Polluted waters. The dogs know.

[trof]

Just noticed this.
Most, if not all, dogs can instinctively swim.
Some, like labs, are water dogs and love it.
We've had a couple of German Shepherds that were nuts about the water.

But I notice the stranded dogs in NOLA and elswhere are retreating to the last postage-sized piece of dry land.
Even when they can see people in boats who could rescue them.
And even though they have to be suffering from lack of water, they aren't drinking it.

They KNOW that's bad water.
Amazing.

[justiceischeap]

1. Rescue reports from NOLA

September 11, 2005, 12 p.m.: PETA Team Rescues 50 Birds, Countless Dogs

We heard from our team's leader, Laura Brown—whose reports from New Orleans can be heard here—early this morning after she and her colleagues completed a 12-hour day of rescue work and made it back to their camp well after 1 a.m. today.

The team's first rescue was a severely matted and bony chow dragging a broken chain from her neck and running at large in the city. As team member Matt Mongiello coaxed the dog to our van, neighbors who claimed to be caring for the animal began forcibly dragging her down the street. Our team was able to rescue the animal after she began biting her so-called caretakers. She was loaded into our van and, after a meal, quickly fell asleep and began snoring.

The team then made a heartbreaking discovery in a massive, abandoned house down the street—crates full of lovebirds and finches stacked atop one another. The dehydrated birds were sitting in cages full of the rotting remains of their cage mates. Laura said that the carcasses' smell was powerful and that the heat inside the home was horrific. Some 50 "terribly stressed" survivors quickly flocked to the water dishes that the team placed inside their enclosures. The survivors were loaded into our van, but sadly, about a dozen died while being transported to emergency veterinary care.

Before leaving the same home, the team entered the pitch-black basement and found six massive tanks, some of which were more than 10 feet high. The tanks were full of freshwater and saltwater fish, but many of the animals had died, and maggots had begun to collect on the water's surface. After securing ladders and spotlights, the team began caring for the survivors, who "swarmed" around their first food in days.

The team then made its way to a deserted, flooded street and waded through the waist-deep water for seven blocks. Laura stated that the noxious fumes coming off the water left the team with sore throats by the day's end. The team's first rescue on this street was a pit bull left in the sweltering heat amid piles of her feces on a house's back porch. The dog has been left to sustain herself on trash, which Laura said included little more than chicken eggshells and rotten corncobs. Soon after our team's discovery of her, the dog's tail was upright and wagging furiously instead of tucked between her legs. She had some fresh food and water and obviously enjoyed her "water-taxi ride" down the flooded street in a boat that the team had found floating nearby. Once inside our air-conditioned van, the dog got her share of belly rubs and scratches and joined the chow in a nap.

Less than a block away, the team lured out another dog who had been left in sewage under a house. She, too, was loaded into the van and given the basic care—food, water, and a safe place to rest—that she probably hadn't had in weeks.

At their final stop of the day, team member Jessica Cochran—just as she had the day before—was able to coax an aggressive dog out of the house that she had been locked alone inside for 10 days. The elderly Rottweiler was barking furiously as the team approached the home's kitchen, according to Laura. Jessica's patient approach to the terrified dog paid off when the team was able to load her into its commandeered boat and pull her to safety.

Laura happily described how all the dogs who the team had rescued slept and snored for hours as the day proceeded and as they were transported to a holding facility. The team members "dropped" when they were finally able to rest and looked forward to a chance to shower and find clean clothes before heading back out today.

[Mr_Spock]

12. It was nice reading that story - thanks

It's good to hear some upbeat news from people who actually care about life and not power.

[shockra]

20. Oh my.

Thanks for posting that.

I kept meaning to listen to the audio, but I'm too lazy. :)

[shanti]

24. where are the kitties?

most of them probably died...:cry:

[Coventina]

28. Most of them are probably hiding

Generalizing here, but MOST cats do not seek the company of humans, especially strangers, when they are stressed. Instead, they seek their own secret hidey-holes.

Dogs, on the other hand, are much more likely to seek help from humans, even humans they don't know.

Finding the cats is going to be a lot longer and harder of a chore. And many of them will probably never be found. Not because they are dead, but just because they ran off to hide, and never came back.

[johnaries]

2. I keep fresh water for my dog. I also have a bucket under the

window air conditioner to catch condensation, which can get nasty. Does my dog drink the clean water? No! He goes for the nasty stuff!

So, if the water is so nasty that even a dog won't touch it - it's NASTY!!!!!

The OP is right, dogs know.

[Robert Oak]

3. Animals

The idiotic idea that animals are less than humans has ignored their many abilities that humans do not have.

The "dog nose" has to be the most amazing organ and little is known.

Question: Why are not people just dropping off dog food and fresh water dispensers to these dogs?

It would be way faster and save a lot more pets than physically capturing them and bringing them out.

If there are 55k pets this gives them a chance and I'll bet if they are alive after people are allowed back in a lot will be reunited with their owners. (damn shelters are "no pets"...everything in the US is "no pets", even during a national emergency!, they could easily create a temp pet shelter as well as have some shelters designed for people with pets who signed a Pet waiver about the problems of having many pets together in one place and so on solutions). like leash your dog, pick up after your dog, even muzzle your dog, quiet your dog and so on.

[trof]

5. You know it. Seen the cancer sniffing dogs?

I think they were on 60 Minutes a few weeks ago.
Absolutely astounding.

[Robert Oak]

6. yeah, I did

Anyway, how come I'm not hearing of just a massive
food and water via those things that allow you to fill up food and water for 1,2 weeks plastic items left for all of the pets?

