Carol & Gabby Go South

4 years later

2009-09-30T09:59:00.002-04:00

Katrina swept through the Gulf 4 years ago. I remember coming to Baton Rouge with Gabby. We were met with people from all over the country. Some displaced by Katrina and just wanting to help. Many, many others from every conceivable walk of life, giving their time to help the animals in the aftermath.

I met the most amazing people. I met my dear Becky Gainey. She was my sanity. Which is funny cuz she's a little nutz herself. I love you Becky!

I got my Monkey out of the deal. What a gift. I adore my boy!

Another amazing gift I received while there was the spark to do more for animals. I wasn't doing TNR, I had really no idea where I'd be 4 years later.

I remember seeing vehicles with out of state plates with "animal rescue" written on the back windows in poster paint. Some of those people slept in their trucks and cars. I remember feeling such complete admiration for those people. I never thought I'd count myself among them. I do now. I love my life. I love what I do. I am the luckiest girl in the world. Blessed to do what I want. My own life sturdy and strong so I can help cats. IT DOESN'T GET MUCH BETTER THAN THIS!

: ) Carol

PS I know that this is more of an ALL ABOUT ME post....but then again...it is!

pictures of the whole operation

2005-12-08T22:48:00.000-05:00

this is a compilation of photos from many of the volunteers that worked at the animal shelter in baton rouge.

watch it as a slide show at a 2 second or 5 second interval.
it's great to see!

this will give you the big picture!

http://community.webshots.com/album/518912584vAzkaG

Debbi - The Cat Lady

2005-10-01T12:01:00.000-04:00

Relief for me that I forgot to tell you about. Nearly two weeks ago, a very distressed woman named Debbi came up to my desk desperate to have her 40 cats rescued from St. Bernard Parish (the worst hit area of New Orleans). The cats were in her apartment on the second floor. Yeah, I know what you are thinking...crazy cat lady. You are probably right. But her anguish over the fate of her cats was so intense I felt it through my bones. I never stopped thinking about her and those cats and was sick that I didn't have any way to reach her. A few days ago she called and I overheard one of my phone gals saying "40 cats" and I asked to talk to the person. It was Debbi. She had not heard anything of a rescue and was sick with worry. I got her number and vowed to call her if I heard of a rescue of a large number of cats. Well, I didn't hear of a rescue of any cats, but I did see on the news that the water had been finally pumped out of St. Bernard Parish and people were allowed back in. I confirmed the information on the internet and immediately called Debbi. I didn't speak to her personally but left a message with the people she was staying with. For all I know, that's where she was already at her apartment when I called. Two days later I called her and received the happy news. She was able to get to her second floor apartment and found all but three of her cats alive. I think the three really young ones didn't make it. But the rest were taken to St. Francis Animal Sanctuary in Tylertown, Mississippi(a sister sanctuary of Best Friends). What relief for this girl and her cats. I guess a neighbor put food into the apartment through a slightly opened window. Likely that's what saved them. Many people, doing extraordinary things for animals!

Pictures

2005-10-01T10:54:00.000-04:00

Pictures From the Shelter - Friday, September 30, 2005

This is Amy. She is a 4th year Vet Student at LSU and has been working tirelessly at the shelter while still taking classes and major exams. Soon after we arrived at the shelter, I accepted a couple of dogs to be taken in. I wasn't aware of all the fuss that would surround this action. Lots of people caught hell for it because they were "rescue" dogs and we don't take rescues. Also, it was 9:30 at night and we were technically closed. But I'm just a girl who can't say NO and luckily so is Amy and Dr. Jans who was on duty that night and did the hard work. Amy had to decontaminate the two dogs. They had been touched by that filty water and needed baths before we could even touch them. The story of these two dogs ends happily and is actually documented in the following webstory: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4854734

This is my buddy Charmian. She is from Australia and has been here for nearly three weeks as well. She took over front of house operations after another volunteer walked off the job. She has done a fantastic job. Her compassion is huge and she is one of the loveliest people I have ever met. She has been so good and loving to me. My very special "Shelter Mom".

Dog people, doing what dog people do when they are not scooping poop! Holding and loving dogs! That's Tom Sparks on the right holding this little piece of a dog named Hank. Tom is the "DOGGIELAMA". He knows every dog in the place. Hank will be staying with him until his adoptive father (also his rescuer) finishes his active duty in the army and can go and make a home for him in Kentucky I think.

Front of house people. Nikki on the left, me in the center, and my replacement, Becky. Charmian is seated. This is the table where volunteers and owners sign in and get their wristbands for entry into the building.

A mess of German Shepard Puppies! These 5 pups and their parents went home on friday. It was chaos up front while they got checked out. Their human family was two, now is two and seven!

This is Stacy. She is the gal we met the first night we got here. She's the one that Gabby put up fans in the barn with for the first week we were here. She is an amazing person. Like many other volunteers, she was also displaced by Katrina. Tough as nails with a heart of gold. We love Stacy.

Gabby, Me and Tom Sparks: The DoggieLAMA. Tom has 11 dogs of his own, but that isn't stopping him from fostering up to 9 more. He is taking in any dogs that he can to help the owners till they get back on their feet. He is even putting in a bigger fenced area in his yard to make his fosters welcome! An angel on earth for dogs and their owners!

Wonderful, amazing Allison. She will do anything for animals and the people who love them. Allison is the heart of front of house operations!

Friday, September 30th - Our Last Day at the Shelter

2005-10-01T09:55:00.000-04:00

Friday was the final day for owners to pick up their pets without having made special arrangements for a short extension. So we reconfigured the front of house to accommodate the mass influx of people coming to get their furry family members. We thought it would be packed from morning to night. But it wasn't. True, lots of animals did go home, but many others are still here. I bet we get a ton of them going home saturday because it's the weekend and many of the people who have relocated here found work already. The day was controlled and because I finally got a full staff at the front, it was smooth sailing with only a few instances of pure craziness.

