MuttShack's Evacuated Katrina Animals Moved To Higher Ground with Hurricane Rita's New Wave of Devastation

Muttshack’s Evacuated Katrina Animals Moved to Higher Ground

Late last night, about one hundred and fifty animals, rescued within the last twelve hours were hastily evacuated from the Lake Castle School. Some left in trailers, in the back of cars, and in trucks. Despite the evacuation, still more animals were arriving, from rescuers and other rescue organizations.

MuttShack Animal Rescuers have been going from house to house to find animals abandoned there since Katrina and bringing them to where they have set up a triage center in the flood ravaged Lake Castle School. Classrooms, filled with layers of mud, mouldy books and fallen ceiling boards are being used as an ad hoc emergency treatment and rescue center. The gymnasium is a makeshift shelter with rows and rows of crates, holding the frail and devastated animals.

Rescuers who at first found it easy to identify homes with animals are finding fewer animals barking or responding to their calls. Dogs, cats and birds are either too weak to make any sound or are lying dead and dying in their homes.

Thousands have died for lack of food and water and others died trying to escape. Rescuers report dead animals lying in cages, locked in rooms and tied up on balconies. Some died trying to escape through broken windows and died in pools of blood. One just died waiting on the front porch – never being disobedient enough to put one paw print beyond the area where his owners left him, not even to go and find food.

The rescuers are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task. Thousands of animals trapped have to be found by small independent non-profit rescue organizations with little to no resources. Rescuers have been camping in tents, sleeping in cars and on the ground. Their rescue vehicles are their own cars or trucks and trailers driven thousands of miles across the country to New Orleans. Others pay gouging rental fees for small mini-vans that can hold one or two crates.

There is no running water, electricity or food. The stores are boarded up or looted. Muttshack volunteers and rescuers arrive with only that which they can carry, everything they will need to survive - water, food, sleeping bags, and bolt-cutters, leashes and dogfood.

Their hopes of owners returning home finally after 21 days was shattered yesterday with the announcement once more that owners cannot return to their homes – now, because of Hurricane Rita.

Rescuers persist their rescues amidst intermittent squalls, those overwhelmed by the horror of rescue work are taking care of the emaciated dogs. Shelter workers give what comfort they can, cleaning animals black with dirty floodwater, while others take on the endless cycle of cleaning cages, feeding, watering and walking amidst whispered promises that they are now safe.

Run-off water from the roof is collected to help wash dogs, and crates but the waterlevels on the levy are rising. Every levy dog-walk confirms that the water is getting higher. The pressure on the levy from Rita, even miles away is enough to cause a breach and flood the school.

With more reports that water is flooding vital access roads, MuttShack Volunteers moved the remaining animals to higher ground in the adjacent St. Charles parish, where they are now boarded in a barn. They will return to continue rescue efforts as soon as the Hurricane Rita has crested.Many animals have been sheltered ‘in house’. Rescuers leave food and water to animals too shy to come out, or too hard to catch. Bags of food have been left on street corners where animals are spotted.
Rescued animals are shipped to neighboring Gonzales, Tylertown, or any accredited Shelter that may house them, and place them in foster care. Owners looking for their dogs can look on Petfinder.com.

MuttShack Animal Rescue and Foster is a non-profit 501(c)3, and in desperate need of support to provide veterinary care and supplies for their triage center.
Please donate at: https://www.registrationfactory.com/v3/?EventUUID=B47421FD

Coming Home to Dead and Dying Animals...

By Nancy Cleveland

FROM INSIDE THE CITY: The citizens of New Orleans are finally being let back into their homes today, and thousands of their pets may still be clinging to life inside the city after nearly three weeks without their owners. Tens of thousands more pets have already died. The city is littered with corpses of dead animals on the streets and inside shuttered apartments and homes, but thousands more are still alive and waiting desperate for their owners to return and save them. Dogs and cats sit on front porches or in shattered doorways, defending their homes, and waiting.

Please, if you are a pet owner and can’t come yourself, get a friend, a neighbor, call the SPCA or Humane Society or Pet Rescue to go find them, but the rescue groups are overwhelmed already by the huge number of animals, so if at all possible go yourself or get a friend to go in and get your pets.

Everyone who comes into the city needs to bring DRY AND WET PET FOOD AND WATER and drop it off for the thousands of pets starving in the city. Please, even if it’s not YOUR pet, help try to save it, bring food and water you can LEAVE OUTSIDE as well as food and water for your pets.

