Many more helped during the Hurricane Katrina/Rita disaster

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2005:

These organizations, listed in semi-alphabetical order,
also served with distinction. (Some are listed out of alpha where
several collaborated on a single project.)

“Feral and stray cats have not yet been addressed on a large
scale in this rescue effort,” Alley Cat Allies declared on September
16, initiating efforts “to help rebuild the caregiver network,
remove feral cats from shelters, collect and provide food and water
to known colonies, identify other colonies in need of help, and
assess future needs such as spay/neuter services and ongoing support
for caregivers.” The Alley Cat Allies team worked out of Bogalusa,
Louisiana.

The American Humane Association sent Dick Green to
Lamar-Dixon. Like Lamar-Dixon coordinator Dave Pauli, Green was a
veteran of the Indian Ocean tsunami recovery effort in Sri Lanka.

Animal Ark, of Hastings, Minnesota, the Minnesota Valley
Humane Society, and the Humane Society for Companion Animals, with
shelters in St. Paul and Woodbury, collected and delivered supplies
to Tylertown.

Jennifer Conrad, DVM, of Animal General Hospital Inc., in
Santa Monica, California, reached New Orleans in mid-September.
The heat, humidity, and destruction may have reminded her of her
work as founder of Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary Inc.

“Two Twin Cities groups–the Animal Humane Society of Golden
Valley & Coon Rapids and the Humane Society for Companion Animals in
St. Paul and Woodbury–sent 11 people to Houston,” wrote Matt
McKinney of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. The rescuers brought back
about 250 animals for fostering and adoption.

The Animal Radio Network, whose weekly two-hour talk program
already claimed more than two million listeners on 90 conventional
stations, on September 10 debuted as part of the Live365 web lineup,
and for the next month emphasized disaster relief reports.

Animal Aid for Vermilion Area, in Abbeville, 150 miles west
of New Orleans, provided pet supplies to the animals of evacuees.

The Anti-Cruelty Society, of Chicago, offered free vet care
to the pets of displaced families.

The Arizona Humane Society, in Phoenix, on September 17
accepted 190 animals from Lamar-Dixon.

“At least 20 members of the Association of Veterinarians for
Animal Rights joined the huge animal relief effort,” reported AVAR
director of companion animal issues Pam Runquist.

The Bay Area SPCA, of San Leon, Texas, evacuated 40 cats,
20 dogs, and 19 other animals.

The Cat Adoption Team, of Sherwood, Oregon, flew 41
evacuated cats from Fort Worth to Portland for adoption, and
tentatively planned to fly in 82 more from St. Bernard Parish.

The City of Columbia Animal Shelter and Animal Mission of the
Midlands “sent a vet technician, supplies, medicine, a power
generator and other donated tools to animal shelters in Mississippi,”
Columbia State staff writer Shalama C. Jackson reported–and Pets
Inc. Adopt A Pal became involved when flight attendant Karen Cranford
brought 11 displaced puppies back after participating in clean-up
efforts in Perdido Bay, Alabama.

“Longmont-based Code 3 Associates, the Colorado Humane
Society and others sent trained search-and-rescue teams to the
region,” reported Denver Post staff writer Electa Draper. “In
mid-September, the Colorado State Animal Response Team, a program
of the Colorado Veterinary Medical Foundation, took in more than 100
homeless animals and relocated them to shelters and foster homes in
the Denver and Boulder areas. The Denver Dumb Friends League also
provided shelter and health screenings.”

DELTA Rescue sent a truckload of food to the Lamar-Dixon rescue center.

Doris Day Animal League executive director Holly Hazard
brought an inflatable boat to Lamar-Dixon from Washington D.C.,
arriving on September 9. DDAL deputy director Sara Amundson
succeeded Hazard on rescue duty a week later.

“Food for Life, an Inter-national Vegetarian Union member
society, was on site within hours, providing vegetarian food relief
and other humanitarian aid,” said an IVU press release. Food for
Life global director Paul Turner coordinated a team that cooked and
served hot vegetarian meals to needy families, working from a Hare
Krishna farm in Carriere, Mississippi, the release explained.