When we got here nearly three weeks ago, there were 1,100 animals housed. The census Friday morning was like 550 I think.

I apologized to Karla (the adoptions gal) for causing her any grief and basically we kissed and made up. Which is something I had to do before I left because if you know me at all "bad blood" eats at me and will make me miserable far longer than the person I'm upset with.

We switched gears a little to include a foster station where owners who need a little more time with finding adequate housing for their pets, could (with the help of a volunteer) find a foster family nearby to help them through the transition. Several people were matched up on petfinder.com. One man checked out his cat and was off to take him to the foster who lived here in Baton Rouge who we matched him up with. A happy ending for the cat who can at least be out of a cage, though it will be a bit before he can be with his own daddy.

I'm finding cats to be quite adaptable. Even the ones in cages are doing pretty good. Since they like to sleep all day long anyway, they don't seem too adversely affected. Some stretch out with their head ending up in their food bowls while others curl up in their litter boxes (reminiscent of Buzzby and her pet-pet box). Right now, Monkey is curled up on my arms making typing on this laptop a little difficult. But I sure love it.

I had been asking for a book of "rescue" animals for a while and finally one appeared on thursday. Remember, we have mostly "owner known" animals here. We only got some rescued pets when one day Lamar Dixon was unable to take any. So all this time, our "rescues" have been kinda hid away from the public. Folks weren't allowed to come and see them because we didn't want to risk the safety of the "owned" pets that were put in our care. Nor did we want to risk their safety. Remember, people have tried to steal animals out of shelters. Some have been successful, so to even get into the place, you have to show ID and get a wrist band. It's serious stuff. So this book magically appears the other day and viola....people are flipping through the thing and actually finding their pets. I think three have been identified because of it. Yeah!

A man came up to Gabby yesterday while he was manning the "help to find your pet table". He had been here last week and was desperate to find his 7 cats. Gabby educated him about petfinder.com. Well, this guy has located 6 of his 7 cats on it. They are all over the country but he is making arrangements to get them back. He came back to see if he could find his 7th cat here. The book yielded one that looked like it could be his. Gabby took him to see the cat and unfortunately it wasn't. But the man has faith that with the help of this great system, he will find his last lost baby. It was a nice victory for Gabby because he has been working so hard to convince people that petfinder.com and the animal emergency response network are the true way to go. And he is right!

My fun little victory came a completly different way. Becky noticed the phones hadn't rang in a while. Because the phone pretty much rings off the hook it's very noticible. I figured, wow, the new phone system must have FINALLY gone into effect. Remember, I was pushing for this for nearly two weeks. I was shot down the first two times I tried to do something about it but I persisted and now it was finally in place. Now, when people call in, they hear a menu of options first. Individual options can be chosen and their needs met with a very comprehensive answer scripted by yours truly. (((Monky got tired of all the typing and arm movement and just jumped off and went to his new cat bed on the couch))).

So we try the new phone system out and find that when the caller pushes the option to get a "live" person, it skips the front of building phone and goes directly into the command center! Ha! Let them deal with the calls. It's so poetic. I almost peed my pants! So now the phone doesn't ring at all. Figures! I'm leaving and the phones stop ringing altogether! How ironic!
I called a campus tech guy who tried to fix it, but because it was 4:30 pm on friday there is nothing that can be done till Monday. So I guess Kay will be taking lots more calls this weekend! : )

I love Kay and am actually sorry she will have to deal with the calls, but like I said, it's poetic that the command center will have to deal with them after I had been bugging the powers that be to help me fix this problem with virtually no support in the early days! Lucky for Kay the phone options at least come on first so the calls should be cut by at least 75%.

So that was our last day. Today is actually Saturday and we are going to head home. We will make one last trip through the place, take some pictures and say our goodbyes. Then we might stop by Lamar Dixon to see what their operation is like. I have been afraid to see it because I had heard some stories that weren't painting it in a good light. But Iben said that I had to go and see it. I told her I was afraid and she said something really profound to me. She said the people who had the worst time getting over 9-11 were those that were blind. Becase what they pictured in their minds was worse than what actually happened. So with that, I think we will make a quick stop to Gonzales, LA on the way home.

This might be the last blog because we won't have internet access along the way. Pictures will come later. Thanks for reading and keeping us in your good thoughts. Can't wait to get home to our normal lives.

Bill & Carol

P.S. Thank you Jonelle for making this possible for us. We know that Trixie, Socks and Buzzby are in good hands and without knowing that, we would never have been able to leave. You're the best! Next time you do cat sitting, it will be for 4!

Thursday

2005-10-01T09:49:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends

It's obvious why people use blogs as a daily journal. Because if you try to remember what happened two days ago (like i'm trying to recall thursday on saturday morning) the details become sketchy.

What I do remember is that things started falling better into place when I got a new front desk manager. Her name is Becky and she is from Ohio. Very into the humane movement and very good with the phones. So between Becky and Senta (another angel from IFAW) I hardly answered the phones at all. I also have Melanie and Joanne who are working as volunteer coordinators and both are great. So there are extra competent people at the front. Add to that Nelva, a DVM from public health and a few other key people and pressure started to ease up for me.

I can't recall much else about thursday so I'll finish this blog up and write about our last day...friday!

A good day - Wednesday

2005-09-28T22:36:00.000-04:00

Hello Everybody!

Meet Monkey Manos Gabbard. See why we call him Monkey! He's a scrappy looking guy. He has a funny bump on his nose that makes him appear a bit camel like. He has a little weakness in his legs probably due to being in a cage for so long, but the vets say the muscles will get stronger as he gets exercise. Right now, this weakness makes him a little clumsy, which is fine with us. We love him. And it appears he is pretty much OK with us too!