The military and police are being ordered by their commanders NOT to touch any animals they find, and no one is taking your pets out of your house except animal rescue groups or you or your friends.

What to take: MOIST AND DRY PET FOOD and LOTS of FRESH WATER and several large towels and a pet carrier. DON’T feed your pet too much immediately, just give it water first and then a handful of food if its been starving, until its stomach can handle food again, a few hours for that.

DO NOT let your children go into your house first. They may find their cherished pet dead or dying.

If your pet is in bad shape, lying down, unable to move, don’t give it up for dead. Give it water, immediately, and try to cool it down by putting water on it. Wrap a cat or dog in a wet towel and try to get it to an animal hospital as soon as possible.

Many animals can be saved by intravenous fluid administration, giving them water, and keeping them cool.

If your animals are covered by muck or tar, wash them in clean water, but get them to a vet as soon as possible.

Don’t give up immediately if you don’t find your pet inside. If a window was broken or a door opened your pet may have escaped outside and may be in the yard or nearby. Don’t give up until you have looked and called out extensively.

If you think your pet may have escaped and be nearby, leave water and food for it outside, under a sheltered roof if possible so it doesn’t get wet and spoil if it rains. Leave a note asking your neighbors or rescue groups to look for it, You can spray paint the information on your home if you want it to be visible. Make sure you put a DATE on your note so people looking know how recent the information is.

Only yesterday an animal rescuer encountered a homeowner who had returned to look for his cat in an area still covered with mud and debris. Once he managed to get his door open he found the water had gone almost to his ceiling and the cat food he’d left on the kitchen counter was green with mold and half buried under the rotting mildew covered couch in the living room. There was no sign of the cat anywhere inside, just a slimy layer of muck on everything. A window had been broken, possibly by army units searching for trapped bodies, and he hoped the cat had escaped outside.

He searched the yard, calling for his cat, and then he heard a meow. Brownie was hiding behind a fallen tree, and after running away three times. He was finally lured to the rescuer’s pet carrier by the owner with a can of fresh cat food. Brownie is in Baton Rouge now, reunited with his family in a hotel. “Its all my wife asked about, her cat,” he said. “We knew the house was gone and everything in it, but at least we have Brownie.”

Cats are shy, and won’t come when called initially, but keep on trying, and you may find they’re still there, hiding, waiting and hoping to hear your voice. As the owner said, “its no surprise how upset he is after all he’s been through.” His dogs were missing, though, from the back yard where he’d left them, and aside from a few dogprints in the mud, there was no sign of them. The rescue worker left a bag of food and a bowl of water for the dogs if they return.

Keep coming back to look for him or her as often as you can. If you find a pet of a neighbor and can take it, write a note on their door with indelible marker to let them know you have their pet and how to get in touch with you.

Thousands of pets have been taken to the SPCA shelter in Gonzales, and others are in other shelters across the area. Most pets have not been rescued though, so go first to your home and try to find them there. Very very few animals have been picked up by rescue groups compared to the over 200,000 estimated to still be in the city so its more likely your animal is still in your home or nearby. Even if you can’t help your own pet, try to save your neighbor’s if you can. If you can’t take your pet with you, go back to your home anyhow. Go back and leave them food and water, and try to arrange for a place that can take them.

MoveOn.org has more than 100,000 postings from people who have offered to open their homes to PEOPLE AND PETS who are in need of temporary housing. If you are in a hotel and can’t have a pet with you, this website lists hundreds of people who will care for your pet for you, until you can.

Rescue groups are doing food drops all across the city but again can only reach a tiny portion of the neighborhoods where pets are starving. Anyone wanting to come into the city and help distribute food to pets can come to the parking lot at Chef Menteur and Louisa, right off I-10 at the Lousia exit where animal rescue groups are staging food and water drops from. Please bring food and water and bowls to put it in and bring in extra gasoline if you can as the rescuers are running out and don’t want to have to leave the city to gas up.

MuttShack Animal Rescue is in New Orleans, evacuating animals from their homes. “Many of these animals are being found dead... but some miraculously are still clinging on to life. Where animals seem to be in good shape, rescuers leave food for them and mark the home for in-home sheltering. Where they look sick or the conditions of the home look unsafe, they bring them in to a triage center where we stabilize them and move them out to Gonzales.” says Amanda St. John.

