There’s Something about Lily

December 2005

There’s something about Lily that stole everyone’s heart. She was not unlike the other animals that are beginning to fill our new shelter in Algiers. The strays or the ones that have run away from home; or those that were found still wandering the streets, the lives they once knew disrupted by Hurricane Katrina. They all find a place in the hearts of the animal care attendants who care for them every day. They linger in the minds of the ACO’s who find them wandering the streets in need of shelter. But there is something about Lily.

Maybe it’s her big round eyes and her red nose. Maybe it’s the name
on her collar – Lily – that tells you she once had a home and a family that gave her such a beautiful name. Maybe it’s the phone number that’s on a collar – a phone number that goes no where thanks to Hurricane Katrina. Maybe it’s how when she’s taken out of her kennel for a walk she continues to turn this way and that way, as if she’s looking for a familiar face, listening for a familiar voice. Or maybe it’s how she was found on a Friday morning in early December by one of our ACO’s, Kris Damon, responding to a dispatch report of a stray in the French Quarter. There they found Lily, very thin and in need of food and water; taking shelter in
an abandoned oven behind an Irish pub in the French Quarter. Firemen at District 3, located next door to the closed Irish Pub alerted the LA/SPCA to the sweet dog who had carved out a shelter for herself in this abandoned oven. Whatever it is about Lily you know there has to be more. And she looks at you with eyes that beg you to listen.

Our new shelter is still finding its way to a place that we were before; where volunteers fill our building taking Lily and all the other animals under their wings. As we do, everyone pitches in, as did one of our board members, Susan Hess, on the day after Lily was brought into the shelter. Like many, Lily’s eyes seem to have sought out Susan. She jotted down the phone number and made it her mission to try to find Lily’s family. When simply dialing the number proved unsuccessful, Susan used the tools of cyberspace, and googled the phone number. The search found two email addresses, and Susan sent out a message asking anyone to call her if they were looking for a dog named Lily. Lily had been found.

On Monday, only three days after Lily had been brought into the shelter, Susan’s efforts paid off. Carlos and Dale Menendez, New Orleans evacuees now living in Fort Smith, Arkansas were looking for Lily. One could hear in their voice just a slight hesitation, fearing that their hopes might be raised and maybe it wasn’t their Lily after all. They had been searching for Lily since early September and after hearing their story of what they and Lily had been through, you knew there was indeed something about Lily.

Lily came into Carlos and Dale’s lives almost by chance some three years ago. Carlos was in a cab one afternoon when a fleeting image caught his attention – a puppy wandering the busy streets. Without reservation Carlos told the cabdriver to stop immediately. Jumping out of the cab, Carlos ran to Lily and in an instant rescued this cute little puppy from an uncertain, dangerous life on the streets. He brought the puppy home with the thought that it would be a nice surprise for his wife. She fit comfortably into their lives and Dale immediately knew the perfect name for her. She named her Lily, after Dale’s mother Lillian who had died a few weeks prior. From that day on it was probably as perfect a life as it could be for a dog named Lily.

Unfortunately, due to Katrina, Lily’s life changed dramatically.

The Menendezes stayed in the city in their one story home on Nashville Avenue when Katrina hit. Like so many of us, they felt they could withstand the winds of the storm, and felt relief on Monday morning when New Orleans had been spared a direct hit. But in a story that’s all so sad and familiar, the levees were breached and by late Monday their home was completely overcome by floodwaters. After being trapped in their home for two days, they sought shelter in a next door neighbor’s two-story home, but that would prove to be unsafe as well. By the third day, Carlos, Dale and Lily had to be rescued by boat. They saw life change before their eyes. Lily was by their side all this time, Carlos recounts, but she was confused by all the chaos that surrounded her. Their boat rescue was a short trip in distance at least from their home on Nashville Avenue to the intersection of St. Charles and Napoleon Avenue. They were told to stay there and wait with others who had also been rescued. They were told a bus would be there soon to take them to safety. Seven hours later a bus finally arrived. Carlos had to plead to be allowed to take Lily on the bus. The powers that be finally agreed, noting Lily’s friendly disposition. Once on the bus, Dale, Carlos and Lily didn’t know where they would be taken. There was confusion everywhere. When the bus reached its final destination, the Convention Center was probably not what they imagined as a place of safety.

In what they could only describe as a nightmare, they prefer not to relive the experience over and over. They were forced to spend five nightmarish days and nights with thousands of others in the Convention Center where sleep was not an option, food and water were scarce to none and there was nothing for Lily to eat.

On the sixth day, National Guard helicopters arrived. They didn’t know where they were going. At one point they were told they would be flown to San Antonio, Texas but so many things were being said it was hard to know what information was accurate. Finally, the Menendezes, still with Lily, were airlifted on a helicopter. Dale was weak and ill from the experience and on a stretcher. The Menendezes are ultimately faced with a Sophie’s Choice. The National Guard tells the family that they can’t take Lily. If you keep Lily you can’t be rescued. Either she stays or you don’t go. They plead with the guardsmen to take Lily. They can’t imagine leaving her behind. But of course their pleas go unanswered. Relaying their experience even now, Dale can hardly bear to recount it. Everyday she’s haunted with the recurring image of hearing her own cries and screams as she lay on a stretcher, seeing Lily released by the guardsmen and running away from the Convention Center, alone and confused. “Oh my God, I just about lost it,” Dale recalls.

Dale and Carlos ended up in Fort Smith, Arkansas, ultimately relocated there after taking yet another ride on what Carlos described as a cargo plane that seemed so old he thought it was from World War II. Without having Internet access they continued to look for Lily with the help of friends who had a computer. It was this friend whose email address Susan found. Dale, who is a member of the Humane Society, said she had been in touch with every organization she could contact. They had many Lily sightings reported to them but they all proved to be false. They eventually found work in Fort Smith and are about to buy a home. They are currently staying in an apartment that wants to charge $25 a day to keep a pet. As we write, the Louisiana SPCA is working to transport Lily back to Carlos and Dale so they can finally be reunited.

When Dale learned that Lily was found in the French Quarter, she wondered how Lily found herself there. “We never took Lily to the Quarter, but I guess she’s a Quarterite now,” she muses. For the first time in many months Dale can again smile when she thinks of Lily.

By Gloria Dauphin


UPDATE: On December 12, Lily was finally reunited with Dale and Carlos. Lily arrived late Monday night in Fort Smith where she was greeted with open arms. Lily appeared confused for a few minutes - she was again in a new environment and like many dogs, she had to adjust to seeing her humans after such a long absence. Ten minutes later, as Lily's tail began to wag wildly and she comfortably jumped onto Carlos' lap you could see that Lily was home. Through a flood of emotion Dale said she will never forget the traumatic experience of seeing Lily taken away from her, but getting their Lily back has confirmed that "you can never give up hope." Along with her new home in Fort Smith, Lily also was met by a new member of the family -- a three- legged poodle named Lucky who the Menendezes adopted since re-locating to Fort Smith.
 

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