Today was a much better day. I slept in and was taken out for a great
I-HOP breakfast by my Gabby. We did a little shopping at Walmart then came home and took a quick cat nap before getting to work. When I stopped into the command center, I was told it was a little hairy out there without me. I thought at first they were joking. But I had it confirmed when I hit the front desk. It sure looked like they had it all under control, but I guess for once, someone actually was feeling my stress. It was kinda nice actually.

I was thrilled to see that IFAW set up a table outside with information on petfinder.com, directions to Lamar Dixon and FINALLY a book with really great photos of all the pets here that have no known owners. This was something I have been trying to do for over a week now.

IFAW really has made a huge difference here. I have no doubt that Iben had a talk with the powers that be because it’s very apparent to me that Gabby and I are getting much more respect around here and the front out house is getting the attention it needs.

It’s nice to finally feel that we are valued.

The night went pretty smooth, but tomorrow and Friday will surely be crazy because, Friday is the deadline for people to pick up their pets. It will be good to see pets being picked up but it will surely be crazy when 300-400 pets go back with their owners. Hopefully at least that many will go out.

It will be mad crazy busy, but it will sure be good to see people taking their pets out of here.

Talk to you all tomorrow
Carol & Gabby

Carol's Psychology

2005-09-28T05:48:00.000-04:00

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

It’s been way to stressful and way to long to not attend a meeting. Here’s a case where I’m not “eating” my discontentment because there’s simply not time to abuse food. Now I just wig out.

Because of this, I have been pretty much ordered to take tomorrow morning off and not come in till noon. This came down from the head of this whole operation, Dr. Paula. So once again, its 4am, I can’t sleep so I’m doing a little something to make myself sleepy so I can get back to bed.

The one good thing about it this particular morning however is that I have Monkey lying on my arms as I type. He was the one who actually woke me up. I guess he ran out of vittles in the middle of the night and he was on the kitchen counter knocking a box of cat food onto the floor and trying to get into it.

I guess we will call today’s entry, my psychology page. I don’t think it’s all that healthy to work 15 back to back 12 hour days in such stressful conditions. If you know me, taking time off when there is work to be done, isn’t my style. I also have a tendency to make “my” job so important that I can hardly even delegate it.

This is how I set myself up for misery and exhaustion! Not really a good thing to do, and hopefully after all this, I will learn a lesson. I have to leave here on Saturday and I have to have faith that things will roll on without me.

Iben (my savior) from IFAW is trying to help me to see the things that I can affect and the things over which I have no control. As you see in my opening statement, I know that this is true, and my serenity is directly affected by my ability to accept this.

I truly want to help everyone and simply can’t. I want to erase this whole problem of people needing to track their beloved pets all over the country. I want this all to have never happened. This terrible tragedy. This unbelievable loss. But I can’t. I guess I just have to do what I can, feel good in the knowledge that I did all I could, and move on.

We plan to leave on Saturday. I really need to get home and decompress. I think once we pull out of town, I will feel a lot better. I hope so at least.

On a good note, tonight a woman who had believed all three of her dogs perished in a horrible accident (early on in this operation) was indeed alive and well and in the shelter. I won’t go into details about what happened but it was an unfortunate incident and several animals passed away. But this little weiner dog, Taz survived and he was picked up by his mamma last night.

Tomorrow Snooks and Rosco, two cats who I helped the owner find are going to be with him in San Francisco. He is lucky. If not for having put collars around their necks with their names, he would be searching the “found” pet records on petfinder.com for months on end. Unfortunately, what everyone else who lost their pet will have to do if they hope to be reunited.

The San Francisco SPCA will be picking them up and taking them home to be with their daddy. I’m so happy for them all.

Well folks, tomorrow morning Gabby is taking me to IHOP for cheese blintzes and sausages. It was Mom’s favorite meal and I’m going to indulge myself a little.

Besides driving the rig down here for us, and taking care of all its operating systems so we have a comfortable place to live, Gabby is my rock. Without him I would never be able to be here. His love and support through all of this is unparalleled and I count myself one of the luckiest girls in the world to have him by my side.

Wishing you all peace and serenity
Carol

Monday

2005-09-27T16:57:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends

The day started nicely enough, till I had a run in with the gal in charge of adoptions. She apparently doesn’t appreciate my trying to help volunteers get the paperwork necessary to apply for adoption. Now, if she was ever where she was needed, I wouldn’t be compelled to do her job. But because she is overwhelmed and and absolutely refuses to delegate it anyone else, I did try to help people get the forms they needed. Well, she made it pretty clear that he wasn’t fond of my actions and that I should do my job and keep out of hers. My temper flared, and I had Gabby collect our computer and things and we were pretty much ready to leave today. I had my cat and was ready to roll out of here. But my favorite person, Charmian (who is in charge of front of house operations) said if I go, she would go too. Then a really great (higher up) vet came and consoled me. And I cooled down and went to my first meeting. Gabby was with me for support. I really needed him beside me. I was pretty much listened to and I did give my opinion on the running of things and basically told everyone that adoptions girl wasn’t doing her job. I don’t think we are friends any longer. Fine with me! But funny thing is, she went around passing out adoption forms FINALLY!

IFAW gave us 20 Nextel phones to have better communications. I also worked with the girl in charge of operations to tell her how front of house operations has evolved since I came aboard.

Gabby helped a man find his dog today by searching the data base. The dog has a collar and had the owner’s name but because things are so hectic here, nobody has had any time to try to reach the guy. Well his persistence paid off and he picked up “Libby” Bartholemew.

It was a great reunion.

Gabby also helped someone who needed to find a place to house their 700 pound bull. He called around and found her a place, and now the Bull will be housed!

