Hurricane Katrina Rescue Efforts
Our latest trip took place during the first week of June. The
temperatures are soaring there now; 90-97 degrees during mid-day.
Our first mission was to revisit the ARNO rescue center. Volunteers
Pam & Kylee accompanied us during our second trip. We were put
hard to work helping Robin with the cat kenneling. There were over
90 kittens and cats there at the time, all there temporarily,
waiting to be moved to other shelters. We had the opportunity to
work with some of their volunteers and to develop a meds list, and
we were able to do a worming on all of the kittens/cats there at the
time. This is a volunteer helping with the kennel work at the ARNO
rescue center.
Robert
& Robin are hard at work networking with other shelters and
national organizations to move the rescued cats & dogs out of
the area. Robin has also located 2 large industrial sized air
conditioners and is working on having the whole warehouse insulated
and air conditioned. This is now in the works. Robin was very proud
of reaching their goal of spaying/neutering 1,000 cats from the New
Orleans area during the Feline Frenzy program, which was sponsored
by Alley Cat Allies. They are hoping to plan another spay/neuter
program in July.
While
we were down south, we visited Lynn Chiche at her beautiful cat
sanctuary in Mississippi. Lynn founded SpayMart
to help alleviate the overpopulation of the many feral cats in the
Louisiana/Mississippi area. Through this effort and due to hurricane
Katrina and the loss of adoptable homes, she designed her own
sanctuary, which is currently housing 220 cats. The sanctuary is so
comfortably designed for the cats and with so much space that it
would be difficult for you to imagine that there were so many cats
there. They are all well cared for and extremely comfortable in this
sanctuary and we brought back many good ideas for our own
shelter. Lynn is a most enthusiastic and delightful person and
we enjoyed spending time with her.
Another
shelter that we visited was P.A.W.S.
in Belle Chasse, LA. They are a no-kill shelter that rescues animals
from the pound that are scheduled to be euthanized due to lack of
space. Our impression was of a very clean and organized shelter that
has an open concept cat room, and also cages for cats & dogs.
Vivian is the shelter manager and she and her volunteers are very
dedicated people. The shelter is in great need of puppy food and
kitten food, both dry and canned. They are located in one of the
hardest hit areas of New Orleans and are constantly challenged with
balancing the intake of animals with the adoptions.
More pictures from our early June New Orleans Trip
These are some of the cages used at the ARNO rescue center. They are
small and often hold several cats per cage. ARNO is not set up to
house cats or dogs permanently and must find shelters outside of the
Katrina-damaged area to take in the animals. While we were there,
one of our main tasks was cleaning the cages, feeding all the cats,
and giving medications.
One of the ARNO volunteers so generously donated several of these
hammocks so that the kittens in cages would have more sleeping room.
This hammock actually is holding 5 black kittens and they really
seemed to enjoy it.
This is a calico cat at the SpayMart shelter in Mississippi. She is
a typical calico cat with a feisty personality, but when the
volunteers put this orphaned kitten in the cage with her, she fell
in love and became its foster mom.
These next 3 pictures are of the cat enclosures at the SpayMart
shelter in Mississippi. The cats were very well socialized and had
lots of room to stretch out on the shelves and to run &
play.
Pam & Kylee had a great time visiting with the friendly cats at
the SpayMart shelter. Priscilla also got some new ideas for our
shelter.
These are some kittens at P.A.W.S. that are waiting to be
adopted. Many of these were rescued from the local pound before they
were scheduled to be euthanized.
These are some adorable puppies at P.A.W.S. that are also
awaiting adoption.
This is a picture of the surgical room at P.A.W.S. Like our shelter,
they have veterinarians that visit, and try to do most of the spays
& neuters on site.
8/1/07 - We are happy to report that the Department of Agriculture has lifted the temporary ban on rescues from the hurricane areas in the south. This will open up opportunities for outlining areas to assist in the continued needs of the homeless pet population in these devastated areas.
5/25/06 - Unfortunately we must cancel our plans to take
any more cats from the Louisiana area until we coordinate our
efforts with the state issued temporary "DAR Emergency
Order" which requires that any animals coming from
Katrina-ravaged areas go through a Dept. of Agriculture approved
process. This order was issued on September 23, 2005. Our hope is
that this order will be rescinded once the state has knowledge that
there are veterinarian hospitals and rescue groups that are fully
vetting the animals and are doing all necessary vaccinations &
inspections for disease. At this time, with the help of national
organizations, there are tremendous spay/neuter programs that have
been in effect for some time now. For more information, or to ask
for a copy of the DAR order, contact Brad Mitchell, DAR
617-626-1771, Joe Ferson, EOEA 617-626-1119, Dr. Lorraine O'Connor,
state veterinarian 617-626-1795, or email us with your fax number
and we will send you a copy of this order.
We continue to send supplies and to care for the cats we have
already taken in to the shelter. If you would like to donate funds
to help us with this important rescue work, please make a
donation through PayPal or send a check marked "ARNO" to
Pat Brody Shelter, P.O. Box 142, Lunenburg, MA 01462. Thank you so
much!
Our story of the March 28, 2006 New Orleans trip
Upon entering the Hurricane Katrina damaged
areas, we could not believe the depth of destruction and the death
of so much vegetation where the ocean flooded 30-50 miles of land
and killed plants and trees and only left a gray film of desolation,
abandoned malls, gutted houses, blown over gas stations, and not one
sign of life. Many dead and emaciated bodies of dogs were along the
roads. This is when the realization sinks in that it will take
years, not months, for these vast areas and many communities to
recover. They need your prayers and extended support for a long time
to come.
Our arrival at ARNO (Animal Rescue of New Orleans)
After unloading all the cat food that had been donated and collected during the last 5 months, we were very excited to have finally arrived, and see the location that ARNO had been moved to in the last 2 weeks.
ARNO
was set up by a group of dedicated people that took over the rescue
work when the national organizations had to leave the area. This is
Robin (being camera shy). She is in charge of the warehouse
operation, and is busy 24/7 networking on her cell phone. She is a
person of great focus and dedication.
One
of the main objectives of ARNO is to continue to feed and rescue the
many cats that are still out on the streets. Most of the dogs have
been rescued, but are still being found in less numbers. On one of
my work days at ARNO, I observed the feeding operation that
continues daily. Two large station wagons pulled up to ARNO with 4
volunteers- one from Nova Scotia, one from Canada, one from
Wisconsin, & one from New Orleans. These ladies loaded their
station wagons until the tires sagged. Their job for this day was to
bring food to 66 feeding stations in the abandoned areas surrounding
New Orleans.
ARNO
does temporarily house dogs & cats waiting to be spayed/neutered
or transported to other areas. Although the warehouse is not really
conducive to housing animals, they do the best they can to get them
to other shelters and homes in other areas.
Although
our original intention was to bring supplies and volunteer for a
week, we could not help but give in to the pleas to bring cats back
with us to Massachusetts. We took 35 cats & kittens back with us
on this trip.
Twenty-three more cats & kittens arrived at the Pat Brody
Shelter on Thursday 5/18/06, through a transport arranged by a Best
Friends coordinator that is working with all the groups in the New
Orleans/Mississippi area.
Please help us raise funds for the transport and care of abandoned
cats & kittens from New Orleans! They need our help!