Hurricane Katrina animal rescue

2006-07-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

DARK WATER RISING, POLITICAL LESSONS FROM THE FRONT LINES IN NEW ORLEANS
By Kim Upham
July 17, 2006

If you only see one film on the subject of Hurricane Katrina, this is the one to see. Dark Water Rising: The Truth About Hurricane Katrina Animal Rescues (www.darkwaterrising.com) chronicles the volunteer efforts to rescue pets left in peril after their owners fled New Orleans and were prevented from returning to retrieve them. Beyond its overt message, that Americans need to take better care of animals, Dark Water Rising is an indictment of what is wrong with our federal government: “compassion” is merely a slogan for political gain, not a modus operandi.

The film documents the plight of thousands of animals who perished in the floods, or who waited hour after hour, day after day for owners or help that never arrived, trapped in homes or braving the toxic streets in 105-degree heat indexes bereft of food, water and shelter. Dark Water Rising underscores the fact that animals suffered because humans failed them. No one can stop a category five hurricane from ravaging a city, but the government’s failure at every level to plan for evacuation ahead of time, as well as its inadequate response to the chaos and crisis afterward, resulted in needless death and prolonged anguish of both humans and animals.

Between 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina’s landfall Americans gave the Bush Administration a blank check on Homeland Security, assuming the agency was marshalling resources with the singular purpose of securing us against disaster⎯both natural and manmade. However, the hopelessly inadequate response to Hurricane Katrina revealed that any sense of security had been false. The problem stems from the way this Administration views government’s function. If the Administration’s reason for being has less to do with helping people, and more to do with transferring public resources to private interests, it will have no framework for helping, and no idea where to begin when called upon to do so.

This film is the smoking gun that illustrates the government’s callous disregard for the individuals and pets in need. While it may be possible to cynically dismiss the human suffering, claiming that people had the chance to evacuate the city before the hurricane’s landfall and chose not to, our sympathy for the pets is undiluted by such arguments. We recognize that pets are subject to the choices of their owners, and in this case the owners’ hands were tied by government policies. As such, this film resonates emotionally.

The film opens with a post-apocalyptic scene of seemingly endless rubble, and a narration of the obstacles facing animal rescuers, many of whom traveled from far away states at their own expense, putting family, children, pets and jobs on hold. Those obstacles include searing heat, inaccessible homes, packs of loose dogs, bureaucratic red tape, and toxic streets filled with chemicals, raw sewage, and rotting garbage. Filmmaker Mike Shiley in interviews called post-Katrina New Orleans more traumatic than Iraq, the setting of his last documentary film, Inside Iraq.

From the get-go, it’s clear that the rescuers are understaffed and overwhelmed by both the scope of the problem and the time-critical nature of the effort, with some 50,000 pets left behind, by conservative estimates. Despite the odds, and with little regard for their personal safety or comfort, the rescuers worked from dawn until long past dark for over six weeks to meet the need. The rescuers’ story, and that of the stranded pets, has gone largely untold; the mainstream media pulled up stakes after the human drama ended or moved to Houston, while the animal side of the disaster response was just getting under way.

The message of the film ultimately is one of hope, as relieved owners are reunited with their family pets, and other cats and dogs find new loving homes. In one segment dogs are temporarily housed at a prison, giving inmates a chance to care for and bond with them, transforming both man and his best friend. And rail-thin dogs just days from death get a new lease on life as they are saved in the nick of time.

Whether owners chose to leave their pets behind, thought they’d be back after a few days, or were forced by government policies to abandon their pets, the animals paid the price. Compassion and relief came in the form of a small band of dedicated individuals willing to make personal sacrifices to alleviate animal suffering. As one rescuer writes in the film’s epilogue, “Tragedies will happen again, and we will be there with dog food and leashes in hand.” These are the kind of heroes that great films are made of. For that reason, this film is a gripping must-see.

A screening in Congress is being scheduled and the film will be shown at the National Conference for State Legislators (NCSL) and the National Animal Rights Conference in Washington D.C. in August. House party viewings of the film can be scheduled by visiting Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Theaters site (www.bravenewtheaters.com) and the film’s trailer can be viewed at www.darkwaterrising.com.

2006-07-01T11:30:00.000-07:00

This photo shows the panic felt by animals left behind in the stormwaters in New Orleans, and the urgency of the situation that the rescuers came to address. With at least 50,000 animals left behind, there was a lot of ground to cover, and not nearly enough people. It became a race against time.

2006-07-01T11:22:00.000-07:00

A note from Mike Shiley, producer and director of Dark Water Rising. So far we have been getting really positive reviews from those who have seen the movie, both those inside and outside the animal welfare movement.

Greetings from Mike Shiley!

I am pleased to announce a private DVD release and pre-theatrical sale of DARK WATER RISING: The Truth about Hurricane Katrina Animal Rescues. This is the only documentary film made about animal rescues of Hurricane Katrina.

About DARK WATER RISING:
Over 50,000 dogs and cats were left behind in New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. The pets (mostly dogs) that survived the flood were locked in houses and chained to fences without food and water for up to six weeks.

A small group of brave rescuers from around the world risked their lives to sledgehammer down doors, brave toxic floodwaters and dodge corrupt cops in a race against time to rescue up to 10,000 trapped and starving animals.

Some rescuers worked with the official rescue organization, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), while others joined a more aggressive rescue outfit, code named Winn Dixie.

This film also tells uplifting stories of hope and survival as pets are reunited with their owners while other lucky pets find loving new homes.

These hard earned lessons will help our nation understand the need for animal evacuation plans in natural disasters.

Join me for a behind-the-scenes look at the grim reality of the life and death struggles on the toxic streets of New Orleans.

***************************

You may already know me from my other documentary film called, INSIDE IRAQ: THE UNTOLD STORIES (www.InsideIraqTheMovie.com).

I am offering you a one-time opportunity to own the DVD before itâ€™s theatrical release.

CHECK OUT THE TRAILER: http://darkwaterrising.com/trailer.html

ORDER THE DVD: http://www.filmbaby.com/product_info.php?products_id=997

--
Best,

Mike

Mike Shiley
Producer/Director

DARK WATER RISING
http://darkwaterrising.com/

2006-05-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

Our film, Dark Water Rising, is in the final stages of production. We had a viewing party at Mike Shiley's house, the film's producer and director. As it is now, the film far exceeds my expectations, and I filmed at least 1/4 of it. We got feedback from the assembled guests that the editor, Lindsey Grayzel, will use to improve the final version. The music is really good. The still photography is really good. The film is really gripping. I've seen several documentaries on animal rescue after hurricane Katrina, including Animal Planet and National Geographic segments, and this is by far the best, in my opinion. I can't wait until the film is finished and I plan to order 50 copies to give out at Christmastime. Here's a link to the film's website: http://www.darkwaterrising.com/.

2005-10-20T16:25:00.000-07:00

October 20, 2005

For those that have asked, yes, the animal rescue effort is still going on. I received the following e-mail from Jane Garrison who is heading up the effort in New Orleans. I can attest to the fact that it is indeed a life changing experience to participate in the animal rescue efforts. If you have the time and the means, please go and help out, or forward this information to anyone you know who would be interested in going.

Thanks,

Kim

10/19/2005 A FINAL DESPERATE PLEA...
We know it is hard to imagine that more than 7 weeks after Hurricane Katrina hit that animals trapped inside could still be alive--- but it is true.

We rescued Bingo tonight, a dog trapped in a bathroom of a house. In a desperate attempt to get a drink of water, Bingo crawled into a bathtub but then was too weak to get himself out. Bingo could not even lift his head or stand.. but he is alive. Sadly, there are others like Bingo waiting for their turn to be rescued...

Meet some of the pets in New Orleans who need your help:

Hi my name is Rambo, I was left at 7370 Chef Menteur Highway in New Orleans. My guardian called to have me rescued on Sept 16th but I am still waiting and I am very scared.
Hi I am Indiana I was left at Belair subdivision off Airport Rd. I had a PetSmart bandana on but I think I lost it. Please come get me, I am very hungry.

Hi my name is Princess. I was left at a two story apartment building with Annie and Foxie. There is a balcony with stairs. The apartment is at the intersection of Mumphrey Road and East Judge Perez in Chalmette in St. Bernard Parish. Three of us are waiting to be rescued. We are too little to do much on our own.
Note: Photos were taken when the dogs were healthy, extreme weight loss may make it difficult to identify them by photo now.