Solving the world’s problems, one pet at a time! He finished the night by getting a destitute woman some expensive prescription dog food that she desperately needed, but could not afford. Her dog gets deathly ill without it. She had pleaded to several Vetrinarian offices, but 3 were out of it, and the 1 Vet she found that had it said “sure I have it, its 53 bucks”! Luckily, we had plenty of it and were able to give some to a person that is going to deliver it to her. She lives just over the border to Misissippi.

Besides being highly upset in the early part of it, it was a pretty good day. And I have my Monkey on my lap, so who can complain?

The Best Day So Far!!!!

2005-09-25T23:26:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends

Today was a really good day. It began with Karla (the gal in charge of adoptions) telling me to get ready to sign some adoption papers. Guess she was tired of my bugging the heck out of her. Yes, we were allowed to take Monkey out of the facility this morning. He immediately made himself at home. He is even used to the motion of the rig. Gabby had to move the rig twice as folks were pouring into the lot for the big LSU game which was rescheduled for tomorrow. Lucky for us, LSU is a kind school and they are allowing us to use a season pass holder’s spot without charge. Another vet who is here had to pay $100 for the privilege. Leave it to my Gabby to finagle a great deal!

There was a foster meet at the Student Union and lots of owners came back offering their animals to foster and a few actually made arrangements with people and handed their pets over. All was joyous because the owners wanted their pets to be in a home and not kept in cages any longer.

This was only a temporary shelter and I’m actually glad that it’s closing down because there is no reason to prolong the amount of time an animal should stay in a cage. I’m sure if it was going to be left open, people would store their animals here for a long time. It’s really not fair to the animals and I’m glad they will only have till October 15 to stay here. I think there will be a huge adoption fair that will begin after the deadline to remove pets which is September 30th, this coming Friday. I believe the owners have 30 days from the time they are actually adopted to take them back. I think it’s a good idea to call it an adoption vs a Foster because people really need to commit to caring for the pet for the rest of its natural life vs a short 3 or 4 months. Hopefully by that time, folks will have had time to get back on their feet and reunite their families.

I met a girl named Shameka today who I had talked on the phone to last week. She just reunited with her young son earlier whom she had not seen since the Katrina hit. She knew he was safe with his father, but she was away from him for nearly a month. The minute they reunited, they were on the way to the shelter to pick up Sweetie Pie. Everyone was elated and it was very uplifting.

Lots of other people picked up their animals today and now the population is about 750. I think it was like 1,100 when we arrived two weeks ago.

Today The International Fund for Animal Welfare showed up. Just like the cavalry, they came to my rescue. For the first time since we arrived, I actually felt like someone wanted to hear what I had to say about front of house operations. Gabby and I gave Iben an earful and she listened intently and said that by Tuesday someone would be here to help with the organization I have began. I have been worried because I was not sure who would take over when I leave. Now I can leave on Saturday and not feel badly. I think that’s when we will head home, Saturday or Sunday.

I have to tell you that actually speaking to a higher up in IFAW means a great deal to me. Those of you who knew me in college may remember that I worked to spread awareness about the shameful Canadian Seal Hunt. I distributed literature and worked to ban Canadian fish products in order to halt the madness. It worked for that one winter. Unfortunately it still goes on today.
But IFAW continues to bring animal welfare to the forefront.

Tomorrow should be a good day because we have the big game and we will be closed to owners after 12:00 noon. This will allow us to get a lot done and get more organized. And we can sure use some of that.

Thanks for reading!
Monkey’s new parents, Carol & Gabby

Saturday

2005-09-24T23:15:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends

We survived Rita’s visit to Baton Rouge. The trailer did well withstanding the 60 mph gusts. It got its experience in such winds while we were in San Francisco in 2004. We nearly left and headed away for a day or two, but the locals convinced us to stay and I’m glad they did.

With the help of our core volunteers, I was able to pretty much organize the front of house operations and clean the main lobby up. Pam, you would be happy to know, that it is way better. Finally, I can relax a little bit up there. As most of you know, I don’t do well in chaos.

The big football game that was supposed to be today is postponed till Monday, so we will probably have to get off the lot we are staying on to make room for the partiers. I guess football is a huge deal here. We have been approved to stay in the lot of the vet school on campus but it’s still a ways away and we fear it will be difficult to get around with the traffic. But things will work out, they always do.

I’ve been hounding the hell out of the gal In charge of adoptions. A bunch of cats have upper respiratory infections and I fear my monkey could get one too. They have all been quarantined, but I heard a few others in the regular area sneezing so I’m a little concerned. Tomorrow, I will take another stab at her and try to convince her to let me take monkey out of the facility.

Wow, I’m getting a little tired, better turn in. Talk to you all tomorrow!

Carol & Gabby

Friday

2005-09-24T00:56:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends

Here’s a happy story. A fourteen year old German Shepard mix came in after spending 27 days alone in the house. The owners were finally able to make it home and they were able to bring him in. He was weak and a lot thinner, but still with us. Thank you Jesus!

Finally today, I got my point across about the phone system. The one we had was awful and really needed to have a new menu options list with better information and some other tweaking. It probably won’t go into affect till early next week, but when it does, it will serve so many people so well, it will have been worth the wait.

I have a social worker who will be helping me at the phone desk. She is very compassionate and will be good for the people who come in distraught looking for their pets.

Petfinder.com revamped it’s data base system to allow for people to search animals by breed, cutting down on the viewing of thousands of unnecessary listings that don’t pertain to the animal people are trying to find. Gabby is thrilled because it’s the one real flaw to the system.

