By Andy Twedt, Community Columnist
“I cannot believe what is going on,” said the e-mail from the Mississippi coast.
“There are dozens of injured and emaciated dogs and cats roaming the streets and
the beach, and NO animal rescue is doing anything for them. The shelter is
closed. The animals have no food or water.”
The sender, an Arizona news reporter on assignment in the no-man’s land of post-Hurricane Katrina, added that he had put out as much food and water as he could, but was scheduled to fly back to Arizona the following morning. What would happen to the animals?
The message was displayed on the computer screen of Mike Fry, Executive Director of Animal Ark, an animal-rescue organization on St. Paul’s East Seventh Street. A seasoned veteran of countless animal emergencies, Mike already knew that the situation for the Gulf Coast’s thousands of abandoned pets must be terrible. But knowing something from a distance and having it suddenly appear before you, up-close and vivid, are not the same.
The energetic Mike went into action. He rallied staff and volunteers, and together they raised funds, solicited donations of pet food, ordered box upon box of veterinary supplies, and entreated the general membership to “foster” the cats and dogs housed at the Animal Ark shelter in Hastings. The sooner they could move those healthy pets into foster homes, the sooner they could prepare for Katrina’s four-footed victims.
Though it would seem only fitting for an organization called “Animal Ark” to send its supplies down the river in a large, unwieldy boat, Mike wanted to borrow a “semi” truck, an 18-wheeler. When his televised appeal failed to produce the desired vehicle, he and his team assembled a caravan of RVs and vans that included the pride of the fleet, the 29-foot “Neuter Commuter.” The decked-out RV, which normally visits Twin Cities’ neighborhoods for spaying or neutering cats and dogs, would become an emergency veterinary hospital when it reached southern Mississippi.
While Mike stayed behind to prepare for the new arrivals, the caravan headed south. Its destination was the St. Francis Animal Sanctuary in Tylertown, Mississippi, near the Louisiana border. Though located a good hour’s drive north of the battered beach, Tylertown was as close to that area as a rescue team could maintain a base. A Utah-based group, Best Friends Animal Society, would join the Animal Ark contingent.
Life at St. Francis Animal Sanctuary was not sanctuary-like for the rescuers, who were plagued by flying insects and who initially lacked water. There was a well, but no power to run the pump. The moist, late-summer heat of the Deep South was so intense that one member became ill.
“We have
lost power and are sitting in the dark,” Mary Salter reported to Mike. “You must
understand that we are pretty primitive. We have sporadic internet connections
and very little phone access. I can't say that I spend much of my time down here
wondering what is happening in Britney Spears’ life.”
For the early responders to a colossal disaster, the most difficult thing is
dealing with their own emotions. Successful rescue attempts brought joy and
relief to the Ark crew, but the physical condition of those they
rescued was shocking. Just two or three weeks earlier, those emaciated,
disoriented animals had been beloved family members and children's pets.
Hardest of all was the unrelenting awareness that, with Katrina’s abandoned animals numbering in the hundreds of thousands, help would arrive too late for many, perhaps most. Craving contact with the “real” world, the predictable, ordered world they had left behind, the beleaguered rescuers vented their feelings on the Animal Ark “blog.”
“I got my chance to go into an area outside New Orleans yesterday,” wrote Kelli Ohrtman. “Nobody is getting in there but us . . . and the National Guard. St. Bernard Parish is where there are still hundreds of animals waiting to be found and rescued . . . in houses and in the streets.
"I saw a scrawny yellow dog. She looked skittish, so I crouched down and turned away. I peeked at her, and she was looking at me, deciding whether I was friend or foe. I tossed her a treat, and she came five steps. Wait, peek, toss a treat, five more steps to me. A minute later, she was within reach, crawling along the ground. I put a treat down and reached to pet her, told her she was a good girl, and slipped the leash around her neck. She was the 13th one, the last one to get in the van with us for the day. Thank God we got her!"
While contending with the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, Kelli and the others learned that Hurricane Rita was on the way. “This is the first day I've cried here,” Kelli wrote. “God, I can't type through tears. We've worked so hard to get over 500 animals off the streets and into this heaven of a hell, and now there is another hurricane headed straight for us.”
By the time
Rita arrived in Tylertown, the hurricane had deteriorated into a windy tropical
storm, though Kelli hadn’t stayed around to find out. As the first winds hit,
she and Peggy Augustine, another member of the group, were en route to Minnesota
with a van full of animals.
Mike Fry described the arrival of the first load at the Hastings shelter. "The
first out of the van was a little dog. People have speculated she may be a
poodle, but it is really hard to tell because she has no hair left [the dog had
suffered chemical burn]. She is old and frightened, and did not know what to do
or how to act, so she just sat in my arms and trembled. Another dog was so
frightened that she would not come out of her travel crate. It seems these poor
animals are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. It is hard to imagine
what they have been through."