We still have a list of 1267 homes in downtown New Orleans where animals have been reported by their guardians to be trapped. We still have this many because we do not have enough volunteers to open the doors and rescue the pets that are slowly starving to death. THIS IS WHY WE NEED YOU! Please get in your car or get on a plane and come help us get through the rest of these houses.

TIME IS RUNNING OUT! We are certain (based on the pets we see everyday) that there are animals still alive in these homes.

Things you should know before you come:

This will be the most rewarding life changing experience you have ever had. To save an animal from starving to death is a very rewarding experience…one you will never forget.

The city is safe…we have been rescuing since the hurricane and have not had any problems with any of our rescuers' safety.
People have requested that someone breaks in and rescues their desperate animal.

You will need to bring a small tent or stay in your car. That is a small sacrifice to make for these animals who are desperately waiting for your help.

Hurricane Wilma is not heading anywhere near New Orleans so please do not wait until after it passes…it may be too late.
You do not need any special passes to get into the city.

Although the city is open to residents, most have not returned or even plan on returning.

You can get updates and information on rescue efforts here: animalrescueneworleans.com

"I have spent 6 weeks rescuing animals in New Orleans. I have climbed through windows, on roofs, and under houses to get to these animals who are trapped. This has been the most rewarding and heartbreaking experience of my life. With every animal I rescue I think about the dozens of others who lay trapped behind closed doors dying a slow, lonely death from starvation and dehydration. I am begging every compassionate person to come to New Orleans and help us get through the rest of these homes and get these forgotten victims to safety."

Jane Garrison
Animal Advocate, Organizer of Search and Rescue Teams
843-343-8887
JaneGarrison@comcast.net

"This is the single worst tragedy for companion animals in the history of the United States. Despite all you have seen on TV and the various organizations that have pitched in, it has been volunteers like you and me who have come forth, made the trip to New Orleans and saved thousands of pets, one by one. Now the last ones need our help and there is no one left to save them but us. If you stay home, in a month you won't remember what you did in the next few days. If you come and save one of these dogs and cats, you will remember it for your lifetime. I know, I have been here for a month and held them in my arms.

David Meyer
Executive Director www.1-800-Save-A-Pet.com
310-897-6546
david@grappling.us

2005-10-13T19:46:00.000-07:00

A dog we rescued, waiting in line at "intake" at the Lamar-Dixon shelter

2005-10-13T19:20:00.000-07:00

Our beautiful girl we named "Rita," rescued from a side yard where she was tied to a tree on a three foot leash. Her leg was injured so she was limping, but happy to see us. The heat index was probably 102 degrees. The Oregon Humane Society shipped her to Portland for us, since Mike plans to adopt her. Once there they found another dog's tooth in her leg, plus she had heartworms (many dogs in New Orleans are heartworm positive), and she was pregnant

2005-10-13T18:40:00.000-07:00

Filmmaker Mike Shiley, Shidog Films

2005-10-13T18:28:00.000-07:00

They're serious about stopping looters

2005-10-13T18:23:00.000-07:00

A dollhouse?

2005-10-13T18:21:00.000-07:00

A dollhouse within a dollhouse?

2005-10-13T17:41:00.000-07:00

2005-10-13T17:38:00.000-07:00

Not only was this house stripped to its metal studs, but the owner's car was upended

2005-10-13T17:36:00.000-07:00

I can relate to this sentiment

2005-10-13T16:02:00.000-07:00

The water was so strong rushing from the broken levee that all three signs on this pole were bent at a height of at least 12 feet in the Ninth Ward

2005-10-13T15:57:00.000-07:00

New Orleans PD car with handcuffs and mardi gras beads. Some NOPD officers are worthy of respect, but there is corruption within the department, and some NO residents told us they were very afraid of the police. Evidence has been uncovered of abuse and killing of dogs in St. Bernard Parish at three public school buildings. Local police are suspected of being the perpetrators. A woman who reported this to the FBI, with evidence, was told to stay away from the schools or she might turn up missing at the hands of the St. Bernard Parish police.

2005-10-13T15:52:00.000-07:00

2005-10-13T15:39:00.000-07:00

2005-09-28T21:50:00.000-07:00

2005-09-28T12:10:00.000-07:00

2005-09-28T12:07:00.000-07:00

Me, with car loaded, ready to head out

2005-09-28T11:59:00.000-07:00

Gas was hard to come by along I-10 prior to Rita's arrival

2005-09-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

I returned to Portland and had to be treated at the ER for dehydration. After a few days of recuperation I decided to return to New Orleans. I hooked up with Mike Shiley, documentary filmmaker (www.insideiraqthemovie.com). He was making a film about the hurricane and its aftermath. I agreed to help get the story, especially if the animals could be part of the story.

We flew into Jackson, Mississippi and headed west toward Baton Rouge to get to the shelter, three hours away. Along the way we passed gas station after gas station out of fuel, which was worrisome at 1:30 a.m. Vehicles streamed eastward, leaving Houston and the gulf coast. We surmised they might be heading to Atlanta.

We pulled into Lamar-Dixon, the site of the animal shelter, at 2:30 am. Everyone was pulling out of there due to hurricane Rita bearing down. We crashed and in the morning made a plan to go into the city to do some filming and see about some cats that were trapped in houses in Algiers. While there wasn’t any official rescuing going on, we were given a list of 100 houses in the Algiers area where the owners had asked us to check on their cats. Algiers is an area we hadn’t been visiting yet because it was about to be opened back up to residents, but the second hurricane delayed that.

The wind was blowing pretty hard and the rain was coming down in sheets sideways. The water in Lake Ponchartrain was being blown into whitecaps and the water level had risen to just below the causeway. We debated what criteria we’d use to determine when it was no longer safe to proceed.

Though the hurricane was still headed for the Texas/Louisiana border, it was so large that the entire state was affected well in advance of the storm making landfall. The governor was telling residents to evacuate and suggesting that if they did not, they should write their Social Security number on their arm in permanent marker. We got out the pen and wrote our SS numbers on our arms. I didn’t think we were likely to die, but if hit by a piece of flying debris, it might be helpful to have some ID readily available.

Back at the shelter they were tearing down the large FEMA tent and asking everyone to leave the premises. A skeleton crew was chosen to stay overnight with the animals, sleeping in the horse stalls. Randy from the Oregon Humane Society was the manager for barn five. He also asked all his overnight people to mark their arms with their Social Security numbers.

HSUS rented many large trucks that were parked protecting the horse stalls containing the animals. We also off-loaded many of the animals to the Dixon Correctional Institute where the prisoners were caring for them. To get onto our site you had to have a password at the front gate. Many of us took refuge in the Holiday Inn, where a conference room was rented to house us on air mattresses. We got lucky and got a room that had been rented by Lowes but their employees were not showing up that night.

The storm raged all night Saturday with the wind and rain pummeling garbage dumpsters, signs and other standing objects. By Sunday we were experiencing heavy dumps of rain from the rain bands. By Monday we were back in business again doing rescues.

Prior to the second storm the authorities pierced the 17th Street Canal in three places to release water. They chose to intentionally reflood the area that had flooded before, rather than taking the risk of the levee breaking in a new place. Enormous Lake Ponchartrain still overtopped the levee, putting the Ninth Ward, in St. Bernard Parish under water again. Entire houses were lifted off of their foundations and deposited blocks away. The devastation was incredible, as we would soon witness.

There were a couple of bars open in the French Quarter, one of which had never shut down through the storms, thanks to a generator. Something tells me that you can always find a drink in the French Quarter. Residents cheered when the power came back on, but the fire department quickly shut it off again when a small hotel caught fire.

Firefighters from New York were on the scene immediately. They had come to New Orleans to pay back the New Orleans firefighters who, like other crews, had graciously donated equipment and personnel during the 9-11 search and rescue. Ironically, the New York crew rolled into the city in an engine named The Spirit of New Orleans. The hotel fire address was 911.

My friend Steve Wozniak sent me a camera and some computer equipment to a nearby hotel so I could continue the blog. He is friends with Emmylou Harris and reported that she mentioned the animal rescue effort at her concert with Buddy Miller the other night.

He wrote, “At one point Emmylou spoke of how we all had been affected by the hurricane(s). There was about 5 minutes of silence and I was in the perfect seat and wanted to yell out "save the animals" but didn't. Then she talked about how we all give to the Red Cross and other organizations but implored the audience to give to the animal rescue groups. Emmylou always tours with her dog, who was backstage.”

