From ANIMAL PEOPLE, November 2005:

NEW ORLEANS–The biggest animal rescue
effort in U.S. history officially ended on
October 25, 2005.
On advice of assistant state veterinarian
Martha Littlefield, Louisiana Governor Kathleen
Blanco allowed the temporary permits issued to
out-of-state veterinarians assisting animal
relief efforts in New Orleans to expire.
Out-of-state rescuers still operating
temporary shelters and feeding programs were
thanked and asked to return home, to leave the
remaining work to local agencies.
“We are literally seeing animals on the
streets starving to death,” objected
AnimalRescueNewOrleans founder Jane Garrison, of
Charleston, South Carolina. “We need more
volunteers to feed and water the thousands of
traumatized animals still on the streets, we
need to keep trapping animals so we can reunite
them with their guardians, and we need a massive
spay/neuter program.”

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2005:

HOUSTON, BUCHAREST, SAN DIEGO– Insisting in 1996 that the
current Houston SPCA shelter be built to withstand a Category 4
hurricane, longtime executive director Patty Mercer was accused of
alleged extravagance–but Mercer had seen in 1992 the damage done to
shelters in southern Florida by Hurricane Andrew.
Mercer looks like a seer today. The Houston SPCA, already
handling more than 35,000 animals per year, took in 270 animals from
the Louisiana SPCA and much of the Louisiana SPCA staff just ahead of
Hurricane Katrina, and continued to house most Louisiana SPCA
activities for weeks afterward, after Katrina wrecked the Louisiana
SPCA shelter and inundated most of New Orleans for a month.
More than a million Houstonians evacuated ahead of Hurricane
Rita, but the Houston SPCA didn’t. Animals were trucked to shelters
farther away, so that the Houston SPCA could accommodate evacuees
from elsewhere–like 57 dogs and 28 cats who arrived the evening of
September 25 from the Humane Society of Southeast Texas in Beaumont.
In Romania, Asociatia Natura cofounder Carmen Milobendzchi
showed similar foresight. An architect by trade, Milobendzchi opted
to build slowly, as funding became available, rather than take
chances, cut corners, and get the job “done” only to have to
rebuild after one disaster.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2005:

GONZALES, La.; TYLERTOWN, Miss.; HOUSTON–With Internet
“bloggers” and mass media providing almost minute-to-minute updates
on the Hurricane Katrina and Rita animal evacuations through the peak
of the crisis, ANIMAL PEOPLE soon realized that our major roles
would be rumor control (see page 3) and helping donors effectively
direct their contributions.
From August 27, 2005 to our October 2005 edition press date,
ANIMAL PEOPLE documented the helping efforts of more than 190 humane
organizations involved in the Katrina/Rita rescues and evacuations,
acknowledged in the following pages, beginning with brief profiles
of some of those that were most prominent.
The first mention of each organization will be in boldface,
to allow readers to quickly identify their roles. Many organizations
did much more than page space and time available have allowed us to
describe, and would be worthy of profiles, opportunity permitting.
We hope to have hit the highlights, with apologies in advance to
those who may feel overlooked or neglected.
ANIMAL PEOPLE received e-mails, calls, and news clippings
mentioning the plans of hundreds of other organizations, whose
accomplishments are not yet verified–partly because many became too
busy, often in places without working telephones, to maintain
contact.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2005:

Among the ANIMAL PEOPLE readers in New Orleans were longtime
neighbors Odette Grosz and Gayle and Pinckney Wood.
“Odette went to Natchez with Minnie the Moocher, a rescued
miniature pincher,” Pinckney Wood e-mailed late on August 28, hours
before Hurricane Katrina hit. “Gayle and I are here in New Orleans
waiting. We have too many animals to easily evacuate.”
Grosz and the Woods were out of touch throughout the first
week after the levies broke.
“I don’t know that I will ever go back, not even to see my
house,” Grosz at last e-mailed on September 6. “In Kenner,” she
added, “a friend was cutting trees, and had his little dog at his
feet, when five starving dogs ran up and grabbed his pet. He tried
to chase them down, but they were too swift, and killed and ate his
dog in front of his eyes!”
Pinckney Wood was not heard from again until September 18.
“Gayle and I made it out after the water rose, with four dogs and
nine cats, more than just our pets,” he finally reported from
Lafayette. “We stayed in the neighborhood doing search and rescue
after we rescued ourselves.”

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