Katrina

For a slideshow of the Katrina trip, click here
More photos available here at York Photo
And more here at Kodak Easyshare
See some of the pets rescued here

Dear Happy Hills Friends,

        Now that I have returned from my trip to the Gulf Coast to volunteer with the Humane Society of LA I would like to share some of my experiences with you. I can say that this was one of the most powerful experiences of my life. The trip Colleen and I took to the Gulf Coast to participate in animal rescue work has really catalyzed our passion for animal welfare. If it wasn’t for the necessity of a paycheck to pay our mortgages back in NC, I’m certain Colleen and I would both still be in Mississippi, willingly sweating out an 18+hr workday, although we would admittedly still whimper about the ice cold showers and the rescued rooster crowing all night long.

        The Humane Society of Louisiana was located in downtown New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina decimated the City (www.humanela.org). Their mission is to investigate cases of animal cruelty, to educate and lobby the end of pitbull fighting, and to advocate for animal welfare laws. Their staff includes only 4 incredibly dedicated individuals whose lives were equally turned upside down when Katrina came through the coast. Their board had the fortuitous plan to purchase supplemental property in Tylertown, Mississippi to be used in the event of an evacuation. They bought this land only a few months before Katrina; thus they luckily owned the land, but it was in complete disarray when it became a MASH type unit for animal rescue.

        Camp Katrina, which is what the site was dubbed, is located in Tylertown, Mississippi, about 2 hours outside of New Orleans. There is a small ranch style house used as the administrative offices, dog and cat ICU, cat and kitten housing, and protection for other animals such as rabbits, guinea pigs and fish. The grounds are completely fenced in with security lighting and a guarded gate. Because of a nearby pitbull fighting ring and some stolen animals early on, the fence was erected to protect the dogs from further danger. It also served as an extra security measure when dogs occasionally escaped their pens, or when neighboring cows came over to investigate our activities. One afternoon I actually chased a cow away that was trying to peek into our tents. They also had rescued chickens, geese, and a very loud and proud rooster on site. About 60 dogs lived in individual pens when we were there. Those numbers have gone up and down daily since the site opened up. All the volunteers, about 30 while we were there, lived in tents on the perimeter of the grounds. Volunteers, primarily women, came from around the US and Canada. We had port-a-potties and the recently added shower stalls (with the ice cold water mentioned above). Donated snack food items and coffee were our main staple, but every night the staff tried to purchase something hot like pizza or subs to supplement our diet of M&M’s and diet coke.

        A typical day included waking up before sunrise and cursing the rooster, locating coffee, and walking the dogs from ICU. Every day we were happy to welcome the new volunteers who had arrived during the night, and offered sad good-byes to volunteers who headed home. A staff meeting began at 7:30am and assigned you to your work detail. Colleen volunteered for the cat team because the woman in charge was leaving, and there were no others to replace her. I was nominated onto the camp security/details team. Almost all the volunteers wanted to work with the dogs as Colleen and I had; but we quickly learned to love our given assignments.

On the first day of the job Colleen changed litter boxes and fed cats for 15 hours STRAIGHT! If it were not for me forcing her to eat, I don’t think she would have seen the light of day at all. There were so many cats and kittens to be cared for by Colleen, herself, and there were 2 sets of kittens that needed to be bottle-fed every 3 hours. The work was and still is truly endless. Everyone thought she was so lucky to bottle feed the kittens and offered to help during the day, but no one offered help at the 1 and 4 am feeding times except me. The cats were mostly healthy, abandoned pets who dearly missed being held and talked to. There were a few sick cats, some with contagious diseases requiring protective clothing, and a handful of feral cats. Colleen was transformed into a cat lover during our time in MS, much to her own cats happiness of finally reaching equality status with her dogs.

        My job was a perfect use of my natural skills. Donations literally arrived by the truckload daily and were mounding up in complete chaos. I used some of our donation monies to purchase shelving and storage units from a nearby Lowes and spent endless hours organizing the supplies. I became the go-to girl when you needed something, as I had a complete grasp of where everything was. My work also allowed me the flexibility to help out the dog team in the numerous daily walks and to aid Colleen in the cat room. I felt very lucky, as I truly had my hand in almost every part of the camp’s daily activities. I walked dogs, cleaned cat cages, bottle fed the tiny kittens and got to help upgrade the ICU rooms, for both the cats and dogs, with bigger cages. That project really provided much larger and safer spaces for the sick dogs and cats to live in. It also gave the feral cats bigger spaces with places to hide so it was easier to get in and out of their cages to feed them and to clean their cages.

        At about midnight the rescuers would return with the animals they had gathered throughout the day in New Orleans. I was there 6 weeks out from the hurricane, and animals were unbelievably still being found alive in homes where their families had deserted them. They came in literally as breathing skeletons, in need of immediate medical attention. Volunteers bathed them; vets inoculated them, provided IV fluids, and placed them into secure housing. Some animals that were so vicious and scared at their captures became docile and loving with food and attention and a return to "normalcy for them.   I just cannot tell you how emaciated and terrified and grateful all the animals were. It was heartbreaking, and these were the lucky ones who were rescued. Most animals, at the time we were on our trip, were found dead. It is estimated that about 250,000 animals were left behind when Hurricane Katrina hit, and only about 15,000 to date have been saved. Visit www.gonzoskatrinasite.com for a good picture overview of our visit (you will see Colleen and I in a few slides) created by a fellow volunteer.   There are many links to other educational animal websites.