In New Orleans, the temperament of the animals has changed. The dogs are forming packs, or are loners that run away from you. It’s hard to round them up, or to even get them to come to you to feed. There are dead animals everywhere, especially in the areas that flooded. I think the flood killed them and the carcasses are decaying now. Thus the task is somewhat more gruesome, less rewarding and more draining. But when you do find an animal that’s been trapped in its home for a month, helping it is still a great feeling.

Mike and I rescued a beautiful black and white pitt bull we named Rita. She was in a side yard, tied to a tree on a three-foot leash with a small bowl of water next to her. She had a broken leg, possibly an old break that had healed wrong, and an abscess, causing her to limp. She sure was happy to see us and jumped up, despite her bad leg. It was in the 90s and she was baking in the sun, so we were happy to get her out of there.

I think Mike might end up fostering Rita and adopting her if an owner doesn’t claim her. Because her ears and tail are in tact, she doesn’t look much like a typical pitt bull, but instead resembles a cute snoopy dog. Within hours we were in love with her.

At one house, rescuers saw framed AKC papers on the wall for the dog. When they took the dog, they took the papers, too, so they could remain with the dog.

Mike entered a house, filming a crew of rescuers. He said it was a beautiful home owned by an elderly couple. They must have thought the end was near because they hand wrote their wills, and taped each of them to a bedpost. They kept a journal with entries reading, “the waters are coming, the helicopters are overhead, not sure how much longer we can hold out.” An empty bottle of gin and bottle of wine (perhaps their finest bottle?) were on the table next to two glasses. I’m sure they were eventually evacuated. How fascinated we are about the human condition under extraordinary circumstances. Unable to turn away, we devour the details of lives under duress.

2005-09-20T15:26:00.000-07:00

Lynn and Stephanie.

2005-09-20T15:25:00.000-07:00

We broke out an air conditioning unit to get to a Shitsu. That was a feat.

2005-09-20T15:23:00.000-07:00

Stephanie calling for dogs. We combed a block at a time looking for animals.

2005-09-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

A vet tech on the left is comforted by a colleague after one of the vets said our rescued dog may not be worth saving because of a multitude of medical issues. He quickly rescinded his comment, adding that this dog would make a nice pet for someone. I thought vets and vet techs had seen it all and thus were immune from breaking down over a "patient." I'm glad that is not the case.

2005-09-20T15:08:00.000-07:00

We rescued this dog in its living room in a crate. It had been there for 18 days with no food and water. It had urine burns on its skin. The vets did a fabulous job of cleaning him up and attending to his many medical needs.

2005-09-20T15:05:00.000-07:00

You really can't blame anyone for wanting a little "puppy therapy" amidst all the destruction and chaos.

2005-09-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

Four DEA agents led us to this puppy inside a house under a bed. Three EMTs stopped to converse. The ten of us were huddled around this puppy on the sidewalk at one point.

2005-09-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

The overwhelming majority of dogs were friendly and thrilled to get some attention.

2005-09-20T15:00:00.000-07:00

Backyard food drop. Next door we found a dog locked in a bathroom with a bathtub of water but no food.

2005-09-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

2005-09-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

Dropping food and water for a cat.

2005-09-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

We stopped to rescue a very small kitten and these chickens were a bonus. They came out from a hole in a house onto the porch. Luckily they seem to like cat food.

2005-09-20T14:42:00.000-07:00

Everyone at the shelter seems to be getting sick these days, probably a combination of stress and lack of sleep. I developed a cough, which sounds similar to Drew’s. I like to call it kennel cough. Half the people have diaper rash because you’re constantly wet and dry, wet and dry.

At the morning meeting they told us that we dropped 177 feeding stations in one day, which feels good, knowing we are making a dent in the problem. Of course there is still a need for volunteers and people can sign up at www.hsus.org. One of my friends, Tom Gray, is coming down from Chicago to help out, which is exciting. And more people are coming from Oregon. Our state is well represented.

Stephanie came out in the field with us today. Finally she convinced her fiancé Geoff that she would be safe going out in the field. Plus the shelter is really getting to her. She wants to see the dogs walked more often. When we were filling up water containers she was on the phone with her beau, trying to reassure him that she’d be safe. After a while, I said, give me the phone. I said, “Look, Geoff, we’ve already written Stephanie’s Social Security Number on her arm in permanent marker, so if anything happens to her out there, don’t worry, we’ll be sure to be able to identify her body.”

I thought that mocking his fear would make him realize how silly it was, but I guess it had the opposite effect. Oops, oh well.

We gave Steph the run-down on how everything works. Despite only having two days of experience Lynn and I felt like experts, we’d been through so much trial and error.

We returned to a block we visited at the end of the previous day and encountered another guy, not affiliated with HSUS, who had been doing the same thing we were. He and his partner had also sprung the dog from the bathroom when Lynn and I could not. He gave us the rundown of the block because he had visited all of the houses. He pointed to one house and said there had been four dead dogs there, and one live dog, most of them chained. He freed the live dog.

Stephanie approached the front door and I asked what she was doing. She said she wanted to see for herself. I told her that I was sure she didn’t. The stench alone was usually enough to repel anyone.

She said she wanted to see for herself and again I told her there was nothing to be gained. She said the media has been reporting certain things, and she needed to see for herself. I feared that if she witnessed something awful it would have a very adverse effect on her, and she’d be a liability from that point on, which might have been a possibility for anyone. I think I underestimated her strength. She was a trooper all day long, jumped in and took a lead role in finding dogs and cats.

Of course in our small group there was some sniping, but I think that’s how everyone acts under stress, when you have to communicate information and gain compliance under pressure. Plus, I would say that Steph, Lynn and I all have strong personalities and ideas about how things should be done, ideally. However, there was more camaraderie than strife, and as we drove the minivan with all its doors open and wind streaming through, ready to stop and jump out at the sight of an animal Stephanie remarked, “I feel like we’re Charlie’s Angels!”

At one house we picked up a very small emaciated kitten. Lynn climbed a fence to lure it out. Once we got the kitten in a carrier, we were surprised when two chickens came out from a hole in the front of the house. Not the first time we’d seen chickens at a home, but we lacked any chicken feed. Luckily they seem Ok with making due with cat food in a pinch.

We discovered a dog locked in a bathroom. Breaking in through the window in the backyard wasn’t adequate, so we broke through the front door. The bathroom door was nailed shut from the inside of the house. After removing the nails we discovered the dog in the bathroom, with a running bathtub but no food. He was emaciated. We dumped a lot of food on the floor, left a bucket of water, and decided to come back for him since he was pretty big and would have been some work to care for in the car. I turned off the bathtub water.

From there four DEA agents flagged us down and told us of a puppy in a backyard. We followed them to a house and entered the house to find a very young lab puppy under the bed. He could not have been more than five years old. It is tempting to ask why in the world someone, anyone, would leave a very young puppy to fend for itself, but I try not to ascribe bad motives to anyone. I have to assume they thought they would be coming back in a short timeframe, or that they were desperate to survive themselves.

When holding the puppy, an ambulance pulled up and three EMTs got out to talk to us about the process of reporting animals needing to be picked up. The puppy was a real show-stopper as the ten of us were then huddled around it on the sidewalk. I’m sure that was quite a sight, 10 adults captivated by a puppy. But you know, sometimes in this business you need a little puppy therapy, or kitten therapy to keep yourself on an even keel!

At the end of the day Steph and Lynn approached a house with “dog” spraypainted on the outside. They broke through the front door to find a dog in a crate in its living room who had been sitting in its own urine for what we figured was 18 days without food and water. It was pretty overwhelming. They gave the dog food and water, but it growled at them when they tried to remove the water for a short period. We took the crate into the car to bring the dog into the shelter. We almost gagged with all of the windows of the van open and the crate in the rear of the minivan. I can’t even imagine what that dog has experience. No doubt it has some burns on its skin from the urine.

We brought the dog, puppy and small kitten into the shelter to the intake area at barn five. A vet saw our dog right away and we explained its circumstances. The vet said go immediately to barn one, where the vets and intensive care are located. One of the intake people started to give us a hard time about paperwork, but we immediately resisted, and drove the dog over to barn one.

There the vets put the dog on an IV and someone removed him from his cage, attaching a muzzle. How that dog had the energy to fight us is beyond me. I can’t even imagine why he’s still alive. When we found him, there was a small bowl of water and food nearby, so we wondered if the owner planned to evacuate the dog and some intervening event occurred. It’s hard not to drive yourself crazy with these things.

