Just a couple of things this morning.
Just a couple of things this morning.
Yesterday, I gave everyone a heads up about things that had happened at the school that our team went to. You can see that our team’s info is good. We are on the ground and have the most up to date intelligence.
I am sitting here with Kim, who many of you saw on CNN last night. Here's a perfect example of how many of us who came down here made a real difference. If she, I or any one of a dozen people hadn't come down, this may not have been discovered. Information started with a simple pet owner call into us. Once we got into the school, we saw that there was a problem. We’ve known about a second school which you will hear about soon where something similar has happened. We kept it under wraps under advice of the state’s attorney, who is doing a full fledged investigation. They say its one of the worst atrocities that they have seen from this event. I won’t describe anything in detail but the scenes are more horrific than you can imagine. It’s as if this was a game to whoever did this. These animals were posed, tortured. Every one of these animals would have lived with all the food left by the owners. Anyone who goes to St. Bernard parish says it’s like a Steven King novel. They say “there’s a lot of weird stuff”. I don’t want to go into detail at this point but it’s similar to what happened in the school. And animals are being taken from rescuers. I have talked to people and there is no exaggeration. Everyone is so emotional about all that is happening. There are news trucks in and out of St Bernard's parish. You will be able to follow this story on the news for days. I have gotten several calls from people who specifically know who did this. That info has been turned over immediately to the State’s Attorney’s office.
I have had a good rapport with Bernie from HSUS. But 5-6 days ago, a young lady who was here, sent images from this tragedy to the HSUS showing the atrocities. One of the top persons replied with promise of direct action. As of yesterday the states attorney hadn’t even heard of this. How could the top animal rescue group not take action? How could a small group here get this ball rolling with just a few calls?
Animals are being pulled out alive even still and they have been locked in houses since the storm. I am looking at 2 animals in from of me that were pulled out yesterday. Alive and healthy! Their owners who called us are so grateful and ecstatic. Be warned, though, the LASPCA is flexing its muscle and seems to be ready to suspend the rescue actions. Complete state of confusion here. Even HSUS isn’t sure what will happen. LASPCA has made statements saying this rescue effort is over without even listening to those in the field telling them that animals are still being pulled out!
LASPCA had better have a plan to feed the 1500-2000 animals in houses from the list maintained by Jane Garrison. And what about those like us that are saving from simple call ins?!
posted by EricsDogBlog.com @ Friday, September 30, 2005
16 comments
16 Comments:
I am unable to get there in person - what can I do to help from afar? If there are people to call, e-mail, fax can you list the numbers? I feel for you guys. I'd have an emotional meltdown if I saw something like this firsthand.
Why do we call it humanity when so many people have so little of it and animals, especially dogs have an enormous capacity for unconditional love and acceptance? My heart breaks for all the ones still waiting. I am so greatful to you and your group, not just for what you do for the animals but also for renewing my faith in people's capacity to do the right thing.
Pasado is offering $10,000 reward for the school dog killings.
Hi Eric I am in search of(5) Labs that were left inside of my home in New Orleans during the hurricane. A report was filed through Pet Finders the first week after the storm by telephone, but still no response or pictures of the dogs found on the site. Please send someone to check on them.
(5) Labrador Retrievers
Jackie James
4961 Metropolitan
Gentilly Woods 70126-3529
3-Black
1-Grey
1 White w/Black Spots
(In the house o.k. to break in)
osmdva@hotmail.com
Link to Anderson Cooper/CNN Video: Dogs killed at evacuation center
Pets of storm evacuees have been found shot to death at New Orleans shelters. A demand for answers. Who’s responsible? Paula Zahn on CNN airs Friday 9/30/05 @ 8:00 p.m. ET
Where is the mayor of New Orleans in all this and since the storm hit? Why hasn't he spoken up and done something for these animals? And the govenor, where is the govenor of this state on this???
I checked the Louisiana SPCA website and it stated that owners have until Oct. 15 to claim their pet and after that they will go up for adoption in the city where the animal is being sheltered. It also said that interested adopters can also search petfinder.com or vetmed.lsu.edu to find their perfect Hurricane Katrina survivor.
The word should get out for anyone who can adopt and honestly give one or more of these animals a great home to be ready to do so. This will make room for the others still coming in.
Heard it on the news that people are being allowed to come back to New Orleans today for good. Hopefully this will save more animals but could this be why the LASPCA is talking about ceasing the rescues?
I hate to say this..but I really have to wonder if this is some type of sick 'retaliation' either from the sherrif or his cronies that were shooting dogs in front of owners, and who got caught.
I am sure the when 'word got out' about the shootings, either them or some sicko decided to take the sickness a step further and kill those pets.
I am really really so saddened that there are such sick people in our world. This stuff does not even happen in the Third World Countries...
you are doing such good work Eric!!
thanks from Amsterdam for ALL you are doing!!
I just got back from the ghetto by the Winn-Dixie MASH off Louisa Street in NO. This place was dangerous for even blacks to be in during the day when it was occupied and now, even though it is totally trashed, there are still "brothers" who sneak back in at night and fire on the police and military who are everywhere.