I keep thinking this is a very fast way to save a lot of pets, then
do a return trip for the pick ups.

[FlaGranny]

15. That would take a lot of water!

My medium sized dog drinks about a pint of water a day. Every two days she would need a quart. In two weeks she would need close to two gallons. If they could get to 1000 dogs, they would need 2 thousand gallons. You would need to also bring a container of some sort for the dog to drink from that would hold a gallor or two of water. I wonder if they could really do that. One option, if you had gallon containers would be to lie the container on its side and cut a hole large enough for the dog to drink through.

[Robert Oak]

21. yup, just a temp solution to save them n/t

[GreenPartyVoter]

16. I don't know. When we go on vacation I literally lay a big bag of cat

food on the floor and cut it open for Pickles and Pretzel. And I fill big bowls of water in each tub and the kitchen sink. I leave the windows open a crack because the trailer can get really hot, and I make sure all dorrs are wedged open or locked closed. (We once had a cat who managed to lock herself in the closet while we were in Florida. She would have died of dehydration had my grandparents not realized there was only one cat showing up for dinner and gone looking for her. She was pretty bad off just after two days in the closet. :cry: Fortunately she was able to eat and drink and was fine.)

[FlaGranny]

22. That would work for some cats for sure.

My son always has dry food out and his cats eat as they please. Dogs, on the other hand, would eat it all as fast as they could. Dogs are gluttons. Cats are finicky. :-)

[GreenPartyVoter]

23. Yeah.. plus dogs wouldn't use the litter box. *g*

------------------------------------------------------
URGENT yet easy! Hold the government accountable for Katrina's aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4736062

[FlaGranny]

26. Ugh! I didn't even think of that, but

cleaning up would be preferable to losing my "baby."

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. I had a dog who used to do her own clean up. I won't go into it more than

that. :puke:

------------------------------------------------------
URGENT yet easy! Hold the government accountable for Katrina's aftermath
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4736062

[friesianrider]

9. Excellent post, Robert.

"The idiotic idea that animals are less than humans has ignored their many abilities that humans do not have."

Very well said. I was just going to say that humans are, after all, only animals. There are many valuable abilities animals have that we do not, particularly dogs.

I'd be all for what you laid out for pets in shelters. Only cats/birds/hamsters/whatever in crates or only dogs who are muzzled and leashed at all times. So many people died because they would not leave without their pets (and I would be one of them if God forbid I was ever in an emergency that required evacuation). It is time the government understands the United States is an animal-loving nation that considers their pets members of the family.

[CountAllVotes]

4. on the news last night they told of a dog that drank some water

and the dog walked away and was dead 15 mins. later.

NO is a toxic cesspool FYI and it can NEVER be "cleaned up".

Best to cover it up and seal the whole region off forever IMO.

:kick:

[sasha031]

7. that is a wonderful blog

of the team rescuing the animals. I would of been one the the ones who would not have left my beloved cats, no matter what.
How I respect the people who are trying to save the animals.

[friesianrider]

10. Me either, Sasha.

My kitties (and horses and bunnies) are every bit like children to me. I would rather stay and die with them than leave them to save my own skin. I know for a fact my animals would stay with me no matter what or risk their lives to save mine, so I would absolutely do the same for them. I'd have to be physically restrained and removed kicking and screaming before I'd leave my furkids.

[applegrove]

8. They are dogs. They are scared & hungry and many want their

mommies & daddies back. Afraid to leave? Fact is most would not now still be walking if they hadn't lapped at the water. Have you ever been around a dog? They don't care.

[friesianrider]

11. "Have you ever been around a dog? They don't care."

Um, wow. Have YOU ever been around a dog? You're 110% incorrect on this, I'm sorry.

[applegrove]

18. They don't care about poo. That is what I meant. And they would

have drunk all the water in the house (perhaps cleaner) first.

[Tsiyu]

13. I have three right now, and have been around them all my life

Some will eat or drink anything.

Some are very discerning.

Dogs do often die from eating or drinking bad stuff. A friend's Golden died after licking up a neighbor's antifreeze spill.

Several of my old employer's puppies died after drinking water that had been carried in an improperly rinsed plastic container (their pipes froze and her Hubby used a container that had previously held some sort of soap. He neglected to rinse the 50 gallon container before he filled it with spring water. Yes, she wanted to maul him, but she settled for severely bitching him out for a few weeks.)

The dogs who are still alive in NO are the smarter ones, perhaps.

[FlaGranny]

17. Dogs and even cats will lick up antifreeze because

it tastes good. It is sweet. My dog tries to drink from puddles in the street, but if I poured gasoline into her water she wouldn't touch it. If the water is so bad that it burns the throat and nose from breathing it, most dogs will do their best to avoid it.

[Be Brave]

14. Yup, they know. Gee, my dog wouldn't even drink clean water that's

a day old. He always wants fresh water. My cat only drinks from the tap!

[applegrove]

19. Cat's like fresh water. They are hunters and used to getting water

themselves. Dogs will drink or lick an awful lot of stuff.

Both, like humans, will drink anything if they get thirsty enough.

How sad it is we argue like this when some little kids & old died of dehydration.

But perhaps it is easier to talk about pets. Since the emergency is still with them. And they still need help.

[Southpaw Bookworm]

25. Reminds me of a study I read

About genetically-modified corn. A farmer did a little taste-test with his cattle and filled one bin with regular feed and another with GMO feed. The cattle completely ignored the GMO feed, even if they didn't get enough to eat at the other trough.

The animals know.