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Here are the latest updates and resource information:
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TO REPORT A LOST PET
https://www.uan.org/secure/rescue.html
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CONTACT LIST OF ANIMAL RELIEF AGENCIES
Dozens of animal agencies have mobilized to extend services to
the victims of Hurricane Katrina. Here is a list of the agencies
which are at the center of relief efforts. Each has a role to play,
and works in harmony with the others. Their websites offer a wealth
of information on the latest news and current situation. They also
accept needed donations.
Humane Society of the United States
https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005?
Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams (VMAT)
funded by American Veterinary Medical Foundation
https://secure.entango.com/donate/QF49DRBwTtZ
Noah's Wish
http://www.noahswish.org/Donations.htm
United Animal Nations
Includes updated list of animal shelters
http://www.uan.org/ears/action_report.html
American Kennel Club (AKC)
Hurricane updates and donations
http://www.akc.org/news/index.cfm?article_id=2599
Houston SPCA
http://WWW.spcahouston.org/spcahouston/Default.asp
AnimalHelp.com
Hurricane updates
http://www.animalhelp.com/library/articlelist.cfm?topicid=60
Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association (LVMA)
http://www.lvma.org
LSU School of Veterinary Medicine
http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu
Louisiana SPCA
http://www.la-spca.org/forms/donations.htm
Kathyrn Destriza 504-329-5209
Lorretta Lambertson 504-329-0701
Pet Shelter in Lafayette, Louisianna
Lafayette Parish Animal Control 337-291-5644
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PET LOSS SUPPORT HOTLINE
So many people are struggling to cope with the unknown status of
their animals and ultimately mourning their deaths. If you or
someone you know needs to talk with someone, please call the Pet Loss
Support Hotline run by the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
The toll-free number is (800) 565-1526 and there are people to answer
the line everyday from 6:30pm to 9:30pm Pacific Time. The school has
added weekend shifts and will secure extra help over the next few
weeks to staff the hotline, who will be instructed on dealing with
victims of disasters.
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KATRINA VICTIMS DISTRAUGHT OVER LOST PETS
by Mike Stobbe, Associated Press
ATLANTA, Sep 4, 2005 -- As Valerie Bennett was evacuated from a
New Orleans hospital, rescuers told her there was no room in the boat
for her dogs. She pleaded.
"I offered him my wedding ring and my mom's wedding ring," the
34-year-old nurse recalled Saturday. They wouldn't budge. She and
her husband could bring only one item, and they already had a plastic
tub containing the medicines her husband, a liver transplant
recipient, needed to survive.
Such emotional scenes were repeated perhaps thousands of times
along the Gulf Coast last week as pet owners were forced to abandon
their animals in the midst of evacuation. In one example, reported
last week by The Associated Press, a police officer took a dog from
one little boy waiting to get on a bus in New Orleans.
"Snowball! Snowball!" the boy cried until he vomited. The
policeman told a reporter he didn't know what would happen to the dog.
At the hospital, a doctor euthanized some animals at the request
of their owners, who feared they would be abandoned and starve to
death. He set up a small gas chamber out of a plastic-wrapped dog
kennel.
"The bigger dogs were fighting it. Fighting the gas. It took
them longer.
"When I saw that, I said 'I can't do it,'" said Bennett's
husband, Lorne. Valerie Bennett left her dogs with the
anesthesiologist, who promised to care for about 30 staff members'
pets on the roof of the hospital, Lindy Boggs Medical Center.
"He said he'd stay there as long as he possibly could," Valerie
Bennett recalled, speaking from her husband's bedside at Atlanta's
Emory University Hospital.
On Saturday afternoon, she said she saw a posting on a Web site
called http://petfinder.com that said the
anesthesiologist was still
caring for the animals.
Louisiana State Treasurer John Kennedy, who was helping with
relief efforts Saturday, said some evacuees refused to leave without
their pets.
"One woman told me 'I've lost my house, my job, my car and I am
not turning my dog loose to starve,'" Kennedy said.
Kennedy said he persuaded refugees to get on the bus by telling
them he would have the animals taken to an exhibition center.
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