The Galveston Animal Shelter & Adoption Center teamed with
Habitat for Horses to transport 79 cats ad 28 dogs to the Houston
SPCA. The Houston SPCA also took in 300 cats and 100 dogs from the
Whiskerville Animal Sanctuary in Texas City, reported Brenda Shoss
of Kinship Circle. In addition, the Houston SPCA evacuated the
animals from the Humane Society of Southeast Texas in Beaumont, and
helped to operate a temporary shelter for 300 animals– including 30
parrots–in Beaumont.

Rose Westover of Habitat for Horses/Lone Star Equine Rescue
in Hitchcock, Texas, organized collections of donated supplies in
Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas, wrote
Stephanie L. Church of The Horse. The Arkansas, Louisiana, and
Mississippi Horse Councils also pitched in. The Humane Society of
Pulaski County, Arkansas, arranged foster placements for horses.

Hopeful Haven Equine Rescue delivered hay to evacuees’
horses, and offered temporary quarters to evacuees who wanted to
camp close to their horses.
Hope Safehouse, of Racine, Wisconsin, participated with 38 other
Wisconsin humane organizations in a coalition to receive and place as
many as 250 New Orleans animals, reported David Steinkraus of the
Racine Journal-Times.

The Humane Society/SPCA of Bexar County “took in about 200
evacuee pets” as Hurricane Rita approached, reported San Antonio
Express News staff writer Rose Mary Budge. “The ASPCA has pledged
$50,000 to help cover the cost,” Budge added.

Humane Society of Broward County volunteers picked up 52 dogs
and about 30 cats from an animal shelter in Terrebonne Parish,
Louisiana, reported Kevin Deutsch of the Miami Herald.

The Humane Society of Central Oregon and Humane Society of
Redmond also sent personnel. Three staff members from the Portland
office of the Animal Legal Defense Fund assisted at Lamar-Dixon.

The Humane Society of the Nature Coast, in Brookville,
Florida, assisted by Hernando County Animal Services and Brenda
Haynes and Carmen Sunden of People for Pets, in Silverthorn,
evacuated 38 dogs and eight cats from the Hattiesburg and Waynesboro
rescue centers.

Humane Society of the Treasure Coast operations director
Candice Veach brought 15 dogs back with her after a volunteer stint
at Lamar-Dixon.
Resha Dykes, 20, represented the Geauga County, Ohio dog warden’s
office in New Orleans.

Humane Society of West Louisiana volunteer Ruby Smith
reported “fielding thousands of calls about Hurricane Katrina because
we are the closest humane society with a working phone.”

The Iberia Humane Society, of New Iberia, Louisiana,
established a temporary shelter at the Sugar Arena. Dogs and cats
were admitted to the regular humane society shelter. The temporary
shelter handled mostly livestock and horses.

Indianapolis Animal Care & Control sent a four-vehicle,
five-staff convoy to New Orleans to help for nine days beginning on
September 16, headed by operations manager, Gary Throgmorten.

International Animal Rescue, best known for projects in
India, sent IFAW $9,000 toward the $13,573 cost of 50 cooling vests
for staff and volunteers who had difficulty with the Louisiana heat.

The International Fund for Animal Welfare and Code 3
Associates sent a 78-foot self-sufficient mobile unit to New Orleans.
“The unit provides sleeping quarters for up to 12 rescue workers, a
veterinary triage and exam center, and 125 cages to hold rescued
animals,” said a press release. “Over the past two days, IFAW has
rescued 43 dogs, 41 cats, a snake, a bird, an iguana, a hamster,
and a 300-pound potbelly pig,” reported Matthew Davis of the BBC on
September 10.

Kittico Cat Rescue, in Dallas, took 101 cats the same day:
100 for adoption, and one to reunite with an evacuee who came to
Dallas.