Tonight around 6:30 PM, the power went out. Hurricane Rita is making her way across Baton Rouge. We are not expecting any winds that our rig can’t withstand so we are hanging here. I guess LSU thought it would be bad enough to cancel tomorrow’s game though. It actually is refreshing because the rain really cooled things off.

I guess I’m going to be allowed to go to the big meetings now. The passing of information around here isn’t the greatest and I have ended up learning of most things from the people who call or come up to the desk. Gabby made a pitch that I should attend, and the powers that be agreed. Hopefully I can keep my mouth shut and not tick anyone off.

While I know things are running the best way they probably can, I’m not thrilled with some of the way things are being done. Having been on the outside of the information has caused me frustration beyond belief. Now that I will be at the meetings, I will be able to understand why some things are as they are and that will make it easier to swallow the things I personally don’t agree with.

We are so glad we are here. It’s hard sometimes, but we wouldn’t want to be anyplace else.

Every night after the hustle and bustle of the place slips into a quiet lull and the majority of the volunteers have left, I go and take monkey out of his cage and love on him. Tonight I kissed him on the face and got a pucker full of kitty drool. Since I met my hairdresser’s cat, Owen who was a drooler, I’ve always wanted a kitty with a slight drool. Owen’s drooling was a little bit of a problem because he did it all the time. Seems like monkey only drools when he is being given love and attention. I hope to make him drool a lot for the rest of his little kitty life.

Thanks for reading, sending prayers and for all of your support. We feel it out here! And it’s appreciated greatly.

Carol & Gabby

Wednesday and Thursday - Sept 21 & 22

2005-09-23T06:42:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends

I am up at 5am on Friday because I can't sleep. Like usual, I when I wake up in the middle of the night, my mind starts spinning and I can't stop it. So my latest worry in my head is about a story of Marlene who is one of the vet techs who was doing rescue work in the city of New Orleans a few days ago. While she was dropping food, a desperate young woman came up to her with an address on a slip of paper that she got from Craig’s list. (craigslist.com). The young woman was responding to a desperate plea from a woman in a nursing home. She was asking for someone to break into her house and save her little Yorkshire Terrier. Marlene grabbed the note from the girl and did just that. From what I hear she went to great lengths, even having to move floating furniture. No sign of the dog. Something told her to turn over the couch floating in the living room and there treading water under the overturned couch was the trapped little dog.

It is unsure how long that dog was trying to keep his/her head above water; could have been for two weeks. She had to literally pull the dog from the thick muck that was keeping it from being able to swim. She said it was like the dog was in quicksand. The little pup weighed three times it’s normal weight in this disgusting slime. When she got it into her arms, it passed out. They rushed the dog to the safety of the Louisiana State University’s vet school. There they revived the dog and spent the rest of the time cleaning it off and scooping debris from its ears with a spoon.

Last I heard the dog was still exhausted but at least taking a lick of food from Marlene’s finger and at least trying to lift its head. This dog is alive today because of Marlene. She is an angel on earth and I don’t even remember what state she came from. She and her Vet came together but had to leave yesterday. They didn’t leave empty handed though, they took home two cats that were put up for adoption by their owner. They were both older cats who would need the type of care that vets would be able to give them. Lucky cats.

So I can’t sleep because that poor woman is in a nursing home somewhere and doesn’t know her dog has been saved. And that’s what it’s like for all these poor people. They have lost everything and they are worried sick about their pets.

If any of you know how to navigate craigslist.com and can help to find this woman, please let me know so we can put her in touch with the caregivers of her dog.

Rita is looking like she might be causing some major trouble down here. Though it seems we’re in the clear here in Baton Rouge, other shelters have had to evacuate their animals. We will only head out if the winds are proposed to get strong enough to send things flying into our rig. If so, we will head away from the storm and return when it passes.

A German Shepard got escaped the barn yesterday and I chased it across campus in m flip flops. I’m not in very good shape, but I think I know what they mean my “adrenaline”. I ran farther and faster than I ever had. Two volunteers had seen the escape before the dog got in my view and they were chasing the dog in their car. They picked me up and we drove around campus searching to no avail. Luckily, because of the time of day, the traffic was heavy so people weren’t able to drive to fast and hit the dog with their car. About 30 minutes after we returned the dog was brought back to safety. Not sure who it was that was able to get the dog to stop, but it’s sure a happy ending.

I worked on a new phone answering system the other day and hopefully that will be implemented soon so people can actually get some decent information when they call us. Right now, the system is completely useless and when we answer it, we prevent the people from getting the information that is available in the phone menu. I hope it goes into effect today because it will be a great service to the people who are searching for their pets.

We should have our “no known owner” pets onto petfinder.com and petharbor.com soon. This will at least give their owners a chance to see them and hopefully there will be some reunions here finally.

The shelter is closing on October 15th. All owners must pick up their pets by September 30th or release for adoption (with a clause to reclaim within a certain period of time). Many are making arrangements to get their pets out of here. In early October there will be a huge adoption fair. But on October 1st, I will be able to take Monkey out of here and that’s what I’m waiting for. Then we will head home.

Ok, it’s getting to the point where I think I might be able to get back to sleep.

Talk to you all again soon.
Carol & Gabby

PS Juliet, the arnica seems to be helping with the overall emotion of this place.

Day 8

2005-09-21T00:25:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends

Another day at the shelter and we barely touch a single animal. Gabby and I have posted ourselves out front and we talk to very distraught people on the phone and face to face and urge them to use petfinder.com which we believe is the one saving grace for us all. It’s really the only thing any of these pet owners can hang their hopes on. Just like people, animals have had to go all over the country to find shelter. Since looking at every shelter across the country is pretty much impossible and calling them and describing your cat or dog in detail and having people with the time to check them is futile, petfinder.com is in my opinion, the only hope we have for reuniting people with their lost babies.