Speaking of which, we decided not to go back for the emaciated dog that had been trapped in the bathroom because he couldn’t be considered “critical.” Critical was defined as laying down, unable to stand, unable to bark, or likely to expire within 48hours. This dog’s tail was wagging, by contrast.

We had been warned earlier in the day to be more strict: “We can’t risk getting shut down because we let in a ‘critical ear infection.’” In hindsight I hope that turning off the bathroom water didn’t lead to his demise. We’re told the water is essentially coming straight out of the Mississippi and it’s not safe to drink. One thing I take solace in is the fact that he can now get out of the house if he needs to. Hopefully this will afford him more access to food and water if his runs out.

We went back to look for the dog with the broken leg we saw on the first day out, but we couldn’t find him. Again, he was wagging his tail, so could he be considered critical? Anand, a wildlife vet, expressed surprise that we hadn’t brought in a dog with a broken leg and I felt very bad. I hope that someone else in our area comes across him and picks him up. I was afraid to bring him in, for fear that he would be euthenized because we may lack the resources to operate on him.

I think I’ll be haunted by these decisions for a while, wondering if we did the right thing. It’s not a good feeling. I reconcile these feelings by telling myself that our goal should be to help/save as many animals as possible, and that the more resources we put into one, the more we let suffer. We have to make split-second decisions in the field, and I think we have to learn to live with those decisions. The alternative is to drive yourself crazy and thus end up being ineffective, unable to help any.

There was a rumor going around that we were euthenizing a lot of animals. The powers that be assured us that this isn’t the case.

Lynn and I watched on as the vet techs bathed, shaved and cleaned the eyes of our rescued dog. He was certainly feisty. I think one of the vets said he wasn’t worth saving, because a female vet tech was visibly shaken. I figured the vet techs have seen everything and therefore they are immune to excessive emotion, but our dog was a compelling case. The vet must have rethought his remarks and instead reassured her through her tears that our dog was going to make a nice pet for someone. The vets told us they hoped that he would make it. I’m guessing from his demeanor that he will.

In the vet area they needed someone to transport a cat to the LSU vet school in Baton Rouge for an amputation. We took the cat with the bandaged leg in his carrier. It was a poignant reminder than animals are so stoic. The cat never whined or made any noise at all. In the half hour rush-hour journey to Baton Rouge, Lynn urged me to use our hazard lights and pass any slow vehicles. We agreed that we were essentially a cat ambulance, and therefore an emergency vehicle. The LSU surgical team had already been waiting for two hours for the cat, due to a miscommunication.

Back at the shelter in the food tent area we ate our dinner and Lynn remarked, “Now I know how cops feel about their partner.” There’s nothing she could have said would have made me feel better. Despite all of the ups and downs, I still like think of us as Charlie’s Angels, ever ready to hop out of the minivan and crowbar a door to get to a suffering cat. I think at the end of the day my cats Emma and Diego would be proud of me, and would forgive me for leaving them with a roommate. And sometimes that’s all you need.

2005-09-19T18:44:00.000-07:00

This dog was stranded on the second floor balcony. We asked a local retired veterinarian to check on him and make sure he had what he needed.

2005-09-19T18:36:00.000-07:00

Even when we put out fresh water, these dogs drank out of the standing water in the street. Hard to imagine they won't get sick eventually from the water.

2005-09-19T18:34:00.000-07:00

A rescuer changed this "beware of dog" sign to read "sweet dog." The pit bull behind this fence was indeed sweet, and happy to get food and water.

2005-09-19T18:30:00.000-07:00

Guard troops stop to ask us to pick up an animal, a common occurrence.

2005-09-19T18:24:00.000-07:00

We leave wet food on top of dry because the smell attracts animals from further away. We are supposed to drop a week's worth of food and water, but some feeding stations we returned to the very next day were empty.

2005-09-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

Cats come out of the woodwork when we drop food and water. Here one consumes wet food rapidly, probably due to dehydration.

2005-09-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Most of the dogs and cats on the streets are fairly emaciated at this point. Hopefully, with people returning to the city in small numbers, these animals can be removed, or taken care of. With Rita approaching, relief may be delayed. At this point our goal is to sustain life and buy some more time.

2005-09-19T16:55:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the staging area for all of the rescue efforts. They were distributing free vaccinations and since we’ve heard rumors of possible malaria, cholera or leptosporosis, we decided we’d better get what we could. Nurses gave us tetnus, hepatitis A and hepatitis B and thanked us for being here.

On the way a hotel worker with a gun on his hip asked us to deal with a rotweiler in a 10 story parking garage that he said was threatening clean-up crews. “I don’t want to shoot him,” he said, but he’s threatening my workers. We drove the minivan up as far as we could in the urban parking garage, but when the ramps got too steep and the minivan bottomed out, all we could do was drop food and water, thinking part of the reason he is aggressive is because of a lack of food. We never saw the dog. On the way out we gave a report to the hotel worker and urged him not to shoot any critters.

At the morning meeting we learned there are veterinarians who can go into the field to euthenize. I believe they want to avoid the military or others shooting dogs. Veterinarians can diagnose the animal and decide whether it truly needs to be put down or not.

We found a large dog stuck on a second floor balcony with no food or water. I can imagine that the owners thought they were doing the right thing to put the dog on higher ground, protecting it from rising floodwaters. But now it doesn’t have access to food and water. Lynn climbed up on a fence to give him relief. We hate not being able to bring these animals in with us for rehydration and shelter.

The dogs and cats on the street are so thin now. When we see cats we drop food and it is amazing how many more come out from hiding. They really dig into the wet food, probably because they are dehydrated. I understand the heat index here is 106 degrees, which doesn’t surprise me, since we are sweating all day long. I have to keep reminding everyone to drink water throughout the day. It’s easy to forget to take care of yourself.

A senior official with the Oregon National Guard stopped us today and asked for credentials. It was their job to secure the neighborhood we were in, I imagine, as he was traveling with his unit. We don’t have credentials yet, to which he reacted with surprise. He asked if we were breaking into houses, and I said no. He said that would be against the law. I told him so is driving the wrong way on the freeway, but we do that in these exigent circumstances. He asked for my driver’s license and remarked that I was from Oregon. I replied, referring to our governor, “Ted Kulongoski sends his best.” He didn’t seem amused.

He introduced me to one of his subordinates who works for the Oregon State Police who said that technically violating a traffic law is an infraction, not “against the law.” I asked whether they thought breaking a window to get food and water to a pet trapped in a house was acceptable. He said, “well, there you’re between a rock and a hard place and I see your dilemma.” With that understanding I told him we’d avoid breaking into houses and we went on our way. We vowed to get out of that neighborhood to avoid more run ins with this unit.

The next day at the morning meeting we told of our experience and were assured that we were authorized to break into homes and break windows to free trapped animals. To most of the people I know, their property is a lesser value than their pets, which are irreplaceable. Perhaps because we were in the nicer neighborhood of St. Claude we met with resistance to doing any damage to property.

This was the first area that we encountered white people to any degree. The houses were nicer and had escaped damage to large extent. People were coming back, cleaning up. We met a retired LSU veterinarian who we gave dog food to. We asked him if he’d be willing to check on the dog on the balcony and we gave him the address.

Our strategy is now to get others to help us with our work since we cannot do it all. One couple asked us if we could rescue a fish in a high rise institution (perhaps a seniors home) that they pointed to. Since they couldn’t give us an exact location, or even a floor, we expressed doubts. They asked for animal food and we gave it to them. The woman said she wanted to check on her boyfriend’s pets in the French Quarter and asked if we could take her there. She said authorities wouldn’t let her into the neighborhood. We told her we simply weren’t in a position to take her to a different neighborhood. After we left Lynn expressed the opinion that perhaps the gentleman wanted the dog food for himself, not for pets. Perhaps it’s true.

One man asked us to check on his neighbor’s cat. He led us to the house, and then told us there was a fetus inside. Reluctantly we looked and it did appear that the cat had miscarried at least one kitten. I can imagine that with the trauma of the storm and perhaps dehydration it would be hard for an animal to sustain a normal pregnancy. We were happy to leave that house and move on to more productive work.

