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Shelters for Pets Fill With Furry Survivors



 
 
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  #1  
Old September 8th 05, 11:25 PM
Norm
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Default Shelters for Pets Fill With Furry Survivors

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/08/na...al/08pets.html

September 8, 2005
Shelters for Pets Fill With Furry Survivors
By DEBORAH BLUMENTHAL

HOUSTON, Sept. 7 - Peter, a yellow cockatiel, came through the door of
the Houston animal shelter from New Orleans perched on his owner's
finger. With pets barred from the bus trip, Lola, a green parrot, made
it hidden inside her owner's bra. And the Great Dane? Well, no one is
quite sure about him.

The Houston S.P.C.A. has opened its doors to almost 900 animals in
recent days, including cats, dogs, parrots, iguanas, a pig and, even
temporarily, a pet chick named Lucy, all belonging to hurricane
survivors from Louisiana who are in homes and shelters in Houston that
do not allow pets.

"It's become our disaster by default," said Patricia E. Mercer, the
president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals here.

In addition to untold numbers of pets killed, animals made homeless by
the hurricane are wandering hungry and confused throughout the Gulf
Coast.

Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society of
the United States, said, "In New Orleans alone, we think there are
50,000 pets."

Jane Garrison, who is working with a Humane Society rescue team in New
Orleans, said her best rescue was on Wednesday, when she heard a dog's
cries and looked up to see a Labrador mix marooned on the second-story
awning of a house that was completely crumbled.

"We went up by ladder and threw a leash around her neck," Ms. Garrison
said. "She jumped down into my partner's arms and immediately started
licking her."

The Houston S.P.C.A. sent a staff member along with six members of
Florida's Broward County chapter to New Orleans to pick up homeless
animals. "Hundreds of people, if not thousands around the country, are
working to save animals," Ms. Mercer said. Louisiana State University
has 300 animals, she said, and 500 are being housed in Gonzales, La.

Jacque Meyer, executive director of the Greater Birmingham Humane
Society who is in Jackson, Miss., to help, said 30 dogs from the
Gulfport, Miss., region whose owners were killed were rounded up on
Tuesday.

Some groups, like the North Shore Animal League on Long Island, have
helped by taking animals previously held in shelters in the hurricane
areas to make room for more animals, Ms. Meyer said.

The effort to find animals can be slow and sometimes unpredictable, said
Dino Vlachos, an animal rescuer from Atlanta who is in New Orleans.

"We just completed a rescue off the French Quarter where we were told
there were 62 cats," Mr. Vlachos said Wednesday. "But when we got there
we found 62 birds and two goats."

He estimates that they have picked up 200 dogs and 250 cats since
Monday. "But we need help," he said. To join the effort, volunteers have
to register with the Humane Society at 1-800-HUMANE (1-800-486-2631).

Mr. Pacelle said: "The clock is ticking. We've had 2,000 calls from
people who have left their pets behind. We're too late for some, but we
may be just in time for others."

Mr. Pacelle said the Humane Society was "not getting the help we need
from local, state and the federal government."

"There are policemen and firemen out there who want to help," he said,
"but the order on high is to help people, not pets. Three days from now,
there will be massive die offs."

Initially, the society's efforts were directed at picking up animals at
the Houston Astrodome, and 400 owned animals at the Houston shelter now,
Ms. Mercer said, were picked up by volunteers who met rescue buses at
the Astrodome, Reliant Park and the George R. Brown Convention Center.
The center has taken in animals from evacuees who found the shelter on
their own.

Patricia Simmons, 47, a nurse from New Orleans, was one of them. Ms.
Simmons stood in the lobby of the shelter on Monday holding a leash
without a dog attached to it. She and her roommate, Deneen Taylor, had
just bid a bittersweet goodbye to their dogs, Tiffany, 11m a
Rottweiler-Doberman mix, and Cocoa, 1, a chow, because there was no room
for them at Ms. Taylor's family home in Houston.

Nettie Hock was also at the S.P.C.A. with her mother, also named Nettie
Hock, and her brother, Raymond. The family had come to visit Tanya,
their 3-year-old bright-eyed Pekingese who was soon to be given a foster
home by Michael Stanley, a lawyer from Sugar Land; his wife, Terrice;
and their three children. The Stanleys met the family while they were
volunteering at the Astrodome and were struck by how traumatized the
elderly Mrs. Hock was without her beloved dog.

"She was sitting there in suspended animation," Mr. Stanley whispered,
shaking his head.

Ms. Mercer said the shelter was close to its capacity of 800 animals.
Three off-site overflow centers are open, and the group is working with
others around the country to find space.

Although none of the pets who have owners will be put up for adoption,
the shelter hopes to find foster homes for the animals where they can be
cared for until their owners are able to take them back.

In the meantime, accounts trickle in of how pets and their owners
escaped the wrath of the storm. A woman who came to claim her chow told
Ms. Mercer, "We swam out together, and she didn't give up on me, and I'm
not giving up on her."

* Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
  #2  
Old September 9th 05, 12:42 AM
Irulan
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

I just finished watching the NBC news right now and I'm bawling. One of the
last stories was about the pets who are now being rounded up and taken to
shelters if they're lucky and those who are just wandering around by
themselves or sitting in front of their houses still waiting for their
owners. One guy put his dog in a cage in a van so it could be taken off to a
shelter and the guy was smiling at his pet. Then he turns around and
completely breaks down sobbing as the van drives off.