I would actually like to spend my remaining time here registering the “owner unknown” pets on petfinder.com, but currently I have so much information in my head that I fear leaving the front of the building where I can really directly help those who need that info. Here, notes and handouts are not read, it’s mostly word of mouth, and as you know, I have a big mouth! See photos in last blog that show “front of arena” happenings. The first picture is of me sitting at my new outdoor phone station. The second photo is of the volunteer and owner check in tables. Beyond those are tables for intake, owner pick-up and what used to be the adoption information. I think I’m the one doing most of the talking about that now.

We have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is that Marsha was not able to take that sweet Dalmation to her home in Savannah, GA when she left today. The good news is that it was because our pet sleuths found his owners. The reunion was sweet and “Percy” seemed pretty happy to see them. Turns out he escaped from a compromised storm damaged fence last week. Lucky for him, Marsha saved him from being taken to animal control. We are sorry that Marsha couldn’t be his new mommy, but she is coming back in a few weeks and she will be adopting another doggie she has had her eyes on.

Another wonderful pet person is Tom Sparks. I call him the DoggieLamma. He is God’s gift to dogs. This man has turned his home into a pet and volunteer hotel and he will be fostering a number of dogs for owners when this shelter requires them to remove their pets on September 30th. He knows every dog in this place and will check on dogs and call out of town owners to put their minds at ease regarding their dogs. He is a saint.

There are lots of saints here. It’s just amazing. And then it’s taxing. I called my homeopathic guru today and she prescribed a remedy to help me with the overall grief that is being experienced here. Juliet, thank you, it helped. The rescue remedy that my other homeopathic guru gave me actually did some real good for a dog who was not eating. The vet put 4 drops in the dog’s water and he began eating immediately. Cynthia, that vet talked to her students about the rescue remedy and I think we have some believers.

Gabby and I are going to try to get away tomorrow to wash some of this stinking laundry. It’s unbelievably hot here. Chrissy, you warned me of the southern heat and I had no idea. You were right. It’s ungodly and we are in the shade. And it’s late September! I can’t imagine how hot it must get here in the summer.

I hear Rita is heading this way. I don’t think we are going to be affected here in Baton Rouge, but I’m deeply concerned if it hits New Orleans again. The people want to get into the city to check their pets and will likely be shut out. Please pray that it blows another way.

Some good news to tell you is that people ARE bringing their animals out of the city every day. One woman who was looking for her cat three days ago was able to return home and brought him in today for us to watch until we close down. It was wonderful to see her with he beloved baby.

Tomorrow a man in San Francisco is having the San Francisco SPCA bring his two cats to him where he is staying in some type of relief housing. A chow named Queenie is also going to San Francisco to be reunited with her owner. I am particularly thrilled because it was me who took the call where with some detective work on the data base, found that the cats were here. He promises to call me as soon as he gets done hugging them. Can’t wait!

Lots of people are going into the city and taking food and water and putting it in the streets to feed the animals who have been left behind. It’s a wonderful thing for people who can’t actually partake in animal rescue to do.

There are lots of amazing stories and I’m sure it will make a great book someday.

Pray for Rita to go another way, and pray for all the pet owners who are missing their babies.

Carol & Bill

Front of Arena Operations

2005-09-20T23:15:00.000-04:00

Two, Two, Two Days in One!!

2005-09-20T01:00:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends-

Two days have passed since we last wrote. Yesterday was chaotic and I’m not sure all I can tell you about it. I can tell you that a beautiful thing did happen Sunday night that made me cry tears of joy though. A woman walked up with a sweet dalmation that she found wandering the streets of Baton Rouge. She kept him as long as she could in her upstairs apartment (with her three cats) until she began getting threats from her landlord. Having no place else to turn, she brought the dog to us.

She had to be turned away at the door because we don’t accept rescued animals. We are now only accepting “owner” relinquished animals. And because this dog was found in Baton Rouge, it is not even considered a “Katrina Dog” although some very interesting details pointed to him definitely being one. Regardless, he was headed for Animal Control.

Remember the gal Marsha, I told you about earlier – the one who I was in competition with for the nicest front of building area? Well she won the competition and that dog won her heart, so she is taking him home with her to Georgia. She will list him on petfinder.com in hopes of finding his owner. But if she never does, he will have a great life with her. What a lucky dog! This is him in the photo!!

Today something great happened. One of the two rescue dogs that we did get in under the wire a few nights ago was picked up by her owner’s brother. Sasha and her dog friend, Lady spent several days stranded out on a ledge somewhere in New Orleans. Lady’s owner will come and pick her up this week.

There is lots of good news, but lots of very sad news too. I’m finding it hard to deal with at times and sometimes just have to put my face into Gabby’s chest and cry. I talk to people desperate to find their pets all day long on the phone and in person. It’s heart wrenching because not only have they lost their home and personal items, they don’t know where their beloved pets are. And they are worried sick.

Petfinder.com seems to be the most comprehensive tool for anyone who needs help or wants to help the animals and their owners. It’s the only hope for anyone to find their pet. Animals are in shelters all across the country. It will take months to match them up. But I have hope that one day there will be many happy reunions.

Many of you want to adopt or foster an animal affected by Katrina. You can go to petfinder.com yourself, fill out an application online and look at animals that need fostering. But you Grand Rapids area people might want to hold off, because if things go as I hope, I might be able to bring a few cats for foster/adoption. In any case, fill out the petfinder.com application if you are interested in doing any fostering.

To safeguard pets that are owned and animals who still have yet to find their owners, we are in total lock down. Nobody but volunteers and owners are allowed in the building. People looking for pets will not be allowed in until we can be sure that the owned pets are placed in secure locations. It makes sense and hopefully it will happen this week.

Because of this, I have moved my information, phone call desk outside. Now with Gabby’s help, we can assist people who call on the phone and who come and visit how to navigate petfinder.com.