We need air-conditioned trucks to transport animals for one hour trips to Gonzales and other shelters. Please we need your donations now at MuttShack.org so that we can rent these trucks and move animals to where they can get proper emergency care.” MuttShack animal rescuers have been discovering and rescuing animals all over the city in homes and on the street since the hurricane. Now with the possibility of Hurricane Rita coming our way, we need to evacuate them fast”. Says St. John.

To help this rescue please send donations to: https://www.registrationfactory.com/v3/?EventUUID=B47421FD

Muttshack Rescuers Authorized by Homeland Security & Public Safety

Muttshack Animal Rescue Members received authorizeation from Office of Homeland Security and Public Safety, to travel inside the City of New Orleans for animal rescue and response efforts to support ESF-17. This permission is valid until 5:00 pm October 10, 2005.
relief efforts for Muttshack!

Stay posted for more updates...

Katrina Animal Rescue Photos

This is a message posted for Amanda, who has been on the front lines in New Orleans rescuing animals. We are going to try to make daily posts to the blog to keep you updated on what's going on there, although sometimes communication lines make it difficult.

We've posted slides of photos being received from Amanda at the Muttshack site for you to see. You can check there daily for new photos sent by Amanda.

Thousands of Animals Dying in Locked Homes in New Orleans

Thousands of Animals Dying in Locked Homes in New Orleans
9-15-2005
FROM INSIDE THE CITY OF NEW ORLEANS. The situation is desperate. Thousands of pets are dying in locked homes in New Orleans and surrounding communities. An estimated 200,000 animals are still trapped in the city, unable to get fresh food or water. People need to call political leaders in Louisiana and at the Federal level and demand that the residents of the city who are able to get here be allowed back in to rescue their pets themselves, immediately. No one can find their animals as fast and effectively as the owner. Those people who want to and can come back NEED to do so immediately. If you love your pets, you need to try to save them. BOMBARD the media, the state, the federal authorities with calls and letters. NO ONE at the federal or state level is officially helping ot rescue animals. Tiny volunteer groups and the humane society rescue crews are overwhelmed by the huge numbers and needs of these desperate dying animals. A holocaust is going on among pets now. But they can still be saved, if people come to get them. TIME IS RUNNING OUT. If you can come into the city, bring animal crates and try to get your animals, tell the checkpoint guards you are there to rescue animals and bring them out. GET THEM NOW.

Please help us get more resources into the rescue area: We need crates, vet supplies and urgent emergency items. Please donate at http://www.muttshack.org Rescuer Mark Martin owner of Pet Supplies Plus: 191 Alps Rd. Suite 15, Athens GA, 30606.

Katrina Animal Rescuers Turned Away By Armed Guards from Gonzales Shelter.

RESCUED ANIMALS TURNED AWAY BY ARMED GUARDS

MuttShack Animal Rescue, a volunteer driven 501(c)3 non-profit is begging animal lovers to donate $50 for a crate to house a Katrina Animal.

"We have run out of time and space. Rescuers who spent the whole day rescuing 19 dogs were turned away at gunpoint." said Amanda St. John, Founder of Muttshack Animal Rescue.

The ascension Parish Sheriff stopped rescuers from entering the shelter. "Armed guards outside would not let us in!" said Pasado rescuers.

The Gonzales state-designated shelter, is now considered full by the local sheriff. The La-Mar Dixon Expo Center has housed animals in crates on the vast property.

The Parish Sheriff is holding Pasado Rescuers back with loaded guns, despite the fact rescuers have full vans, loaded with animals - the result of a 19-hour-day of rescue.

"We need to send more crates to house animals at the Gonzales La-Mar Dixon Expo Center. We have more qualified experienced volunteers on the way to Gonzales, including veterinarians, groomers, vet techs and trained animal rescuers to help take care of more animals but to house more animals, we need crates!"

They are also appealing for donations so that they can make the animals more comfortable with a big tent and air-conditioning!

Muttshack aims to get at least 500 crates delivered if they can get enough people to spread the word to sponsor a crate!

Donate a crate at https://www.registrationfactory.com/v3/?EventUUID=B47421FD
or by Paypal to Katrina@muttshack.org , or by mailing a check. For the address send an e-mail to amanda@muttshack.org.

