After a Busy Weekend

A couple of quick notes!

---Please remember to get money to the HSSM - they still dont have their shelter set up . GO to this link www.howtohelpericsdogblog.com for details.----

---If you are looking for or have found a pet go to www.petfinder.com and sign up. There are other groups including the HSUS and the LASPCA who have logged and documented thousands of pets.

Come Here! Anybody can make a difference. There's stuff for every person and skill set to do.

I hate to turn this into an adventure thing but I will since it might get more of you to come. While it can be a little bit of an adventure, be prepared, its exciting and fullfilling but at times extremely depressing.

If you want to come, go to the Winn Dixie. Take 10 East to Louisa South. Take the curve to the right. Then a right on Chef Mentor. Our group is in the Winn Dixie Parking lot. Call me when you are on your way so that I know you are coming and I can best direct you. 443. 421.0000. Rescues are increasing each day rather than decreasing. Thousands of pets are on the street. Do not go it alone. The most important thing is working in a group which gives the best chance of getting the pets back to their owners. We will show you how to do this.

Our small group processed over 350 animals in 6-7 days. Tons of owners are finding us on the internet and asking us to break into their home to rescue their pets or feed them until they get back. We go and sometimes the pets are alive, sometimes not. They can be in great shape if the owners left alot of water. But if only a little water was left, they may not be doing so well. But most recover pretty quickly once we get them fluids.

We pulled a 17 year old dog out for a lady who had been evacuated to Texas. She said her dog was all she had left and she didnt want to live in Texas without her. The dog is now on his way to her in a car driven by another volunteer. An hour later, we saw a yellow lab/retriver, swimming in the canal with no way out; he tried to swim for the truck, it was heartbreaking. Then he swam back to a drain pipe where he culd sit and look at us - really sad. We aren't supposed to touch the water so there was a debate on how to save or whether to save the dog. This is in area where you cannot believe how it looks and how it smells - every house was under 6 feet of water and is now filled with disgusting mold. But I wasn't leaving that dog no matter what. We couldn't transport him in the camper because we couldn't contaminate it. After about 20 mintues , two local guys came along. I flagged them down and offereed $250 if they would transprt the dog for us if we could get him out of the canal. With tyvex suits and rubber gloves, we were able to protect ousreslves, we think, and rescued him with a noose. We are supposed to wear masks in these areas but Billy says he's put worse stuff in his body and it hasn't hurt him yet. He got out and sat in the back of the locals' truck with the dog when we took ihim back. I haven't let that dog out of my site. I don't want him to get lost in the system. Everyone here has their own special dog(s) that they make certain get the right treatment.

• An hour later we got a call to pull a yellow lab and a black lab out of a professor's house who had been evacuated to El Paso. He had left him enough food and water for a year it seems like. We got the dogs out and the owner was exastatic! The owner had been trying since he left to get someone to go into his house. There are so owner call ins like this that you can do nothing about. It's overwhelming the resuce group with just these owner call-ins. If you can't find a group working your specific area of town they probably wont be able to get to your pet.



• We fed cats in 10 different locations from list from a cat resuce group. They have a ton of owners who are trying to get back into the city but want someone to feed their pets till they can return.



• The lady across the street just came in to thank us for having fed her dog for the last two weeks till she could get home.


These are the kinds of things that you could do to make a difference if you came here. There is no ways these dogs would have survived if someone hadnt been able to feed them.

Good news!

• All the animal rescue groups now have official documents from Homeland Security and can get around the city pretty well. (Billy thinks its hilariously that he had his 5 year old expired driver's licence copied onto an official Homeland Security document. If these guys only knew. Billy has worked his butt off and has done quite a bit. He's into it.)


• My blog is getting a high volume of hits.


• Yesterday I got at least 100 calls from people who are in the position to help, to do whatveer they can.


• Yesterday a tractor trailer FILLED with supplies and a note saying "Here are more supplies."


• At least 10 reporters have been in contact with me.

A note on the operation in Gonzalas:

The Lamar Dixon Expo Center run by the HSUS, is a massive operation with incredible people that go out into the field every day. There are tons of rescue groups here. Professional people with huge equipment that I never imagined possible to rescue animals. These people are from all over the world. Don't believe every rumor you hear about this place, just 20% We are shutting down our operation at the YMCA joining forces with a larger group who is set up in a safer part of town. Together with the new group, we should be able to get out 200 animals per day and growning. This operation is run by a military type who was at our operation yestterday. He's not messing around and he has a side arm. The LASPCA tried to shut him down several days ago but he told them it wasn't happening. And you can't find any one in this city whos going to shut down an animal rescue operation.

We have gotten out all the animals except for a few that are going to their owners. And most of the people that have been here longer with little sleep needed to get out for some sleep. They are going to meet up at the new location in a few days. Billy and I are going to stay. Last night Billy and I had to guard our camp, in a not so nice neighborhood. It's just us, and its kinds of spooky. Every now and then someone does come by the gate and you are always looking over our shoulder were with all the supples on hand. The Nat'l Guard moved their checkpoint down a couple of blocks so we are kind of our own. The marshall checks on us every night. This guy has been amazing; he helps us 4- 5 hours each day!

I am not going to say who but one official, knowing we were going to be on our own, asked if I was comfortable taking their sidearm overnight. I said sure cause I am very safe with guns, know how to treat them with respect. And Billy had this marine type knife that I have had since I was a teenager. We can't lock the gate but we put a bar betwen fence and gate with a metal pan that would loudly hit the ground if someone tried to enter. Billy and I hadn't stopped for a while so overnight we were able to sit down and make ourself paranoid. By the way, I got a flat tire, thank god the military helped me fix.

Everyone is rooting for these rescues so no one can understand why no senior level government official has made an announcement about the dire need here. Wealthy individuals are helping, taking on the task of saving these animals - saying "screw the government , screw the bureaucracy." Hundreds of animals are going to locations where wealthy people have bought acres of land and have said "bring the animals here! We'll have the place set up for them by the time you get here." You can't understand the problem. There are still 1000s and 1000s of animals to save. Labs, pugs, cats, little dogs with bows in their hair, shelkies, you name it, we are getting them.

T-boone Pickens lawyer has called me to organize flights of 150 to 200 animals a day for animals out of the city. Somehow I have collected a lot of contacts and am able to pass this type of info on to different orginaztion.

Some of these dogs are so sacred. Its really heart breaking. You know they remeber theri owners.

Need to go check on and feed check on 15 more dogs. Will check back later.