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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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.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, October 2005:

New Orleans Audubon Park Zoo president Ron Forman on October
3 told the World Association of Zoos & Aquariums annual conference in
New York that restoring the Audubon facilities would probably cost
$60 million.
“A skeleton staff of 12 struggled to feed and get water to
1,400 hungry and thirsty animals with limited emergency provisions,”
Oscar Corral of the Miami Herald reported on September 5. The crew
worked around “fallen palms, eucalyptus and willow trees blocking
the paths,” but “the animals mostly survived and are secure,”
Corral assured.
“One of the huge alligators is missing,” Corral noted, “and
some birds died,” along with two otters and a raccoon.
The Audubon Aquarium of the Americas fared far worse, Corral
added. About a third of the 6,000 resident fish and other marine
animals died within a week of Katrina, due to loss of electricity to
run the water and air circulation systems. Most of the rest died
during the next week, Associated Press writer Daisy Nguyen reported.
Nineteen penguins and two sea otters were rescued and flown
to the Monterey Bay Aquarium on September 9.

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