Thank goodness for the laptop loaned to us by Meeting Tomorrow because it’s used every minute of the day. Hopefully soon, I’ll be able to actually use it to check my personal email.

A Good Day!

2005-09-18T02:05:00.000-04:00

Hello friends

A very good day! It was the first day I had an actual normal work day. I worked from 8am-8pm at the information desk.

I had a really great team with me (even a personal assistant from FEMA) and was able to FINALLY organize it and clear all the clutter. We decided to do paperwork differently which would better serve the pet owners who are still searching. I am in competition with the gal who is setting up a mini pet Walmart to see who can have the most organized area. So far she is winning. Her area looks really great and mine is just free of clutter. Of course her area is cool because it’s full of brand new pet items that people picking up their pets can take at no charge to start their new lives together.

I had my first mini-reunion though it wasn’t in person. A man who had to evacuate due to his handicap was forced to leave his two cats behind with a friend who promised he would take care of them while he stayed behind to care for his own dogs.

Days and days later the friend finally contacted this man and told him the animals were in Baton Rouge. Sure enough after a call and my checking the data base, we found that Snooks and Rosco were here. They came in together and were caged together. I have not actually talked to the man, as his sister was calling me on his behalf. He is in San Francisco and she is in Roanoak, VA. Anyways, he is thrilled to know they are fine and understandably relieved. I’m glad I was able to take this call. It totally made my day.

This shelter will be closing on October 15^th. Owners have until September 30^th to pick up their pets. If they can not find a place to live with their pet, or have a friend keep them, they will be adopted to other people with a clause that the owner will be able to have a specified amount of time to reclaim the animal. At first I believed fostering was the way to go, but now that I give it more thought, people really need to commit to keeping these animals just incase the owners are never able to get back on their feet sufficiently to take them back.

It’s looking pretty good for Gabby and I to take home “Monkey”. We are calling him Monkey because when you pick him up, he hugs your shoulders like a chimp. NO LIE! And he nuzzles my face just like Spooky used to. I think it’s a boy and I think he is about 4 years old. If nobody claims him by the time we leave, we will add him to our family. Right now, I would be willing to give him back to his owner after any length of time. Of course, I think it would be heart wrenching once we get attached to him, but when I think of all these people of New Orleans have lost, the one thing that they should never have to be without is their pet.

My friend whose house was checked by that New Orleans officer the other day finally made it back to see her home. The house was empty as the police officer had said, but one dog had hidden from him and remained and was alive. This was her sister’s dog. Her dog and the 15 cats were gone so I suspect that they were rescued. Now begins her search in the shelters and at petfinder.com. Please pray for her pets safe return.

If you are interested in seeing some photos of the place where we are working, visit the website: http://www.vetmed.lsu.edu/katrina_pets_photo_page.htm Right now, there are only photos of the small dog arena. The cats area will be photographed soon. Also, so will the football field sized large dog barn where Gabby has been sweating the days and nights away installing fans.

Today, he installed fans in a special area where a woman named Iris is caring for the 22 dogs she personally rescued from her neighborhood. Because their cages are on the outside of the barn, they have had a little natural breeze so until now, they were low priority. But because some wonderful people are responding to our wish list, they all have fans now.

Things are getting better and better every day. The animals are all getting micro-chipped for identification. Once they leave the shelter, they will always be able to be identified. After the micro-chipping is completed, the animals we have with “no known owner” (about 150 of them) will be listed on petfinder.com.

Pretty soon, the missing owners will begin to show up, and then the payoff will really begin!

Ciao for now

Carol & Gabby

Friday's Follies

2005-09-17T01:24:00.000-04:00

Hello Dear Friends

Today was pretty stressful. I worked at the desk where the calls come in for people looking for their pets, or wishing to have them rescued, or need information about every conceivable thing in the universe. It’s hard to talk to these people without almost crying because they are so desperate to find their pets. I try to give them hope. Thanks to petfinder.com, I do believe that there is hope.

If you go on petfinder.com, you can search all the animals in the database who have been rescued. You can also put in information about a missing pet who might be found one day and hopefully matched up with it’s owner. And finally, you can request a search of your home or last place you left your animal. It is by far the best resource out there.

I made some great strides in organizing the desk area and will work tomorrow to do more to streamline the operation. It is a very difficult task indeed, but with time and a few more people answering the phone I am confident it can be done. I’m hoping to have more volunteers over the weekend because the locals might be off work.

Three dogs came in late tonight to be checked in. It was after hours and I got clearance to bring them in. A man who was displaced from his own home and a reporter found two dogs on a ledge. They brought them to us in their pick up truck. They were a little skinny but seemed in good health otherwise. One had a collar with a phone number and we did a reverse phone number look up on the internet and got the name of the owners. We would have just called them, but this number was not working as the area it’s from is under water. The other dog had a microchip registered to the Humane Society of New Orleans, where he was adopted. If there is any way to get through to them tomorrow, I’ll check to see if they have the new owner on record. So these two dogs might be the first of an owner finding their dog and actually reuniting. It will be amazing and I pray it happens. A good reason to tag and microchip your dogs. The other dog was a biter and he had to go to the area where the biters stay. Their accommodations are just as nice as everyone else, but they just don’t get as much petting for obvious reasons.

Early in the day I got a call from the police officer who I asked to check my friend’s house in New Orleans to find her 2 dogs and 15 cats. He said the house was empty of pets, and there were no animals that had perished. What a relief. Now the process of finding them begins.

After the all nighter we pulled last night loading pets to go back to the animal hospital from which they were evacuated and brought to us, I’m pretty tired now and I think I’m going to turn it.