If you go in there to rescue, you need to carry a gun for your own protection because even though it is patrolled, things can happen.
EVERYWHERE I saw first-hand evidence of the incompetence of HSUS. The NO ASPCA wants to help but they are totally overwhelmed. Lamar-Dixon is a bureaucratic nightmare and the best people left there and are now maintaining the MASH at Winn-Dixie. GO THERE if you want to really help.
No matter what you have heard or seen, in that area, there are plenty of homes that haven't been searched for humans, let alone dogs. BE PREPARED to see death and destruction everywhere. You have never seen anything like this.
The majority of animals being pulled from the Ninth Ward (where I was) are showing signs of neglect and abuse that existed LONG BEFORE the hurricanes hit. Spaying and neutering is almost nonexistent and about 95% of the dogs are heartworm positive. The condition of the animals will break your heart. It is amazing that they are continuing to pull about 100 animals PER DAY out of just the Ninth Ward. This rescue isn't finished by a long shot and needs to continue. And the majority of the animals rescued, at least in the area I was in, don't deserve the additional punishment of going back to their negligent owners even if they can be found.
But if you go, stay safe and be careful. DO NOT attempt to go into anywhere to rescue alone. Take a gun if you can use one and are prepared to do so. Otherwise, stay in groups. Wear high boots to protect from glass, wire, everything. Heavy gloves, axes, pry bars, protective headgear and eyewear, and long pants will all help. Take plenty of Purell or other stuff like that to keep your hands as clean as possible. Remember, this is like a war zone.
Sue Sweeney
fairviewfarm@earthlink.net
I just got back from the ghetto by the Winn-Dixie MASH off Louisa Street in NO. This place was dangerous for even blacks to be in during the day when it was occupied and now, even though it is totally trashed, there are still "brothers" who sneak back in at night and fire on the police and military who are everywhere.
If you go in there to rescue, you need to carry a gun for your own protection because even though it is patrolled, things can happen.
EVERYWHERE I saw first-hand evidence of the incompetence of HSUS. The NO ASPCA wants to help but they are totally overwhelmed. Lamar-Dixon is a bureaucratic nightmare and the best people left there and are now maintaining the MASH at Winn-Dixie. GO THERE if you want to really help.
No matter what you have heard or seen, in that area, there are plenty of homes that haven't been searched for humans, let alone dogs. BE PREPARED to see death and destruction everywhere. You have never seen anything like this.
The majority of animals being pulled from the Ninth Ward (where I was) are showing signs of neglect and abuse that existed LONG BEFORE the hurricanes hit. Spaying and neutering is almost nonexistent and about 95% of the dogs are heartworm positive. The condition of the animals will break your heart. It is amazing that they are continuing to pull about 100 animals PER DAY out of just the Ninth Ward. This rescue isn't finished by a long shot and needs to continue. And the majority of the animals rescued, at least in the area I was in, don't deserve the additional punishment of going back to their negligent owners even if they can be found.
But if you go, stay safe and be careful. DO NOT attempt to go into anywhere to rescue alone. Take a gun if you can use one and are prepared to do so. Otherwise, stay in groups. Wear high boots to protect from glass, wire, everything. Heavy gloves, axes, pry bars, protective headgear and eyewear, and long pants will all help. Take plenty of Purell or other stuff like that to keep your hands as clean as possible. Remember, this is like a war zone.
Sue Sweeney
fairviewfarm@earthlink.net
RE: Parish Council Chairman Joey DiFatta Please read the report below (last paragraph ) I wonder if this person knows or has someting to do with this tragedy
Sept. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Royce Bufkin, a hotel maintenance worker who lives on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, refused to evacuate when Hurricane Katrina struck the city on Aug. 29. Officials wouldn't let him take his cats, Lou and Ellis.
He's had Lou for 16 years. ``He's almost like a son to me,'' Bufkin, 56, said.
Other pets had to be abandoned. The U.S. Humane Society of estimates that 69 percent of area households had pets, and that more than 600,000 were left on their own in the storm's wake. Five thousand have been rescued so far, Joel Goldman, a veterinarian in charge of the rescue effort, said today.
Animal welfare groups say they're fighting time and red tape to save as many of the rest as possible. They have been hindered by state-required holding periods that prevent animals from being moved from shelters in the areas where they're found, the groups say. That leads to a shortage of space for newly found pets.
Animals will continue to die needlessly unless the rules are relaxed, said Martha Armstrong, senior vice president of the U.S. Humane Society, who is in the area working on the rescue effort. ``Right now, what we need most is an immediate suspension of the holding-period rules,'' she said.
Requirement Waived
State officials today waived a rule mandating a 30-day local holding period for animals with tags, according to the Humane Society. That clears the way for hundreds of animals to be transported out of Louisiana to shelters in other states.
``We can point to some success here, but there are many more failures,'' Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society, said at a press conference today in Baton Rouge.
Bodies of dogs and cats litter the streets of the New Orleans area. Surviving animals are dehydrated, starving and beset by disease. ``Time is getting critical for pets that have been stranded,'' Goldman said. About 600 of the 5,000 rescued pets have been reunited with their owners, he said.
