Colorado blizzards hit wildlife, sanctuaries, cattle, & pigs

March 1, 2007 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 2007:
DENVER–The Colorado Wildlife Commission on February 13,
2007 authorized spending up to $160,000 on emergency feed rations for
as many as 2,000 mule deer and pronghorn antelope who remained
stranded nearly two months after a trio of blizzards paralyzed parts
of the west from the Rocky Mountains to Kansas.
“An aerial survey found distressed animals in small clusters
of 50 to 100 in a belt stretching from Burlington south to Lamar and
west to Trinidad,” Associated Press reported.
“Initially we were using food to lure animals away from
highways, train tracks and haystacks,” Colorado Division of Wildlife
southeast regional manager Dan Prenzlow said. “Now we are feeding
some of those same animals,” just to help them survive.

BOOKS: Rescued: Saving Animals from Disaster: Life-changing stories and practical suggestions

November 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006:

Rescued: Saving Animals from Disaster:
Life-changing stories and practical suggestions
by Allen & Linda Anderson
New World Library (14 Pamaron Way, Novato, CA 94949), 2006.
347 pages, paperback. $16.95.

Angel Animals Network founders Allen and Linda Anderson in
Rescued analyze the efforts made to save animals after Hurricane
Katrina. They relate the inspiring stories of committed volunteers
from all over the world who converged on New Orleans, southern
Louisiana, and coastal Mississippi to help the animals who were left
behind when their humans fled, were killed, or were simply unable
to get home after the New Orleans levies broke a day after the
hurricane itself had passed. The Andersons also describe the work
done by various humane organizations, under appalling conditions,
to try to bring order out of chaos. There were some high-profile
individuals involved, such as Madeleine and T. Boone Pickens, the
oil billionaires, who chartered aircraft to transport found animals
to shelters outside the disaster area but most were unknown people
of ordinary resources.

Wildlife is taking over deserted New Orleans

November 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006:
new Orleans–Louisiana SPCA executive director Laura Maloney
and Audubon Zoo staff warned in repeated media statements, beginning
on January 23, 2006, that food left by dog and cat rescuers in
communities hit by Hurricane Katrina could help cause an urban
wildlife crisis. And it did.
“In 20 years of trapping animals here, I’ve never seen
anything like it,” nuisance wildlife trapper Greg duTreil told
Associated Press in mid-October 2006.
Alligators, armadillos, coyotes, foxes, nutria, rabbits,
raccoons, and especially rats are reportedly abundant as never
before in the Riverbend and Uptown districts of New Orleans, still
deserted more than a year after the early September 2005 flooding.
“They have more to eat than before the storm. Just look at
the garbage, the stuff lying around, the empty buildings. This is a
rat’s paradise,” Audubon Pest Control owner Erick Kinchke confirmed.
The Humane Society of the U.S. responded to the Associated
Press coverage by recommending removal of food sources from locations
where wild animals are problematic.

Legislation to require pet evac plans

November 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2006:
WASHINGTON D.C.–U.S. President George W. Bush in early October
2006 signed into law the Pets Evacuation and Transportation
Stand-ards Act, requiring all states to produce pet evacuation plans
in order to qualify for Federal Emerg-ency Management Agency funding
for disaster preparedness.
“The law also authorizes FEMA to provide additional money
to create pet-friendly shelters and provide special assistance to pet
owners,” said American SPCA spokes-person Shonali Burke.
Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco signed a bill implementing
pet evacuation planning on June 23, 2006. The bill was passed
unanimously by both houses of the Louisiana legislation.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger authorized a similar
bill on September 27, 2006.

