearts United earlier this week specifically to rescue animals.

“We were watching the news on TV and saw all the animals that needed help,” said Heather Silver, who stayed home to be with the couple’s children.

Ron rescued his first dog Friday morning, Heather Silver said. Ron Silver and other volunteers could not be reached in Louisiana for comment.

“We needed to do something,” Heather Silver said. “There’s always a soft place in our hearts for animals in need. We couldn’t just do nothing.”

Reach Jonnie Taté Finn at 473-7395 or [e-mail].