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That animals
were rescued was an answered prayer; but being reunited with
their owners would prove to be a more difficult prayer to
answer. Of the thousands of animals rescued during Hurricane
Katrina only 15-20% were ever reunited with their owners.
Although it appears to be a low percentage, it fares better
than the national averages of 10%; but for the owners
searching for their pets percentages hardly matter. During
the rescue operation, animal transportation became a
necessity as more and more animals filled Lamar Dixon.
Shelters and fostering agencies stepped in to help because
there was no single facility in Louisiana large enough to
house them until their owners could be located. This
resulted in rescued animals being transported all across the
country for holding in hopes of future reunion.
Unfortunately, clear documentation identifying where animals
were found and ultimately transported was sorely lacking, a
casualty of both the chaos of Lamar Dixon and the rescue
groups working outside the system.
To understand the hardship of starting over, it’s important
to note where the LA/SPCA was pre- Katrina. The LA/SPCA had
been viewed as one of the best animal welfare organizations
in the country with a solid staff of 65 individuals and a
strong board of directors. Post-Katrina the organization had
dwindled to 15 of its original staff, all struggling with
deep personal and professional losses. Our infrastructure
had been shattered. Staff was also shattered. Of the seven
original humane officers who tirelessly rescued animals
during the Lamar days only two would return with us to New
Orleans. The others resigned due to the overwhelming
physical and/or emotional trauma they experienced during
that time. Shortly thereafter one of the two original
officers would also resign.
With this tragic backdrop, the LA/SPCA returned to New
Orleans to re-establish its organization and provide care
and support for a community of people and its animals that
had been fractured and ripped apart. Our shelter on Japonica
Street was destroyed and finding a new location was as
challenging as setting up Lamar Dixon. A property search was
taking place concurrent to the rescue operations. In late
September a location was secured.
 On
October 15, the shelter set-up began in the New Orleans
neighborhood of Algiers. Algiers had been spared the
flooding that had destroyed most of the city but it still
bore the scars of Katrina. Wind had damaged structures,
including the warehouse leased by the LA/SPCA, and holes
littered the roof. Well-designed animal shelters are very
specialized structures that require unique elements like
proper drainage, air control and well thought out space
configuration, especially when you’re an “open admission”
shelter accepting any and all animals.
 Creating
an adequate shelter in our new temporary facility pushed the
staff to its limits. The location was never intended to
house animals and did not have even the basic necessities
like plumbing and drainage critical to animal shelters. The
staff, with the help of volunteers from the San Diego Humane
Society, assembled hundreds of kennels. Tents were erected
on the grounds as additional housing. A “M.A.S.H.-like” tent
was created to provide a minimal setting for the one
remaining veterinarian and a skeleton clinic staff of two to
treat and perform surgeries on our growing shelter
population. The kennel staff and sheltered animals
co-existed amidst on-going construction. It was a physical
and emotional hardship for all involved. Caring for animals,
cleaning and maintaining a shelter and keeping it free of
diseases under normal circumstances is a challenge. Doing so
in the midst of a structure being built requires a Herculean
effort.
 As
the warehouse was being converted into a shelter, humane
officers continued rescuing the animals that were still
victims of the storm. They had been working non-stop since
Katrina and continued to do so. Trailers served (and
continue to) as offices for the staff. During this time the
LA/SPCA operated only as an animal control facility. All the
organization’s other programs – adoption, education, a
public clinic, community outreach, a volunteer program –
were wiped out. The staff was too small and the urgency of
saving animals still on the streets and helping owners find
their lost pets remained the order of the day. And quite
frankly the days and nights were never long enough.
Nearly eighty percent of the staff was new and most had
never worked in the animal welfare industry. Whether new or
experienced everyone struggled with personal and
professional losses and many worked through a fog of
post-traumatic stress. During this time we relied heavily on
the support of those from around the country who came in to
fill in the gaps.
Those supporters were the stars on our horizon. The
assistance we received during the rescue operation only grew
when we returned to New Orleans. There were armies of
supporters behind us to whom we are eternally grateful. The
American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and
The Humane Society of the United States helped us set-up our
new temporary facility and provided financial and staff
support. Staff from other shelters came to New Orleans,
rolled up their sleeves and did somersaults helping us
establish our new temporary facility. All worked miracles in
record time – everything from negotiating with vendors to
training staff. There were so many who came to help and made
New Orleans their temporary home including the San Diego
Humane Society, the Humane Society of Broward County, the
Humane Society of Missouri and the Nebraska Humane Society.
They kept us sane and functional.
Kate Pullen was director of Animal Sheltering Issues at the
HSUS when she was dispatched to Lamar Dixon. When the LA/SPCA
returned to New Orleans in October, Kate was one of the many
who remained to assist in re-establishing operations. In
December, Pullen was hired by the ASPCA to work with the LA/SPCA
for two years. Respected in her profession as the “best of
the best” in animal sheltering, she led the charge in
setting up the shelter and is instrumental in managing
day-to-day operations.
With the infrastructure of New Orleans also destroyed, both
mail and phone services took months to restore to full
capacity. Having a limited number of phones and relying
heavily upon cell phones we were flooded with calls of those
still looking for their pets. We made our operations
available to the public seven days a week to accept lost
reports and we installed a computer kiosk where the public
could search for their pets using internet search engines
like PetHarbor and Petfinder. Everyday we heard the
emotional pleas of those desperate to find their animal
companions.
Because we were the epicenter of the largest animal disaster
in U.S. history, we were also the focus of unrelenting
attention. Media calls poured in from across the country and
sometimes beyond the U.S. Animal-focused groups and
individuals analyzed, blogged, discussed and, at times,
second-guessed our actions, philosophies and standards of
operation. We conducted tours and fielded hundreds of
e-mails. It was a daunting time.
In November 2005 in hopes of attaining a full, comprehensive
picture of New Orleans’ animal situation post-Katrina, the
LA/SPCA established a multi-agency, independent assessment
team to evaluate the state-of-animals in the city to
effectively plan for the continued recovery of New Orleans
animals. In general, the majority of the team members were
surprised by the low number of stray animals spotted in a
city that has typically had a high stray population.
Although not sizably visible during the assessment, teams
agreed that there were more strays than appeared during our
study. Some of the volunteer rescuers suspected that there
were a number of strays who could not be quantified because
of feeding programs by well-meaning but inexperienced
individuals that made it more difficult to locate and
humanely trap strays. The pace remained at lightning speed
and we were aware that our programs and services needed to
be re-built. In early December the volunteer program was
re-activated. A majority of the LA/SPCA’s volunteer team, a
major component of the organization, had been displaced by
the storm and we desperately needed new volunteers. |