People who have lost pets can search photos and descriptions on the http://www.petfinder.com Web site to try to find them. Owners have until Oct. 15 to reclaim their pets.
Another state rule prohibiting evacuees from taking their pets with them helped swell the number of animals left behind, as well as the number of residents who refused to leave.
Bending Rules
``There are thousands of cases of people who stayed, and they're at risk because of federal and state policy,'' Pacelle said. ``We're troubled emotionally by the failures.''
In recent days, more than 23,000 people evacuated through the New Orleans airport were allowed to bring pets, according to Transportation Security Administration spokesman Christopher White.
Among the rescue centers contending with -- and bending --the rules is the Lamar Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, Louisiana, northwest of New Orleans. While the center met its capacity of 1,308 animals days ago, more have been coming in than going out, the Humane Society's Armstrong said.
There are 400 volunteers at the Lamar Dixon site, representing animal welfare groups from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. More than 1,500 volunteers are expected to take turns working at the center, where veterinarians race by on golf carts and dog-walkers stroll amid rows and rows of pets housed in crates.
Goats and Horses
The animals at the center include ferrets, snakes, lizards, birds, chickens, goats and chinchillas. There are also 400 horses. About 3 percent of the volunteers have been being bitten by the stressed animals they're trying to help, Armstrong said.
``The magnitude of this just stops you in your tracks,'' said volunteer Cory Smith, 32.
Smith and Adam Parascandola were tending to abandoned dogs in New Orleans' battered Ninth Ward earlier this week. As the two Washington, D.C., residents poured food on the ground for a pair of dogs, one of them, a pit bull, attacked its tiny Pekinese companion.
Parascandola, 36, pulled the pit bull away, while Smith hurried the bloodied dog to a truck for safe-keeping. The pit bull whined and raced after its companion.
``She just got excited over the food, now she's upset that we're taking her friend,'' Parascandola said. He wound up taking both dogs back to Gonzales.
Some dogs in rural areas of St. Bernard Parish, just east of New Orleans, have turned feral, running in packs and attacking whatever they can overcome, according to Parish President Henry ``Junior'' Rodriguez.
`Nice Pets'
``We had a pack of four pit bulls kill a horse the other day,'' Rodriguez said.
Sergeant Jason Teribery, 26, a member of the Colorado National Guard working on the recovery, has saved three dogs. He said that nine of the 12 dogs he started out with were shot when they wandered away from the checkpoint he mans.
Teribery said the remaining residents in St. Bernard were so frightened by the area's feral dogs they began shooting any animal without an owner.
``The people around here have been through a lot. They're pretty stressed out,'' Teribery said.
Parish Council Chairman Joey DiFatta still bears the bruises from his encounter in a flooded and abandoned evacuation center he was searching.
``This little dog came around the corner and I thought, `Maybe we can save it,''' DiFatta said. ``Then this big dog came around, and another one and another one. There must have been about seven big ones.''
When the dogs began snarling and advancing on them, DiFatta said, he and his companions dove out a window to safety on the gravel roof below.
``Two weeks ago those dogs were nice pets,'' DiFatta said. ``Now they're wild, doing anything they can to just survive.''
As a side note let me say that I have reviewed House Bill 3858 which allegedly proposes to correct these atrocities in the event of future such disasters. This proposed bill is so grossly inadequate I have called Congressman Lantos' office and my own Congressman and let them know I want to testify before the Committee about how weak and inadequate their bill is. It is my hope that in the wake of all of this, we will create enough awareness to get some SERIOUS FEDERAL legislation to see that we never have to endure this again. As for the current MURDERS, I say we treat them the exact same way they treated our beloved pets.
I can't physically get down there to help and for that I feel so awful. But, I am doing everything I can to make sure that as many people as I come in contact with know what is REALLY going on down there. I have sent out the link to the shooting video to my local news stations, newspapers and to all my friends and family.
Eric -
On CNN during the "Paula Zahn Show", the two school incidents in SBP were reported, BUT it also was reported that the Louisiana Dept of WIldlife and Fisheries was investigating---not hte state's attorney. Since you have links to FBI and U.s. Homeland security, advise them it's a civil rights violation because itw as a deprivation of people's property --procedural and substantive, and there clearly is a pattern of it because apparently there also is a third site IN ADDITION to the Vinton video.
WIldlife an Fisheries deals with things like hunting licenses and shooting more than one's limit. they are NOT equipped to investigate these incidents.
thank you for all of your work.
Thank you for all you have done, and for all the people you have inspired to help. We are retired, in Montana, unable to help, except for ongoing minimal donations. It is so difficult to read of your efforts, and not be able to get in there and help. Our two Akitas are happily snoring at our feet, warm and dry, and we do hug them more often lately. Just the thought of our dogs lost, wet, and starving brings tears to my eyes. I am writing to everyone I can, though it seems that several of the St.Bernard Parish people are no longer accessible (I wonder why?) God bless you for your work, and keep your dreams free of the horrors you have seen. We do want to donate to you, and will do so through Paypal, regardless of your feelings about it!
Thank you, thank you, you have made such a difference.
The McDonalds in The Bitterroot Valley of Montana
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