You can also DONATE TO THE CAUSE (ANY AMOUNT).

GRASSROOTS EFFORT:

1. Forward and cross-post this link to everyone!
2. Send this link at the bottom of every outgoing e-mail

Please send a confirmation e-mail to amanda@muttshack.org so that I may know how many muttshacks are coming... and so that I have something to negotiate the opening of the gate!

"What is happening to the animals that are turned away?"

9-08-05 Boats and RV URGENTLY NEEDED!!!!

9-08-2005 TODAY! Despite the heroic efforts of volunteers and animal groups from both Louisiana and around the country, time is running out for the animals trapped in New Orleans, after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Help is desperately required to rescue animals trapped in the flooded ruins of New Orleans or roaming the streets in hungry packs.

· BOAT OWNERS! and RV Owners. Boats are urgently needed. Flat bottomed boats, canoes, anything that can be used to travel around the flooded streets of New Orleans, and which is big enough to hold rescued animals. You must be able to transport the boat to the Louisiana SPCA (http://www.la-spca.org/) shelter established at 9093 St. Landry Rd., Gonzales, LA 70737. You will need the RV to live in because of the deteriorating conditions. Contact Amanda St. John, MuttShack Animal Rescueif you can come with an RV and Boat..amanda@muttshack.org http/www.muttshack.org

Donations urgently needed for MuttShacks to house animals...
https://www.registrationfactory.com/v3/?EventUUID=B47421FD

Katrina Muttshacks Urgently Needed!

Katrina MuttShacks Urgently Needed

Animal rescuers are racing to save abandoned pets in the Gulf Coast region but say the situation is growing more desperate by the hour for thousands of Katrina's four-footed victims.

"There are animals locked in a lot of places," said Sandy Montorose, an ASPCA staff member who arrived Sunday night in New Orleans with a team of rescuers. National Guardsmen were reporting dogs barking in apartment buildings or trapped in yards, she said.

In Mississippi, hundreds of animals have been rescued, but countless others are trapped. Teams from local and national animal welfare and veterinary groups are working together to find, feed and provide shelter for thousands of dogs, cats, horses and other pets stranded or abandoned when owners had to evacuate.

The Humane Society of the United States, working over the weekend with the Louisiana SPCA, took 43 dogs and 16 cats out of the Superdome and delivered them to a temporary shelter at Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzalez, said Melissa Rubin, HSUS vice president for field and disaster services. "There are still more in there," she said. "They're in a state of shock, they're hungry, they're scared. They're terrified, just running around the Superdome."

Project Katrina Muttshacks is sending MuttShacks beds and supplies to Lamar-Dixon Expo Center to provide temporary homes for pets. Right now they are in need of more donations for crates which they have delivered directly to the site tomorrow. For a $50 donation you can set up one lost dog up in a happy safe muttshack!

Please donate via Paypal to katrina@muttshack.org or to donations@muttshack.org.
Donations can also be made by electronic check or credit card at:
https://www.registrationfactory.com/v3/?EventUUID=B47421FD. Checks can be mailed to MuttShack Animal Rescue. Project MuttShack Katrina. 11872 Eldridge Ave. Lake View Terrace, CA 91342. More information at http://www.muttshack.org.

Snowball! Snowball! The Little Dog Who Broke A Nation's Heart! Hurricane Katrina's Littlest Victim

During the Katrina evacuation from the Superdome in New Orleans, thousands of people were pushed up against barricades trying to get a seat on a bus that would take them out of a hell hole. Amidst the shoving masses a little boy clutched a small dog. Frightened and hungry, without water and without hope – a bus finally came. Hope restored. Then adroitly a police officer confiscated the little boy's dog. “Dogs are not allowed on the bus.” As the dog was pried from his hands the child squealed in anguish "Snowball, Snowball.. " and was so overcome with grief he vomited.

Hurricane Katrina has devastated the Gulf Coast, and the human death toll is climbing. For survivors, concern over pets left behind only adds to their trauma. Some evacuees who had vehicles were able to take their pets with them, but thousands entered the Superdome being forced to leave the animals they love behind to fend for themselves. Left heart wrenchingly to face a terrifying hurricane, all alone.

For those animals who did not perish in the hell that was Katrina, their worst was yet to come. The water started rising. Many animals lost and confused started wandering the streets in a world they didn't recognize, hungry and thirsty and longing for their guardians.