Lebanon war animal victims still need help

October 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
BEIRUT, HAIFA–More than a month after Hezbollah militia
members quit rocketing northern Israel and Israel quit bombing
southern Lebanon to try to stop them, animal rescuers continued
efforts begun under fire to help the many nonhuman victims.
Best Friends Animal Society rapid response manager Richard
Crook, a Chilean veterinarian, and a vet tech flew to Lebanon on
September 7, 2006 with 175 pounds of kitten food, along with
veterinary supplies, en route to help arrange the evacuation of
about 300 dogs and cats to the U.S.
Calling the evacuation “Paws for Peace,” Best Friends
reportedly raised $182,000 of the estimated $300,000 cost of that
project and other rescue work in Lebanon and Israel before Crook’s
departure.

Harsh monsoons test rescuers

October 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2006:
VISAKHAPATNAM–At least 49 people were reported dead in
Bangladesh and 46 in India on September 22, 2006, following the
ninth cyclone to hit the western coast of the Bay of Bengal in as
many weeks. The animal toll was not immediately available.
“We are hoping to get some help to add to our efforts,”
e-mailed Visakha SPCA president Pradeep Kumar Nath. “Help is needed
urgently for feed.”
The Visakha SPCA continued assisting animals elsewhere along
the stricken Bengal coast while rebuilding its own facilities,
destroyed by a cyclone and landslides on August 3, just 11 months
after a typhoon destroyed the previous facilities in September 2005.
“We send our deepest gratitude from the animals and villagers
for the flood relief help we have received from the World Society for
the Protection of Animals and individual donors,” Nath said before
the ninth cyclone hit. “So far we have been able to help more than
27,000 animals with over 66 ton of food, vaccinations, wound
treatment and deworming.”

Wildlife rehab center, zoos, farms try to survive under fire

September 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2006:

BEIRUT, HAIFA–As vulnerable as dogs and cats were during
the July and August 2006 fighting along the border of Israel and
Lebanon, captive wildlife and livestock were in even in greater
danger, having little or no opportunity to even try to survive on
their own.
The nonprofit Animal Encounter Educational Center for
Wildlife Conservation in southern Lebanon, directed by Mounir and
Diana Abi-Said, had animals of more than 35 species to look after,
most of them rehabilitation cases, the Saids e-mailed to ANIMAL
PEOPLE. Among the animals, they said, were “brown bear, wolf,
hyena, fox, deer, ostrich, pelican, white stork, imperial
eagle, jungle cat, wild boar, and jackal.”

Livestock disasters show limits of humane response

September 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, September 2006:
ADDIS ABABA, FRESNO, SURAT, VISAKHAPATNAM–Summer 2006
disasters on three continents demonstrated both the vulnerability of
livestock to fast-changing global weather patterns and the limited
capacity of the humane community to help animals in agricultural
numbers.
Dairy cattle were most visibly hurt.
In Ethiopia the crisis involved drought-weakened desert
cattle suddenly having to cope with fast-rushing high water.
Along both the Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea coasts of India,
cattle well-adapted to the drought-and-monsoon cycle were imperiled
in part because they are now kept in unnaturally dense numbers in
floodplains surrounding fast-growing cities.

Post-Hurricane Katrina pet custody cases challenge adoptions

July 1, 2006 Dylan Forest Leave a comment

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, July/August 2006:

BATON ROUGE–Pet custody cases arising out of the
post-Hurricane Katrina animal rescue effort are presenting a
nationwide challenge to some animal advocates who have worked for
decades to promote recognition of pets as family members, and to
strengthen anti-pet theft laws.
“People who first considered themselves foster caregivers now
say some Katrina pet lovers don’t deserve their animals back,”
summarized Philadelphia Inquirer staff writer Kathy Boccella in a
mid-July profile of four cases that are expected to soon go to court.
“They cite failure to have animals spayed or neutered and not getting
rabies and heartworm prevention as evidence of unfit care.”
Also often mentioned by defendants in Katrina-related custody
disputes is that many people who were displaced by Katrina were
allegedly slow to begin searching for their animals. Most apparently
waited until they returned to their homes and found no trace of
missing pets before going to the Internet, many as first-time
Internet users.

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