He later said wistfully, "I can't stop thinking of the little dog that may be a poodle. I hope she knows she's safe now."
Meanwhile, Mary was still dealing with the animals down south, along with the oppressive heat. "We had about 14 more dogs come in last night. Our first focus was on a beautiful golden retriever, found with his choke chain caught around his front right leg while still around his neck. He has a nasty gash behind his leg, as the chain was embedded in his skin. The brave soul was so thankful for being saved that he kissed our faces the entire time [that we worked on him]."
Though our society loves companion animals, we tend to forget that farm animals, too, feel fear. "Another pig was rescued," wrote Mary, "and he was so stressed out as we unloaded him. He seems much more relaxed this morning, eating his breakfast and rolling his bowl all over his pen. We will need to dig a hole for him today, to make a mud bath so he'll stay cool. Today is going to be hot. I showered, but I'm not sure why. By 10:30 a.m., I'll be soaking wet with sweat."
Kelli had a
final comment about the yellow dog. “We all feel so protective toward the
animals we've plucked off the streets. It's hard to let them go, which is why
the dog I caught that day is now snug on my back porch with a big dog bed. She
just needs a name!”
The yellow dog’s photo, like those of all the other rescued pets, would be
posted on the “Petfinder” web site in hopes that she would eventually be
reunited with her original owner. But if that doesn’t happen, if the owner
didn’t survive Hurricane Katrina or is unable to claim the dog, that yellow dog
will still have a good life.
And what about the cats? As a whole, the Katrina cats sustained fewer physical injuries, perhaps owing to their ability to jump and climb and wriggle out of dangerous situations. They weren't leashed to porch railings and other objects, as some of the dogs were. Fewer cats got soaked in the bacteria-infested, chemical-laden muck. Still, they suffered emotionally, along with the dogs. Mike described a staff member’s special efforts.
"Dorothy is temporarily keeping a cat in her bathroom. The poor thing was so traumatized by its experience that it curls itself into a ball and won't eat. At the shelter in Mississippi, they were feeding her via syringe. Dorothy hopes that by keeping her in a quiet place and giving her extra TLC, she will come out of her shell a bit and begin to recover from the emotional trauma she experienced."
And the beat goes on. A new group of Animal Ark volunteers was scheduled to head southward every Sunday. Mike stated, "We thought, hey, we have this mobile medical RV; we can use it to help. We thought we would just pop down, drop some supplies, and bring a few animals back. [But] within a week, that effort grew, thanks to the generous support of our community, into a huge rescue effort. The people on our team are just flat-out amazing. Some of the volunteers plan to go back. We will keep that loop going as long as the resources last and there are animals to be rescued. Based on the number of foster homes we can find here, we will also continue bringing animals back."
There isn't much space left at the Ark shelter these days, which means that the number of pets coming up from the south will slow to a trickle and the sanctuary in Tylertown will, in turn, have less space for newly-rescued animals. Unless, that is, more foster homes can be found soon.
An additional concern has arisen. Half of the Ark's Katrina dogs have tested positive for heartworm, a mosquito-borne, potentially-fatal disease that is expensive to treat. Those who would consider sharing their home with a homeless pet need not be concerned about contagion, however. All the animals available for foster-home care have been examined, treated, and vaccinated by Animal Ark veterinarians. Anyone wishing to volunteer as a foster home or to make a donation that will keep supplies flowing southward and homeless animals flowing northward may do so by visiting the Animal Ark web site, www.animalarkshelter.org. Those lacking internet access may call 651-772-8983.
Animal Ark is not the only organization that has been working hard. The Humane Society of the United States (H.S.U.S.) and other groups are focusing not only on the present disaster, but also on "prevention of extensive suffering and loss" in any future disasters. And a bipartisan group of U.S. congressmen has realized that the animal-rescue organizations, for all their good intentions, do not have the manpower and resources to deal with catastrophes by themselves. Hurricane Katrina has drained the financial reserves of countless organizations, leaving them without sufficient resources to continue their regular efforts.
Those congressmen--Tom Lantos (D-CA), Christopher Shays (R-CT), Barney Frank (D-MA), Don Young (R-AK), and James Oberstar (D-MN)--have introduced H.R. 3858, the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act (PETS Act) to ensure that people won’t have to abandon the non-human members of their families if there is another major disaster. The act would require state and local authorities to include pets in evacuation plans.
The public
can help the crucial bill along by supporting its authors and encouraging other
congressmen to put their support behind the bill. The H.S.U.S. web site,
www.hsus.org, offers an easy connection to members of Congress. Perhaps
Katrina will usher in a new spirit of bipartisanship. Unfortunately, a disaster
is sometimes what it takes.
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