Lafayette Parish Animal Control circa September 1 opened a
temporary shelter for the pets of evacuees at the Blackham Coliseum,
beside the Cajundome.

Liberty Humane Society of New Jersey shelter manager Nicole
Dawson and People for Animals executive director Diane Guillaume took
donated supplies south and returned with about 20 animals, reported
John Lowell Smith of the Newark Star-Ledger.

The Little Shelter on Long Island sent a rescue team led by
kennel manager Linda Klampf.

Memphis Humane Society operations director Michael Swan, 31,
may have had the best name for a water rescuer.

The Michigan Humane Society sent a three-vehicle rescue team
to the Lamar-Dixon center on September 5.

The Milwaukee Area Domestic Animal Control Commission sent
rescuers Len Selkurt and Steve Hayden, plus a van. People & Paws
Search & Rescue of Milwaukee also sent volunteers.

The Misha May Foundation of Denver reportedly made two
separate trips to bring animals back from Louisiana for adoption.

National Humane Society founder Carol Childs, of Tampa, and
veterinarian Raul Figarola, of Pasco County Animal Control,
gathered supplies for 10 days, then worked in Waveland, Mississippi.

The North Shore Animal League America prepared after Katrina
to house far more animals than were actually available for transport
outside Louisiana during the first weeks afterward. The extra
capacity proved useful when, as Rita approached, North Shore took
in 55 dogs and 38 cats from Lamar-Dixon plus 100 from the Humane
Society/SPCA of Bexar County, Texas. Evacuating the San Antonio
animals to the North Shore facilities in Port Washington, New York,
opened up cage space for animals moved north during the evacuations
of Galveston and Houston.

Two of the volunteers who traveled the farthest but arrived
among the first were John Maretti and Lezlie Morrow of the North
Valley Animal Disaster Group in Butte County, California. Arriving
on September 1 and September 4, respectively, they worked with the
American Humane Association team, reported Chico Enterprise-Record
staff writer Greg Welter.

The Oregon Humane Society on September 1 sent humane officers
Randy Covey, Kerri Tyler, Jay Hutchison, and Rene Pizzo to Louisiana
to help. On October 5, Oregon Humane received 78 dogs and 15 cats
from New Orleans, vetted on arrival by students and faculty from the
Oregon State University School of Veterinary Medicine.

Pasado’s Safe Haven, of Sultan, Washington, was also among
the longest-traveling rescuers, and set up one of the largest rescue
centers, on a 150-acre farm in Raceland, Louisiana. “There, over
700 animals have been treated for dehydration and emaciation,” the
PasadoRescuers web site summarized on September 30. “As of
yesterday, PasadoRescuers were still finding miracle animals alive
in New Orleans homes who had not had food or water for a month.”

Paws Away Rescue of Eaton, Indiana, took in 118 animals
left by evacuees at the Save A Pet shelter in Dothan, Alabama.

PETA on September 4 sent an open letter from actress Rue
McClanahan to U.S. President George W. Bush, urging him to allow
animal rescue groups into New Orleans. But “By the time the letter
was posted,” Best Friends News noted, “rescue groups had already
been allowed into the city for two days.” McClanahan and PETA also
asked that New Orleans evacuees be allowed to take their animals with
them–24 hours after Jefferson Parish animal control chief Bert Smith
told Best Friends News that this had belatedly become policy. A PETA
boat team operated from the Lamar-Dixon rescue center for seven days
in mid-September. The team returned to Norfolk, Virginia, with 32
dogs. A second team worked into October.

Pets Are Worth Saving, of Chicago, accepted about 80 dogs
and cats who were transferred from a shelter near Little Rock,
Arkansas, in anticipation of receiving animals from New Orleans.