A woman came rushing back to find her entire apartment reduced to giant matchsticks, but the loss she expressed was only for her dog. "My dog was in the apartment!" she cried out and tears rolled down her face.

A muddy yellow dog stuck in a tree, stranded and terrified looked confused as people just passed him by. But the rescue effort for humans does not have a big enough social heart to include our animals.

Dogs who were carefully rescued and held by families on top of rooftops were abandoned as humans were evacuated. Elderly residents who had stayed in water-logged residences for five days just to safeguard their beloved animals were forced to leave them behind to starve or to drown. An elderly man got into a boat, his dog patiently waiting for him to invite him in, but instead, he watched his owner float away. "Max" cried the man... "Max" he cried, realizing his folly too late as his rescuers hurriedly moved them out of range.

A brave group of animal rescue organizations mobilized to find and rescue dogs, pets, horses and other animals. A shelter was discovered with animals still inside that had not had food or water for three days.

Frantic e-mails made one sick to one’s stomach. "Could someone go and feed my animals?" Not knowing if their animals were alive after a week with no food or water, or if their homes even existed, what they wanted was simple... just feed the animals. A poignant picture of a cat in an open packed suitcase. If only they could have left the luggage and taken the cat.

Samson, a big white and brown boxer had been at a veterinary office when the hurricane hit and his family was forced to evacuate to Dallas without him. But somehow, after five long days, they found him. His calm but determined expression was so endearing strangers from far-off places offered to go to search New Orleans rescues to see if he was there.

"THEY FOUND HIM!" yelled the posted message. "He was taken to Gonzalez with the other animals from the clinic. THANK YOU for your help and understanding. I am eternally grateful..." their infectious joy snatched up as a small consolation by all who desperately needed something good to hold on to amidst all the sorrow.

A pet shelter was set up at Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette, right next to the Cajundome. Evacuees could bring their pets there for housing. They reiterated that they had "PLENTY of food, water, crates, cages, bedding and newspaper. BUT the owners are responsible for feeding, watering, walking and medicating their own pets." And then the cruelest cut of all.

Many of those pets who were hugged close to their guardians and survived the hurricane, floods, hunger, thirst and evacuation, have been dealt one final blow by economic necessity. The have been given up for adoption. Their Guardians greater need? To rescue themselves right now.

A group of students at LSU set up an ad-hoc rescue center at the LSU AgCenter/Parker Coliseum housing animals in crates, the "tent home" for dogs. But rescuers can bring large numbers of animals and crate them while they are waiting to be reunited with their owners.

But money for animals is much harder to find. They need 1,000 more extra large air-kennels (open crates), animal supplies, towels, bowls, veterinary supplies, tick and flea medicine and experienced animal shelter volunteers.

"Please, donate at MuttShack Animal Rescue. We need more homes for animals! Every crate is at least one more life saved!" says Amanda St. John, Founder of MuttShack Animal Rescue. Go to https://www.registrationfactory.com/v3/?EventUUID=B47421FD
or follow the link at the MuttShack.org website.

Hopefully somewhere amidst the rows of crates filled with broken-hearted animals we will find Snowball.

God bless the little boy who jolted our national conscience and made us look at ourselves and how we treat our animals. What truly matters, is our loved ones, our friends, our families. Snowball was family.

Hurricane Katrina Animals Need Help!

HURRICANE KATRINA ANIMALS NEED TO BE EVACUATED!

For animals stranded in New Orleans, a pet shelter has been set up at Blackham Coliseum in Lafayette, right next to the Cajundome. Evacuees are bringing their pets their for housing. For now they have PLENTY of food, water, crates, cages, bedding and newspaper. BUT the owners are responsible for feeding, watering, walking and medicating their own pets. Help is needed to foster animals, evacuate and transport.

Please donate so that we can assist in evacuating these pets and find foster homes to relieve the anxiety of many people who need to rescue themselves right now.

If you can foster or transport animals please e-mail us at members@muttshack.org as to how you can help.

Donate via Paypal at Katrina@Muttshack.org

Donate to Muttshack Animal Rescue A Project of the National Heritage Foundation
501(c) 3 Non-Profit.

Donate Link:
https://www.registrationfactory.com/v3/?EventUUID=B47421FD

THANK YOU FOR CARING!