We entered a house where a dog was locked inside. Oddly, the screen door was locked but the front door was wide open. We wondered if the residents might be around. Once inside the dog growled at us and we started to back away. It chased Lynn out of the house and bit her heel. We slammed the door and went back to the van. Teddy, an assistant animal control officer from Dayton who was with us told us there was a rotweiller in the open garage. We felt nervous, but it turned out that dog was pretty friendly. We left food and water and took off.

On the next block we found one house with two dogs in the yard, one of which Teddy said was pregnant. We climbed a ladder to get food and water to the yard, but we couldn’t take the dogs with us. We went back to check on some loose-running dogs we had locked in a yard the previous day and thankfully someone had let them out. They are better off in the streets, we hated to admit, if they are able to get food and water on a more regular basis. It was just too hot to keep them locked up.

We encountered one pack of dogs that seemed slightly threatening. We dropped food and water and got out of there. By the end of the day we were out of water, having dropped 100 gallons. Hopefully this is enough to buy some more time and keep these animals alive longer.

Back at Lamar-Dixon we gratefully learned that there have been about 200 reunions of people with their dogs. I hope this increases. The Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) is taking responsibility for the dogs it sends to other states. They will be fostered with families or stay at the shelter to give people time to contact the Lamar-Dixon shelter to track their pet. If necessary, HSUS will pay to ship the animal back to Louisiana to its family.

2005-09-16T18:59:00.000-07:00

We rescued a kitten from the house next to Yomi, but we were out of cat carriers so we had to improvise our transportation arrangements.

2005-09-16T18:53:00.000-07:00

Back at the shelter, a vet triages the puppy with mange and treats him for dehydration.

2005-09-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

2005-09-16T18:50:00.000-07:00

Five dogs in this yard.

2005-09-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

2005-09-16T18:47:00.000-07:00

2005-09-16T18:45:00.000-07:00

This gentleman, Bible in hand, asked us to free Fats Domino's dogs. We left him all of the food we had in the car, including some blue cornchips that he said he really enjoyed when we ran into him the next day. The following day we gave him the jar of salsa.

2005-09-16T18:42:00.000-07:00

This sign refers to the dog in the lower right window pane who we gave food and water through the window. Too bad the owners didn't sell their house before the storm.

2005-09-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

People had to leave with little notice, many without their animals.

2005-09-16T18:38:00.000-07:00

Lynn, rescuing a puppy. He had mange and other medical issues, so went into intensive care back at the shelter.

2005-09-16T18:36:00.000-07:00

This house reminds me of a doll house.

2005-09-16T18:34:00.000-07:00

Downed power lines were a problem.

2005-09-16T18:32:00.000-07:00

The roof slid of this house and remains in the street.

2005-09-16T18:30:00.000-07:00

Breaking into a house to help a dog enclosed in a bathroom who had no option but to stand on a toilet, presumably for two weeks, with no food and water.

2005-09-16T18:27:00.000-07:00

Members of the 82nd Airborne, talking with Yomi about his choice to stay behind when others evacuated.

2005-09-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

Yomi, who stayed behind with his dog.

2005-09-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Oregon National Guard members comb through neighborhoods, identifying whether residents have died, and who has stayed behind. They also help us when they identify the location of pets.

2005-09-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

We mark on houses where animals are located so that those who come to replentish food and water will know when we were there and where the animals are located.

2005-09-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

A dog we dropped food and water for over a chainlink fence.

2005-09-16T18:10:00.000-07:00

Troops who visit houses mark them. In this case TFW means that food and water were dropped, presumably to people who were staying behind, who we referred to as the holdouts. In this case they gave notice there was a dog. We climbed over a fence to enter the house and give food and water to the dog at this location.

2005-09-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

Rescue teams started going out again on Monday, but instead of picking up animals, they focused on delivering food and water and only bringing in critical cases. Critical was defined as an animal that cannot stand up on its own, or bark, or one that will perish within a day or two. Because the shelter filled so quickly, and there are an estimated 50,000 pets still living in the city without their owners, trying to collect all of the animals would be difficult, and housing them for an indefinite period would be impossible. The mission switched to feeding and giving water to sustain the animals without taking them in, called “shelter in place.”

I volunteered to go out in a team of two and asked Stephanie if she wanted to be my partner. She was excited to go. The next morning, however, when she called her fiancé at 5 am to tell him she was going, he expressed reservations. She didn’t end up going and I feared that I wouldn’t be able to find another partner, so that I wouldn’t be able to go either.

We were told to meet at 5:30 am, and at the appointed time I went out to the volunteer tent. The only other person I saw was Jay, who works for Oregon Humane Society. He said, excitedly, “I’m going out in the field today!” I said, “Me too!” It occurred to me that only us “newbies” were so excited to get out there that we showed up at 5:30 am. I told Jay I didn’t have a partner and he said he had someone he could recruit. Soon Lynn showed up to be my partner.

What I didn’t know was that Jay thought he was going to the tent of someone named Julie. He went to Lynn’s tent and called out loudly “Julie, Julie, do you want to go out today, do you want to go out today?” Lynn woke up, groggy, trying to process the information. He asked her if she wanted to go out into the field and she said yes. We later joked about her initial confusion that she should have said, “I have a husband.”

When I arrived at 5:30 there was a guy at the check-in desk who had come to look for his dog. I said to him, "Wow, people even come at 5:30 am to look for their animals." He said, "No, I got here at 2 am. I was in Memphis and got the call that my dog was here, so I rented a car and drove all night." We love people like that, who are dedicated to their animals and wish to be reunited with them. We fear there are many who will never seek out their dogs or cats in the shelter.

We got our instructions, that we were to drop food on newspaper and water in buckets or bowls wherever we saw animals. Feeding stations would sustain the animals on the street, and if we found animals in their homes we were to leave them food and water in their home, breaking a window if necessary to get to the animal. We loaded up the minivan with 100 gallons of water, dog food, cat food, pet carriers and other supplies.

We drove to New Orleans, passed two checkpoints, and drove the empty streets to our assigned area, including the Seventh Ward, Marginy and St. Roch areas. One freeway exit we took was flooded, so we drove the wrong way on the freeway to get to where we needed to go, a common practice. We didn’t have to follow traffic rules because the only others using roads were military troops and law enforcement. The area we were in seemed to be hit pretty hard. We saw roofs blown off, and entire sides of houses missing, utility poles toppled over.

The first area we encountered was St. Roch, which was home to one of country’s largest populations of free people of color before the Civil War. Many jazz musicians lived in St. Roch including one of the early jazz greats, Jelly Roll Morton. Of the holdouts we encountered, most were African American.

Military units were going house to house identifying the number of dead. They’d mark on the house the date they visited and whether there were any dead. They’d also mark “dog” or “cat” sometimes. One of the first houses we encountered had “dog” written on it. Most of the houses have locked gates, owing to the fact that it’s a poor section of town. We climbed the fence, opened the door and gave the two dogs food and water, two weeks to the day after the hurricane hit. We marked on houses “SPCA F/W 9-12” to indicate we’d been there and left food and water on a particular date. We kept a list of all the houses with animals so that rescue workers could return to replenish food and water.

The National Guard in this area were all Oregonians, which was pretty cool. Most were young guys who were jovial and accommodating, even as they walked down the street with their M-4s. We joked with them and they told us of animals needing to be fed or rescued. They were also escorting Chris Matthews and an official we didn’t recognize but assumed was important. Homeland Security Chertoff, perhaps.

We found animals in crawl spaces under houses, and other hidden places. The temperatures were in the 90s, with high humidity, and they are smart to protect themselves from the weather and other animals.

We found one house where the dog was locked in the bathroom, standing on the toilet because the floor was covered with remnants of the flooding. We broke the small, high bathroom window and tried to lower down water and food, but it was clear we wouldn’t be able to get food or water to him. We decided to break the front plexiglass window and open the bathroom door to let the dog out. However, after breaking the window and crawling through, the bathroom door was locked and we couldn’t kick it in. It was heartbreaking. We wrote down the address and pledged to return. Later, we ran into a firefighter and paramedic who were doing the same thing we were. We gave them the address and asked them to break down the door.

We met Yomi, a local resident, who didn’t want to evacuate. He had a dog and was watching a neighbor’s dog as well. We offered him more dog food and rescued a kitten trapped in the other half of his duplex. We watched as the National Guard engaged him in a conversation about leaving. He said he has everything he needs and he’s not interested in leaving. He said they hassle him multiple times a day, spray painted on his house, etc. We asked him if he had any pens because we gave ours to a reporter and he gladly gave them.

