More Than 300 Pets Rescued by Teams Working with The Humane Society of the United States
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Race Against the Clock in Effort to Track and Rescue Stranded Animals; More Than $5.5 Million in Donations for Animal Rescue/Relief Has Poured In
NEW ORLEANS, HATTIESBURG, Miss. and WASHINGTON, Sept. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) now has 140 people on the ground in Louisiana and Mississippi working as part of the organization's Disaster Animal Response Teams (DART) rescuing and sheltering the animal victims of Hurricane Katrina. The HSUS has moved its Mississippi command center from Jackson to Hattiesburg in order to respond more quickly to the crisis in the southern part of the state, and yesterday, in cooperation with the Louisiana SPCA, was finally granted access to help stranded pets in New Orleans.
"We were finally allowed to enter hurricane-ravaged New Orleans yesterday," said Wayne Pacelle, HSUS president and CEO, "where our rapid response strike teams are responding to rescue requests for stranded pets. Our national call center is tracking thousands of calls and emails from people who need us to rescue their pets, and it's a race against the clock. For some animals it may be too late, but for others it will be just in time."
As rescue crews continue to pluck people from rooftops, The HSUS is compiling thousands of reports of pets in need of rescue, and working with the Louisiana SPCA to deploy trained, skilled animal rescuers to locate, rescue, and evacuate those animals. Upon entering New Orleans, they targeted animals stranded at the Superdome as their priority goal. There, they rescued dozens of animals relinquished or abandoned by desperate evacuees who fled the city to escape Katrina's rage. So far, The HSUS has helped to rescue more than 300 animals in Louisiana and Mississippi, including dogs, cats, ferrets, and a seal.
The HSUS been inundated with thousands of calls with requests to rescue pets who were left behind or perhaps denied entrance to the Superdome or other shelters. Individuals who learn of stranded pets are urged to call the HSUS call center at 1-800-HUMANE-1, provided they have location information that can be dispatched to the teams in the field.
The toll-free line is giving HSUS responders such information as the essential details for rescuing a cat from a house at the corner of Napoleon and Fontainebleau Streets ... the medicine necessary for an ailing dog ... the approximate number of animals being tended in a hospital by a brave doctor who stayed behind to care for his colleagues' pets after they evacuated with their patients ... and offers of technical assistance for the construction of appropriate animal housing facilities. All of this will be critical to the efficient and timely rescue of the animals trapped in the city.
The outpouring of concern for the welfare of the animals has grown amid reports that evacuees were not allowed to bring their pets with them as they boarded buses and helicopters. Thousands of concerned citizens have donated to the relief effort by calling 1-800-HUMANE-1 or by visiting http://www.hsus.org. People who visit the web site can now see video footage of The HSUS's DART teams in action in New Orleans. The organization has collected more than $5.5 million for the relief effort.
"The outpouring of concern from people around the country has been overwhelming," said Pacelle. "They recognize that animals are suffering, too. Rescuing abandoned pets can offer some peace of mind to the people whose lives have been shattered by this disaster, and The Humane Society of the United States is determined to do everything we can to help."
The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization representing more than 9 million members and constituents. The non-profit organization is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals and equine protection, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, animals in research and farm animal welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy, and field work. The group is based in Washington and has numerous field representatives across the country.