I can't stand it.
Lily's mama who is just hugging the little one to death

--

Irulan
from the stars we come
to the stars we return
from now until the end of time
"Norm" wrote in message
...
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/08/na...al/08pets.html

September 8, 2005
Shelters for Pets Fill With Furry Survivors
By DEBORAH BLUMENTHAL

HOUSTON, Sept. 7 - Peter, a yellow cockatiel, came through the door of
the Houston animal shelter from New Orleans perched on his owner's
finger. With pets barred from the bus trip, Lola, a green parrot, made
it hidden inside her owner's bra. And the Great Dane? Well, no one is
quite sure about him.

The Houston S.P.C.A. has opened its doors to almost 900 animals in
recent days, including cats, dogs, parrots, iguanas, a pig and, even
temporarily, a pet chick named Lucy, all belonging to hurricane
survivors from Louisiana who are in homes and shelters in Houston that
do not allow pets.

"It's become our disaster by default," said Patricia E. Mercer, the
president of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals here.

In addition to untold numbers of pets killed, animals made homeless by
the hurricane are wandering hungry and confused throughout the Gulf
Coast.

Wayne Pacelle, president and chief executive of the Humane Society of
the United States, said, "In New Orleans alone, we think there are
50,000 pets."

Jane Garrison, who is working with a Humane Society rescue team in New
Orleans, said her best rescue was on Wednesday, when she heard a dog's
cries and looked up to see a Labrador mix marooned on the second-story
awning of a house that was completely crumbled.

"We went up by ladder and threw a leash around her neck," Ms. Garrison
said. "She jumped down into my partner's arms and immediately started
licking her."

The Houston S.P.C.A. sent a staff member along with six members of
Florida's Broward County chapter to New Orleans to pick up homeless
animals. "Hundreds of people, if not thousands around the country, are
working to save animals," Ms. Mercer said. Louisiana State University
has 300 animals, she said, and 500 are being housed in Gonzales, La.

Jacque Meyer, executive director of the Greater Birmingham Humane
Society who is in Jackson, Miss., to help, said 30 dogs from the
Gulfport, Miss., region whose owners were killed were rounded up on
Tuesday.

Some groups, like the North Shore Animal League on Long Island, have
helped by taking animals previously held in shelters in the hurricane
areas to make room for more animals, Ms. Meyer said.

The effort to find animals can be slow and sometimes unpredictable, said
Dino Vlachos, an animal rescuer from Atlanta who is in New Orleans.

"We just completed a rescue off the French Quarter where we were told
there were 62 cats," Mr. Vlachos said Wednesday. "But when we got there
we found 62 birds and two goats."

He estimates that they have picked up 200 dogs and 250 cats since
Monday. "But we need help," he said. To join the effort, volunteers have
to register with the Humane Society at 1-800-HUMANE (1-800-486-2631).

Mr. Pacelle said: "The clock is ticking. We've had 2,000 calls from
people who have left their pets behind. We're too late for some, but we
may be just in time for others."

Mr. Pacelle said the Humane Society was "not getting the help we need
from local, state and the federal government."

"There are policemen and firemen out there who want to help," he said,
"but the order on high is to help people, not pets. Three days from now,
there will be massive die offs."

Initially, the society's efforts were directed at picking up animals at
the Houston Astrodome, and 400 owned animals at the Houston shelter now,
Ms. Mercer said, were picked up by volunteers who met rescue buses at
the Astrodome, Reliant Park and the George R. Brown Convention Center.
The center has taken in animals from evacuees who found the shelter on
their own.

Patricia Simmons, 47, a nurse from New Orleans, was one of them. Ms.
Simmons stood in the lobby of the shelter on Monday holding a leash
without a dog attached to it. She and her roommate, Deneen Taylor, had
just bid a bittersweet goodbye to their dogs, Tiffany, 11m a
Rottweiler-Doberman mix, and Cocoa, 1, a chow, because there was no room
for them at Ms. Taylor's family home in Houston.

Nettie Hock was also at the S.P.C.A. with her mother, also named Nettie
Hock, and her brother, Raymond. The family had come to visit Tanya,
their 3-year-old bright-eyed Pekingese who was soon to be given a foster
home by Michael Stanley, a lawyer from Sugar Land; his wife, Terrice;
and their three children. The Stanleys met the family while they were
volunteering at the Astrodome and were struck by how traumatized the
elderly Mrs. Hock was without her beloved dog.

"She was sitting there in suspended animation," Mr. Stanley whispered,
shaking his head.

Ms. Mercer said the shelter was close to its capacity of 800 animals.
Three off-site overflow centers are open, and the group is working with
others around the country to find space.

Although none of the pets who have owners will be put up for adoption,
the shelter hopes to find foster homes for the animals where they can be
cared for until their owners are able to take them back.

In the meantime, accounts trickle in of how pets and their owners
escaped the wrath of the storm. A woman who came to claim her chow told
Ms. Mercer, "We swam out together, and she didn't give up on me, and I'm
not giving up on her."

* Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company




  #3  
Old September 9th 05, 02:34 AM
Victor Martinez
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Posts: n/a
Default

Irulan wrote:
shelter and the guy was smiling at his pet. Then he turns around and
completely breaks down sobbing as the van drives off.


I saw that too. I'm going to send another donation to help out with
the pets.

--
Victor M. Martinez
Owned and operated by the Fantastic Seven (TM)
Send your spam he
Email me he

 




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