When driving down the street we heard gunfire. I asked Lynn, “Was that shots fired?” She said gesturing, “Yea, but it’s up there.” “You mean the direction we’re heading?” I asked. It’s funny how nonchalant we were, in part because it was almost expected. Later we heard from some federal agents that a dog was shot because it was allegedly threatening to some troops. How much we wish we could get all of these animals out of here so we didn’t have to have that situation. But at 50,000 animals in the city that is not realistic.

We picked up eight animals, three young dogs and five kittens. At one house, spray painted with “two cats,” when we pushed open the door three very young kittens appeared. We scooped them up. Since we only had two carriers, but we didn’t want to leave behind vulnerable animals, we had six animals loose in the minivan that we held onto as we drove. We visited a lot of homes and created many drop sites at intersections.

At one point a truck filled with a military unit in blue uniforms drove through at a high rate of speed and yelled, "Mandatory evac, another levy has broken!" We stopped what we were doing, jumped in the minivan and drove desperately to higher ground. We quickly text messaged the other rescuers as we tried to locate someone to verify the information. When we couldn't verify this, we went back to our assigned area and resumed our work.

We met a man, holding a bible, sitting by a barbeque in his yard. He gave us some information about animals in the neighborhood. We asked him if he’d feed some of the cats in the neighborhood and left food with him. We gave him all the people food in the car as well, some blue corn chips, applesauce, potato chips, trail mix and granola bars. He asked us to check on Fats Domino's dogs and gave us directions. Later the Guard members we talked to told us that area was flooded and therefore not passable.

About every 20 minutes or half an hour someone will stop you and ask you to pick up an animal and give you a location. We are unable to add that animal to our rounds if it's not within a block or two because we've got a grid to cover and never enough time. It's amazing how many of the rescue personnel stop you. We passed by the place where the Oregon National Guard was housed and they asked us to take a kitten into the shelter who had been coming around. The sargent who asked us, told us to meet him on the other side of the building. When we arrived the troops were relaxing outside, many using cell phones. One guy was sitting in a deck chair, with the kitten on his chest. We asked if they were sure they wanted to give up their companion. We took him to the shelter.

One house had five dogs in the yard. They are traveling in packs these days. Mostly they are benign, but occasionally there is one that growls or seems aggressive and we back off. This neighborhood has a lot of pit bulls and a few rotweilers. If these dogs don't get regular food and water they may become desperate and more tempermental. If that's the case we fear the military will shoot them. There was a rumor going around that DEA agents were shooting dogs because they had been seen eating corpses. My vet friend Anand said he didn't believe that the dogs would eat corpses on the street.

Because we got lost heading back we didn’t get to the shelter until midnight. It’s hard on the vets to be up at 6 am and still taking animals in at midnight, so we try to get the animals back earlier. They took care of our new friends and admitted several to intensive care. One of our puppies had mange and some other problems. A small white puppy we brought in was so wormy and dehydrated they didn’t know if he’d make it through the next day. We were pulling for all of them and checking on them regularly.

2005-09-11T22:22:00.000-07:00

Cutie patootie.

2005-09-11T22:07:00.001-07:00

In addition to food, water and a walk, Stephanie gives the dogs a little love.

2005-09-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

A pet owner shows his pet's photograph to a shelter volunteer, describing his dog and the location she was last seen.

2005-09-11T19:30:00.000-07:00

Stephanie and I washed this happy dog. Clearly the storm and its aftermath had taken a toll on his coat, but seemingly not his spirits.

2005-09-11T18:30:00.000-07:00

We seemed to have turned the corner on getting the shelter under control. Animals were coming in so fast, due to the hard work of the rescue crews on the front lines who were doing water rescues as well as rescues on land. No animals were allowed to go to out of state shelters, by orders of the state veterinarian, even though these shelters stood ready to take the animals. We had planes standing by to fly the animals out, but the red tape meant the flights had to be cancelled.

The volume of animals coming in daily compared to the number going out reminded me of that I Love Lucy episode where her job is to package chocolates that come off of a conveyor belt. When the belt speeds up she has to end up eating the chocolates because she cannot keep up with the pace. We had dogs stashed in every square inch of the barns, it seemed. This was deemed unacceptable by authorities, so we had to take serious measures to correct the situation.

The rescue teams were told not to pick up any animals one day, and everyone focused on cleaning up the shelter, standardizing things and problem solving. Mostly a lot of cleaning. That was an exhausting day. The USDA got involved, and made a commitment to overseeing the welfare of small animals, a major shift for an agency that primarily regulates farming. The next day we passed inspection. The state vet said that animals could go out of date in a trickle, and some wealthy philanthropists donated planes to transport the animals out of state.

A friend told me that two trucks were coming from Houston to take dogs there, each of which held 225 dogs. Each day seems to bring small victories. More people are showing up to volunteer daily from all parts of the country, and we’ve already identified people from each state in the nation. There are a lot of good people who want to do something to help. Thankfully, they are getting into the pipeline to get here.

In addition to moving dogs out, other victories are the reunions of owners and pets. Camera crews regularly visit the shelter, fallowing around pet owners looking for their animal. One man was looking for his dog without success, and suddenly, a truck rounded the corner, and the man’s dog stuck its head out of the truck and barked.

Stephanie said another man was looking for his dog and had been through most of the shelter. His dog was being transferred to a new cage and she jumped out of her cage and ran to her owner. With over 200 reunions to date, these stories naturally make everyone here feel good about their hard work.

2005-09-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

We have about 500 cats and kittens.

2005-09-11T11:19:00.000-07:00

The medical team's area.

2005-09-11T10:51:00.000-07:00

Barn three, which normally houses horses, serves as a temporary storage area for dog crates.

2005-09-11T10:49:00.000-07:00

Stephanie and I set up an extra fan to cool this protective mother and her pups.

2005-09-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

The vet techs wait for incoming dogs, who don't arrive because they are turned away.

2005-09-11T10:43:00.000-07:00

The donation area, stocked with donated dog food.

2005-09-11T10:39:00.000-07:00

We even have frogs!

2005-09-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

Stephanie (in tank top) and Laura (in HSUS cap) take a break near the fan, talking with Jay from Oregon and a woman from Marin County.

2005-09-11T10:31:00.000-07:00

We have to double-up (or triple) the small dogs when we're low on kennels and space.

2005-09-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

A volunteer shaves a dog with matted fur. Some come in covered with oil and other toxics.

2005-09-11T10:15:00.001-07:00

A veterinarian and assistant treat a small bird for dehydration. The shelter has an exotics section containing a feret, a baby boa constrictor, bunnies, ducks, frogs, and others.

2005-09-11T10:15:00.000-07:00

This post was going to be entitled "Thank God for the weekend" because we got more volunteers and for the first time it felt like we were starting to make some progress in getting the shelter organized and some systems in place to care for the animals properly. There was a lot more manpower in barn 5 yesterday, as well as the whole shelter.

However, things seemed to go from bad to worse when the owner of the facility showed up and wanted to evict us. Rumors were flying and people were upset. Prior to that, I personally had a breakdown and started crying uncontrollably for a few moments. Everyone I know seemed to be going through the same thing, very overwhelmed.

Friday was the worst day because we must have gotten 200 animals in at least and they just kept coming, late into the night. This wouldn't be a problem except the fact that no animals are going out, so we quickly maxed out our capacity and stretched our resources very thin.

Covered in dirt, and sweat, simply trying to help triage the incoming animals, I joked with one of my fellow volunteers that I was going to start a website: www.sendhelp.com. We said perhaps we should go to the roof and write "help" on it. Friday was the day we started to get some structure and I have to hand it to the folks in charge...things got a lot better from a logistical standpoint.

However, it appears the Louisiana officials have been reluctant to let any animals leave the state, for fear of spreading disease to other places, perhaps. They asked for a post-mortem on some of the deceased animals to find out what they died from. I am sure that many died from heat exposure, dehydration, lack of food and water, and the toxic sludge that is the water there, filled with household chemicals, feces and all manner of life-threatening gunk. Dogs are jumping into the water, swimming to the rescuers and jumping into the trucks or boats, in many cases. Others are too scared to come toward the rescuers, so they can only drop food and water that the animals will return for when the rescuers leave.

There are shelters in Marin County, California and in other states who are ready and willing to take our animals, and there were planes waiting to take them to out-of-state shelters, but the state veterinarian has said no. All of the in-state shelters are at capacity, so is nowhere for our animals to go. We are doing our best to clean cages on a regular schedule, feed and water them and walk them. With very few exceptions they are sweet and grateful for any attention. They often look frightened and tired, but they really perk up when we are able to spend a few minutes with them.