PetSmart Charities gave more than $750,000 worth of pet
supplies, transportion, and funding to more than 98 animal welfare
agencies during the first month after Katrina, while raising $2.8
million from customers, employees, and the public. “PetSmart
Charities anticipates that grant disbursements will increase,” said
the PetSmart Charities web site.
The Pinellas County SPCA, in Florida, accepted 10 cats and 15 dogs
from Gulfport evacuees in mid-September, some the animals relayed
from the Humane Society of Pinellas County, and expected more,
executive director Beth Lockwood told Sherri Day of the St.
Petersburg Times.

Project Pet Airlift on September 21 flew 125 animals from
Lamar-Dixon to Fort Lauderdale, to be held for three weeks by the
Peggy Adams Animal Rescue League, in case their families saw their
photos on Petfinder.com.

Richmond Animal League kennel manager Pam Bridgmon and two
friends spent six days helping at the St. Francis Animal Sanctuary.

The Sacramento SPCA “welcomed 14 hurricane-battered dogs” on
September 11, said Sacramento Bee staff writer Brien Joseph.

The Safe Harbor Animal Sanctuary & Hospital, of Jupiter,
Florida, brought 14 dogs and seven cats from New Orleans.

Saving Animals, formed just two months earlier by
Spay/Neuter Assistance Project founder Sean Hawkins, arranged an
emergency airlift to Denver of 64 animals from the Houston Bureau of
Animal Regulation & Control, plus 30 animals from Citizens for
Animal Protection. Received in Denver by the Colorado State Animal
Response Team, the animals were relayed to the Denver Dumb Friends
League and the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, where they were
vetted and offered for adoption. “The entire rescue project was
generously underwritten by the Petco Foundation and HSUS,” Hawkins
said. “The BARC facility has a history of flooding; the animals
were in danger.”

The San Marcos Animal Shelter housed more than 160 animals
for evacuated humans who camped temporarily at two schools and the
San Marcos Activity Center.
The SPCA/Los Angeles Disaster Animal Relief Team had just returned to
Los Angeles, after heading to Baton Rouge on September 7, but
redeployed a four-vehicle convoy to Beaumont, Texas, to help after
Rita. “During our previous response, vital equipment was damaged,
including a vehicle and an RV,” SPCA/LA announced. “The loss of
the RV was significant, as the RV allows DART to set up mobile
staging areas. SPCA/LA has rented an RV, but needs its own for
future operations.

Suncoast Humane Society shelter administrator Donna
Kolakowski, animal care coordinator Judy Pell, and her daughter
Candice Skaggs, of Englewood, Florida, “drove 668.8 miles to
Hattisburg, Mississippi, spent eight hours unloading emergency
medical supplies,” at the Forrest County Multi-Purpose Center,
where HSUS temporarily housed more than 1,300 animals, “loaded eight
displaced dogs into their rented pickup truck, and drove them back
to Englewood. Thirty hours without sleep,” reported the Venice
Gondolier.

The Sunflower Humane Society and Wayside Waifs transported
New Orleans animals to Kansas City for adoption. The Sunflower
Humane Society reportedly had 200 applications for the first 18 dogs
made available.

The Texas Animal Control Association, mobilized after
Katrina, took in more than 300 horses, 200 dogs, 100 cats, and
various other animals at an emergency shelter opened in Nacog-doches
as Hurricane Rita hit.

Tony LaRussa’s Animal Rescue Foundation, of Walnut Creek,
California, on August 25 donated all proceeds from the ARF’s 2006
Celebrity Pet Calendar to “help save the abandoned and injured dogs
and cats left orphaned as a result of Hurricane Katrina,” executive
director Brenda Barnette announced.
Lisa Mason and Madeline Mature of Triangle Beagle Rescue of North
Carolina brought 10 beagles back to Durham from the disaster zone,
reported Anne Blythe of the Raleigh News & Observer.

The Tri-County Humane Society of Boca Raton took 25 dogs for fostering.
An emergency shelter at the Monroe Civic Center Equestrian Pavilion,
staffed by United Animal Nations, held as up to 300 animals per
night, reported Dennsi Camire of Gannett News Service.

Win Animal Rights, of New York City, took a truckload of
dogs north on September 30.