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09/15/2005: "FEMA starts to allow groups in to start rescuing animals"

Although this is a blog dedicated to Real Estate in Colorado, we had to mention Katrina and the affect on animals in the regions, particularly domestic pets. These are just a few messages I saw from an Alabama rescue team. Three cheers to them for helping out animals that dont have the benefit of people to help themselves. Many were locked in homes or chained outside in the affected areas. If they had the luck to live through the storm, they had days without food, water, means of escape and all this without anyone allowed to go rescue them.

There are links to the right if you would like to help these poor creatures.

03 Sep 2005 FEMA starts to allow groups in to start rescuing animals

North Shore Animal League America veterinarian, Dr. Eve Ognibene, has departed for Jackson, Mississippi where she will await the arrival of animals rescued out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

This is the first group of animals that FEMA has allowed to be transported out of the state by air since Hurricane Katrina hit.

In Jackson, a huge staging area has been set up to assess and treat the affected animals. Dr. Ognibene will be there to triage the rescued animals on our mobile unit as they are being transported to safety.

Sep 7 ,2005 Alabama Emergency Response Team Returns – Next Unit Prepares to Depart

North Shore Animal League America’s mobile unit arrived home safely today from Birmingham, Alabama with 43 rescued animals aboard. The Emergency Response Team drove through the night; stopping only to feed, water, walk and reassure their passengers.



During their mission, the Emergency Response Team made two successful trips to the Mississippi Fairgrounds, where displaced animals from a destroyed Gulfport shelter were being cleaned and triaged. The team transported 80 animals back to the staging area at the Greater Birmingham Humane Society where the animals were greeted and bathed by volunteers and assessed and treated by veterinarians including the League’s own Dr. Ognibene.



The next Emergency Response Team will be departing the League tomorrow morning for Tuscaloosa, Alabama. There they will coordinate a staging area for animals they will help transport from hard hit areas such as Jackson, Mississippi and Mobile, Alabama.



The scope of the disaster is overwhelming animal shelters in the hardest hit regions and beyond. Shelters already caring for hundreds of animals evacuated before the hurricane hit are having difficulty finding space for additional animal refugees. Many animals are being turned in to shelters by their owners who have no homes and no way to care for or feed them.



Our Emergency Response Teams will assist in making room for these displaced pets by rescuing animals already at the shelters and transporting them back to the League where they will be nurtured and cared for until they are adopted into loving homes.


07 Sep 2005 Mobile Unit Headed Home to the League

League staff and volunteers are anxiously awaiting the return of our mobile unit from Jackson, Mississippi at approximately 1:00 pm EST today.

The unit will be filled to capacity, transporting over 30 dogs and cats to the safety of the League. Nineteen of these pets were in a shelter in Gulfport, Mississippi that was completely decimated by the storm.

North Shore Animal League America is currently planning the logistics of additional rescue missions this week and for many weeks and months to come.

The impact of this crisis will be felt for months and years to come and our Emergency Response Team will continue missions for as long as there are animals in need.