        Let me also mention a few other things about the animals that deeply disturbed us as well as the entire animal welfare community there. We learned more about pitbull fighting and breeding than we ever cared to know and discovered that Louisiana is the capital of US dog fighting. All I can say is that it is a horrific and cruel activity, not a sport. Pitbulls came into the rescue with torn ears and scars all over their faces and chests. Females came in with abdomens and nipples dragging near the ground from endless backyard breeding. As mentioned above, locals successfully stole several pitbulls early on to return to the rings, even stealing a very sick shepherd to use as a bait dog. As a result, not only was the fence, mentioned earlier, installed, but we had to sign up for 24-hour security shifts. Colleen and I worked a 2-4 am shift, sitting out with only flashlights and a whistle, for our safety. On both Friday and Saturday nights, while we were at Camp Katrina, young men attempted to scale the compound fences but were driven away by the shouts of the volunteers. Since we left Camp Katrina, security is being provided nightly, so volunteers don’t have to work 18 hour days and do security at night.

I think it is estimated that about 90% or higher of the animals rescued were not spayed or neutered, contributing to an enormous animal overpopulation in the South. About 80% of the rescued dogs are heartworm positive, a deadly condition which is very expensive to treat but easy to prevent. So in addition to the breeding and fighting practices of the area, the culture is not supportive or properly educated about animal health and welfare.

        Happy Hills sponsored our trip to MS, which allowed us to bring back animals into foster care. Colleen did not want to travel 14 hours with strange dogs and cats in the backseat of the van, fearing a very long trip of barking and yowling. I insisted, and luckily Colleen is still speaking to me. We had a pretty quiet ride home minus one kitten, Chester, who needed constant petting to stay quiet. He eventually came out of his crate and was much happier. The other 5 animals didn’t make a peep the whole way home. We searched carefully through the dogs and chose Pepe (now Nacho)- a surrendered Chihuahua, Jack-Jack- the beagle mix, and Tyler- a little shepherd mix. Colleen chose the cats: Chester- an orange and white tabby who had the issues mentioned above, James Bond- a black and white kitten, and Colleen threw in a tiny blue-cream tortie for good measure to "foster at her home, and somehow or another the kitten hasn’t left. I had good homes ready for all the animals we brought back to NC. The arrangement with each foster agency is for the rescued animals to be released to recognized animal-welfare non-profits. Each agency is responsible for spaying/neutering their animals, providing any shots and medical treatment, and advertising the animals on www.petfinder.com for at least 30 days to allow owners time to locate their animals. In the event an owner is blessed enough to locate their animal on the website, the fostering agency must agree to help transport the animal back to its original family. If, after the allotted time, the animal is not claimed, the fostering agency can put the animals up for adoption. We are very happy to report that all 6 of our animals are thriving in their foster homes and will be adopted by their foster families. Tyler and Jack-Jack are heartworm positive and are undergoing heartworm treatment. Tyler is also undergoing some testing and treatment for a painful limp, discovered through x-rays to have incurred 2 fractured legs from a probable car accident for which his original owners did not seek medical treatment.

        There are many, many lessons Colleen and I brought back with us from our visit. First and foremost, please have an emergency plan in place for your pets. You should never, ever leave your pets behind in an emergency and think they will survive. The American Red Cross (www.redcross.org) and the Humane Society of the US (www.hsus.org <http://www.hsus.org>) have detailed plans to assist you. Also, advocate and support community plans to include animal rescue in their disaster preparations, such as the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act, H.R. 3858. Clearly, many animal lovers stayed behind in the hurricane to be with their animals. When the flooding came and mandatory evacuation was required, beloved pets were not allowed at the human shelters. Thus, families and pets became almost permanently divided. Even 3 months out, many thousands of humans are displaced and homeless, living with distant family members, in hotels, and shelters. They have no or limited access to the internet, and truth be told, many animals in a 1-dimensional picture look exactly alike. Most don’t even have pictures left after the destruction that they can post to help fostering agencies try to match pets and owners. During our visit one homeless family came in and claimed their dog. The entire camp stood by and cried as the dog wrapped his legs around the neck of the 7 year old boy and refused to stop kissing him. More of these reunifications would be possible if the animals were properly identified. Consider microchipping all your animals, even indoor-only animals. One of the first animals to be reunited at Camp Katrina was a microchipped iguana!

Of course, spay and neuter your cats and dogs, and definitely support your local animal shelters and foster groups like Happy Hills.   Colleen and I both maintain households full of rescued dogs and cats that we dearly cherish, as do most of our friends and family. No cliché is too quaint to really express just how appreciative and loving rescued animals are to have a safe home and how much your life will be enriched from sharing it with them.

If you would like more details or want to help please contact Kelly Ronnow