We tag team cleaning cages and walking them in pairs. One person walks the dog while the other cleans the cage. Cleaning urine and feces from cages is pretty unpleasant, so I have a completely new appreciation for shelter workers like my friend Tamar at Oregon Humane Society in Portland. For a layperson not used to doing this, it makes me realize the folks who care for shelter animals are saints.

The veterinarians, assisted by vet techs, are working very hard to visit each animal, asses them, and treat them as necessary. They have my undying respect and admiration. Late into the night they are there treating animals. The seven kittens have to be bottle fed every two hours, even through the night.

The heat and humidity makes the work more tiring, but we try to focus on what needs to be done and keep up the pace, joking whenever we can to make the work fun. I walked dogs while Stephanie cleaned cages until some volunteers arrived and helped us out quite a bit. Stephanie is a real trooper and no amount of feces seems to bother her. She loves the animals.

At one point we had enough volunteers that I turned my attention to organizing and cleaning up barn 5 wherever I could. I think it was a coping mechanism for me. I couldn't look at any more animals right at that moment. I focused on creating order out of chaos and I felt better. Stephanie and I turned our attention to setting up fans throughout the barn so that the dogs could get more air circulation. Fans and extension chords arrived and were placed at the ends of the barn.

By 6 pm, though, I was feeling clammy and my shirt was sweat-soaked. My face was salty and gritty. The nearest grassy/rocky area to the kennels is quite a few yards away, so we're constantly in the sun, walking the animals back and forth. I felt I was probably dehydrated but didn't want to stop working and leave the burden to others. We were really focused on cleaning up the cages and the whole barn, due to the facility owner and state health department threatening to shut us down, I would later learn.

A woman volunteer asked for my help walking dogs and I readily agreed so she and others could get cages cleaned. She asked if I could take two dogs and I said sure. I was handed a large black lab and a black pit bull, each on a leash. Each dog was pulling on one arm and they both proved to be quite strong.

To make matters worse, the pit bull was running back and forth in front of my path, and around my legs, tangling me in his leash. I tried to jump out of the leash circle closing around my legs, but soon I found myself tumbling on the concrete, holding tight to the dog leashes. The pit bull started jumping on me, excited and I yelled an expletive. A man ran over to help me and he took one of the dogs. I told him that I could only handle one. After he led the pit bull away I broke down in tears, sobbing. I felt completely vulnerable in that moment, unable to accomplish the simple task of controlling two dogs at once. Stephanie rushed over and consoled me. I decided to go to the first aid tent for rehydration and possibly to talk to someone since they have told us that psychological counseling is available. The gatorade proved more helpful than the "active listening" provided by the medical staff. What I needed was to change into dry clothes.

On my way to the rented minivan to get dry clothes I ran into Laura, Andrea and Stephanie. We all were feeling overwhelmed and sat down to talk. This was more helpful to me than the counseling. Andrea was put in charge of barn five that day since the more experienced staff members were given a day off. She did a great job, but between the five reporters wanting to ask her questions throughout the day and the overwhelming number of questions and requests for problem solving from the volunteers, she was beat. We all cried, because we're tired, because we know we are doing the best we can for the animals and it's not enough, and because of the scale of the problem.

A woman came up to us and told us that the shelter was in jeapordy of being shut down and that the rescuers coming in with their trucks full of animals were being turned away at the gate by the military officers with M-16s. We had been expecting 120 new animals at a minimum that day and we had been readying crates, food and water all afternoon. Previously we were running out of crates and that was a critical situation, but I was told that Wal-Mart donated 4,000 crates. Teams of vets and vet techs were assembled waiting for the animals to arrive around 5 pm, but the rescuers and their animals were turned away.

The facility owner had visited the day before and was surprised to see the number of animals there. He called the state public health department and they did an inspection. They threatened to shut down the facility, so a decision was made not to accept new animals and instead to focus on cleaning up what we had. A rescuer named Lewis, a firefighter, came in saying he had a pregnant dog, among other critical cases. He had been turned away earlier and told to go to Louisiana State University (LSU) veterinary school in Baton Rouge which is also housing animals. After driving the half hour to LSU he was turned away there too when they told him they were not accepting any more animals. He was back at Lamar-Dixon arguing for the pregnant dog and others to be admitted.

Some of the rescuers diverted to the Jefferson Parish feed lot and tried to care for their animals there. Most of the animals are in urgent need of hydration since at more than two weeks after the storm they are fending for themselves for food and water. The rescuers were told only to pick up critical cases that day, and to leave food and water for the others. At one house yesterday a woman had 80 cats. The vet accompanying the rescuers triaged them there and they took about 40 of them. They had to leave the rest and promised to try and return.

These cats and other animals were now waiting in a truck, in limbo, with nowhere to go. We were told that at least one dog arrived DOA. The rescuers finally returned at midnight and their heartbreak was apparent. Drew, our friend Laura's husband, was among them. Laura had been anxiously awaiting word that Drew was on the way back and that the animals were Ok. I can't even imagine how hard it would be, putting on a stiffling dry suit (biohazard suit), going onto rooftops to rescue animals in the heat and filth all day long, only to be turned away at the shelter. Laura and Drew held each other. She would be leaving today to return to Portland and he would remain here on the frontlines, continuing the much-needed water rescues.

Today I took Laura and Andrea to the airport. Their frustration and exhaustion was readily apparent. On one hand I know they hate to leave, and on the other, I know they have to.

I am here for another four or five days. We are told that our tents have to be moved. The facilities owner doesn't want us camping on the property. Not sure where we'll be moved to. I'm trying to pace myself and avoid getting overwhelmed. Yesterday was a good wake-up call. To be honest, I have no idea how these frontline rescuers, of animals or people, can take it. I'm starting to get a tiny inkling of what people experience in war or any other kind of catastrophe. Apparently they are cracking down on who can go out in boats and rescuers are being fingerprinted. Laura has contributed greatly in the kennels and at the information desk, but she knows that she is replaceable. Drew, on the other hand, with his animal rescue and law enforcement experience, is not as easily replaced. He wants to stay, though he has been going out daily on the frontlines for over a week. He feels an obligation to his team members as well. They are easing up on the hours Drew and the team is working so that they assemble at 8 am rather than 5 or 6 am. This is helping quite a bit.

We are told that the rescuers will not be bringing in animals today, but instead they will drop food and water for any animals that they see. There is an inspection of the facility at noon today and I imagine that if we pass it will remain open. Hopefully we'll be able to get some animals out to other states as soon as possible to make more room. They also told us that the tents we are sleeping in must go, so hopefully they will find another place for us to pitch our tents that is close by. The heat continues, the care of animals continues, and hopefully we'll get on top of the situation soon.

There are a lot of rumors circulating, including that the DEA is shooting dogs. I hope that is not true. The people and non-profit animal organizations who have travelled here from all over the nation to set up this shelter and care for the animals are good-hearted, loving people who want to see us do right by all of the animals who are in some ways forgotten victims of this hurricane. Their hearts are breaking, hearing these stories. We have heard that the new FEMA special deputy director, Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad W. Allen, is an animal lover. Hopefully word will get out to him that the animals should be taken into consideration in the recovery efforts.

A reporter I met today told me of a Honduran woman, Ines Zelaya, a landscaper, who stayed behind to take care of all of the animals in her neighborhood. She providing food and water for 15 dogs and several cats with, carrying the food and water in a small bowl. The military told her on Friday that she had to evacuate, so she left the animals behind. She was more worried about them than about herself. The reporter said he was moved. "I kept trying to ask her about her house, and everything else, and all she wanted to talk about was the dogs," he said.

Wayne Pacelle, the president of the Humane Society of the U.S. was on Larry King Live last night, commenting on the situation. I hope and pray this will help us get what we need and that we can move animals out so we can take in those that are in need. There is no shortage of animals who still need to be rescued out there. I understand that HSUS has eased up on its requirements that volunteers must meet before they can help out. Information is available at www.hsus.org. I'm told President Bush will be visiting the area today. I wish he'd come and tour our facility and realize that we could use some help.

2005-09-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

We are a group of Humane Society of the U.S. (HSUS) volunteers from Portland, Oregon doing animal rescue work in Gonzales, Louisiana in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Andrea, Laura, Kim (that's me), Stephanie and Laura's husband Drew traveled from Portland to Gonzales, Louisiana to help rescue the animals left behind or surrendered by their owners. There is a huge animal rescue operation underway.

Our makeshift shelter is at the Lamar-Dixon expo center, a huge facility that is currently housing evacuees and the makeshift animal shelter. It is also a staging area for police, military and national guard from around the country. There are RVs, vans and trucks, with people camping in tents as well.

Everyday hundreds of animals are brought in. As of September 10, we have approximately 2000 animals, though there could easily be more. These include horses, dogs, cats, bunnies, even some chickens and goats. Louisiana State University vet center is also helping out, and most of the livestock end up there since they are better equipped to handle those types of animals.

The front-line rescuers go out daily in boats and round up animals. We are about 40 miles outside of New Orleans, and 15 miles southeast of Baton Rouge. Those on the front lines wear dry suits and biohazard gear. They say the fumes coming off of the water are overwhelming and the water is highly toxic. One rescuer (of humans) apparently fell in the water and was hospitalized with an IV drip within two hours. Frontline rescuers must be trained (usually FEMA trained), and must wear considerable protective gear. They have to have heppatitis A and B vaccinations, as well as tetnus.

At the shelter we hear a lot of stories from people on the frontlines. I asked a guy coming in with a truck of dogs whether the dogs will come to the rescuers, or if they run the other way. He said some of them jump into the water and swim to them and jump onto the truck. Others run the other way because people have been hunting them. I was a bit stunned, asking "for food or for sport?" "Both," he answered. You hear a lot of stories, some of which are a bit incredible. It's hard to know what to believe.

A woman firefighter from Kentucky with hazmat training told me that when the rescuers are covered from head to toe, calling to the animals, they can look pretty scary. The boats motor up to porches and rescue animals trapped by the water. The same firefighter told me that she had to try several boat launches because the first two had dead bodies there, lying uncovered or even naked. She saw six bodies that day total, mostly on the boat launches. She said they looked for a tarp to cover them to give them some dignity. She expressed disgust and outrage that our government cannot get these bodies rounded up. We are focused on the animals, but not to the exclusion of people, of course.

We don't get a lot of news here, because we're working all day. But we have heard that the official estimates are now lower as to the number of people killed. Stephanie, my friend and tentmate, after hearing the firefighter's story about the bodies said that perhaps the government merely wants us to think it's a lower number to give an overall image of a smaller scale disaster. Perhaps.

At the shelter we've got five outdoor barns or stables at the expo center. The scale is overwhelming. Though I'm more of a cat person, the dogs require more work, so that is where I'm focusing my attention. Dogs are in barns 1, 2, and 5. Laura and Andrea are doing some administrative work, but overall most of us are working in shelter five, just trying to handle the incoming dogs, keep all the dogs fed and watered and out of the heat, and clean up after them, plus give them some exercise.

In the mornings we meet at 7:30 am to assign tasks. Cleaning the dog cages, walking them, and refreshing their food and water are our first task. They say that 18 people can do the job in five hours. Yesterday we had three volunteers, and then three more joined our team. We began cleaning the cages, working in twos. A dog walker would take the dog out of the kennel and the cleaner would remove the bottom pan, made of plastic. We hose down the pan, dry it off and put it back, then replace the food and water. After a few minutes the animal is ready to be put back in its kennel. Ideally they will get walked later in the day by more volunteers, but yesterday we were so deluged by incoming animals in the afternoon that it didn't happen. We were in full panic mode just to handle the number coming in.

The rescuers go out in the morning, so by afternoon the dogs start coming in. Yesterday we frantically set up kennels and crates and tried to get each dog food and water as soon as possible. No one knows how long they may have gone without. That's about all we can keep up with. It feels like trying to plug holes in a leaking levee with your fingers sometimes. There are reporters who wander around, taking pictures and getting the story. Celebrities come and go. Kirstie Ally was here the last two days, along with Anderson Cooper. They both went out on the front lines with the rescuers. Kirstie Ally dropped off Jenny Craig snack bars we have been eating ever since.

In each barn there are rows and rows of horse stalls with shavings on the ground. In each stall we've placed three or more dog kennels or crates. We ran out of kennels yesterday. The crates really aren't adequate, but in some cases they are all we have. Many people are camping on-site. You'd think the noise would keep us up all night, but by the time we hit the hay, sometimes as late as 2 or 3 am, the cacaphony becomes part of the background noise and we fall to sleep instantly.

Yesterday was the first time in three days I was able to take a shower. There is an endless amount of work to be done, and no real time for breaks. There are two showers near the police area in the women's bathroom, and there was a line at 2 am. Everyone is very friendly and good natured and cooperative, and it's a good time to catch up on the "news" and share stories.

Today I made a pilgrimage to Starbucks and to the store to get Drew some more pants. He has been using the same pair for six days and needs more workpants. He's on the front line, so they get quite hot, sweaty and dirty. Everytime I see Drew he looks simply exhausted and a bit shell shocked. I think he just has to focus on the task at hand and not let too much sink in. We all have to do the same. Working long hours under stressful conditions without adequate resources makes a person prone to emotional breakdown.

They set up a first aid tent at the shelter and encouraged us to meet with the doctor for "debriefing" which is essentially psychological counseling. Most people here work with animals, so I think it's really hard on them emotionally. Sometimes you have to stop what you're doing and go have a good cry or talk to someone you love on the phone. Personally, I have my "kitty therapy." I go to the cat area and feed the week-old kittens by bottle or finger. This always makes me feel much better. It is very sad and heartbreaking to see dogs coming in covered with tar, oil, water, dirt, some with injuries or scabs that are a week or two old. I cope by telling myself, "these are the lucky ones, they are resilliant and will bounce back."

We get all kinds of dogs in, large and small. There seem to be a lot of pit bulls, and I've never seen as many in-tact (non-neutered) dogs before. The trucks pull up and start unloading dogs in crates, sometimes as many as 40 or 50 at a time. We line up the cages and get them water. It has been quite hot and almost all the dogs are panting all the time. We have huge fans set up in the shelter to circulate air, but it's still warm. Two days ago when I went to Baton Rouge to pick up Stephanie at the airport it was 82 degrees at 9 pm. And of course it's humid. Most of the animals are out of the sun, but in the morning or afternoon the sun comes in at an angle and we have to cover the kennels with cardboard boxes. The barns are open-air.

The reporters and everyone else are interested in Snowball, the now infamous story of the boy who was forced to give up his dog snowball in the evacuation. Rumors abound as to whether he has been located, and when he will be reunited with the boy. I even heard that someone donated a lot of money to the boy to pay for his education. The HSUS people say snowball has not been located yet, but several other people told me he has.

Yesterday, we were at capacity for the number of crates we have. Supplies arrive daily by the truck. I assume they have been donated. Medicines, puppy formula, food, cat litter, etc. They set up a donation area where the trucks are supposed to drop supplies. We never seem to have enough dog bowls or crates, though, and a desperate plea has gone out to get more.

We were setting up the crates we had and grabbing every available one to house the dogs coming in in the afternoon and evening. We were told that they were shutting the front gate so no more trucks could be brought in, but as late as 10:30 pm, another truck pulled up with 50 dogs. One that I saw, a pit bull, had a sign on its crate reading "diseased, recommend euthenasia."

The vets evaluate every animal when they come in, and triage them. We only have about a dozen vets, and maybe a dozen or two vet techs. They are all working extremely hard. Dogs come in with abrasions, runny eyes, oil covered, etc. If humans need biohazard suits to go in, think what it's like for the dogs. Many of them are skinny and dehydrated, having been on their own for some time.

Yesterday afternoon a police officer stopped in and gave Laura information about where we need to go to rescue about a dozen dogs on a particular block. He said they look like pets, not strays, but they seem to be forming a pack. People call the animal hotlines and give us addresses to go look for their pets. The rescuers go in and get them. People looking for their animals come and look through the stalls. We don't yet have a system where people can locate their animal. They have to look through all of the cages and we tell them to keep coming back because more are being brought in daily. The pet owners look distressed and the cameramen follow them around, looking for their animal. Everyone is doing the best that they can.

Through it all, I feel very priviledged and honored to be here. It's hard work and long hours, but I am so grateful to be doing something, anything at all to help. And we need the help. We need all of the volunteers we can get. I'll try to take some pictures today and post them. There simply hasn't been time up until now.