Tomorrow I’m going to try to work a solid 8am-8pm shift and get back on a more even keel. 12 hour days are not bad, either are 16 hour days if you can keep a consistent number of sleep hours between them. Hopefully tomorrow will be the start of this.

Thanks for your good thoughts and prayers.

Keep them coming!

Carol & Gabby

PS The wonderful black kitty I want to bring to live with us for two weeks before we leave and hopefully foster or adopt will not be allowed to come and stay with us for now. They are afraid that if he got away they would be responsible. Here there is a little too much “doing things right” vs “doing the right thing”. But we will see how far I get once I start begging.

Thursday's goings on

2005-09-17T01:23:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends

By now you must be thinking, how long can it possibly take to put up fans. Gabby can tell you 4 days and counting. Do keep in mind that nearly 500 fans needed to be hung from the ceiling with 1,500 dog leashes. We need only 20 more fans and the job will be finished. I don’t think there is any hotter, stickier, more miserable work to be done here at the shelter. But my Gabby is a trooper!

Such a trooper that he volunteered to help at 4am (actually Friday) to load up about 60 animals to be taken back to the animal hospital in Metairie, LA where they were evacuated from. I am pretty sure it will keep us busy till day break at the very least. But how exciting!! Even though the animals will still probably not be able to go home with their owners (because they are still without places to have them with them) they will at least be in more comfortable surroundings.

Today I spent the day at what I think it the most stressful area of the shelter. It’s the phone desk. A phone rings off the hook all day long. People are calling to have their pets rescued or to look for their missing dog or cat. If they are not calling in, they are showing up here to see if they can find them. When they call or come in, we give them phone numbers to other resources or check our data base as well as the photo wall to see if they are here. Remember most all of the animals here have KNOWN owners. Only about 100 or so don’t and those are the ones that people hope to find are theirs. Unfortunately, so far, none are. Gabby and I are hoping to foster a wonderful black cat for our remaining time here. He is one of the 4 cats that were in the barn that I met on my first night here. We will see if we have any special pull after we do this animal load out at 4am. I’m thinking it might garner us some major brownie points.

Tomorrow I hope to continue to work at the help desk and get it better organized. It’s off the hook chaos right now and it’s making me uneasy.

We are thrilled to be here. We appreciate all your emails, so keep em’ comin!

Ciao for now-

Carol & Gabby

For those of you waiting for pictures, please be patient. We will try to take some soon.

Wednesday at The Shelter

2005-09-15T09:28:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends

Another day of rigging fans for the dogs in the barn for Gabby. He still has about 20 to go. He and this really cool gal named Stacey are taking care of this project all by themselves. It’s a daunting task because of the extreme heat at 8 ft and also the sheer physical aspect of it.

I’m thinking this may be a great diet plan for me because I’m walking lots (as the blisters on my feet can prove) and I’m too busy to think of food. My feet remind me of my retail days which I was hoping to forget, but having no appetite or being too busy to think of food is a first for me. So hopefully I will return home a few pounds lighter.

I spent the morning making signs to post in the kitty area reminding people that they must sanitize their hands before touching a second cat. This is to prevent the spread of disease. I myself was not aware of this rule before I personally touched about 50 cats my first night here. So hopefully the sign will help with a little education. All precautions are being made here to keep the animals in the best of health. Toys are not shared, bedding is thrown away once the animal leaves the facility and bowels and other items are cleaned and disinfected as used.

I came on the scene at about 2:30pm and tried not to get too involved in one project so as to get a better picture of the overall operations. Because of this, people from lots of different areas of the place are getting to know me and for some reason they think I know what’s going on and are handing me their responsibilities when they leave. I do my best to fulfill all requests.

Later in the evening as I was attempting to oversee volunteers in the cats area and also close down the front of building operations an off duty New Orleans Police Officer came to me looking for a black lab he had picked up off the street during his duties the week prior. We searched for the dog but was having a hard time finding him at first. But because this place has a really good data base set up we found the sweet Lab who he and his fellow officers named Sally. It was a beautiful reunion. Sally recognized him immediately and he was loved on and licked all over.

While escorting him out the door I asked if he would help my friend who had to leave some pets behind after evacuation. He told me that he would go to the address I gave him and check to see if the animals survived the flooding. I was overwhelmed and told him to call me immediately if he found them and bring them here to us. I will be following up with him on Thursday to see what he finds. I am praying that the two dogs and 15 cats (who were all outdoor strays that were rounded up before evacuation) are ok. I will keep you all posted. Until then, please pray.

Gabby moved the rig to a better spot a little closer to the building and we are now able to get internet reception on the laptop that was so nicely loaned to us by Meeting Tomorrow. Thank goodness because earlier in the day gabby was out in the heat trying to download drivers for our printer in the 90 degree heat. It’s nicer to do this in the comfort of our home!

We are also situated closer to the dump station so with some extra hoses that we will buy at Wal-Mart on Thursday, we won’t have to move the rig every three days to empty the tanks. Double bonus!!

Gabby and I returned to the barn at about 11pm and helped one vet who works the night shift do what she calls “clutter patrol”. Basically it’s cleaning out stalls whose dogs have left to go home with their owners. Also it’s dragging all the items left in the isles by the other volunteers and owners. This is everything from old dishes and buckets to 40 lb bags of opened dog food. We are trying to keep the opened bags of food to a minimum.

We have several semi truck loads of food here. And supplies are still being sent from all over the country. We really don’t need any more items. Monetary donations are better, but the wheels of generosity are in motion and the goods keep coming in. I’m sure when animals finally go home with their owners; they will have all they need to start anew.

I know lots of you envy us and you should. It’s amazing to be able to be a part of something like this. I am so thankful that Gabby and I are able to do it. If you are feeling like you would like to be down here but can’t get here, my suggestion is check to see if your local humane society or rescue organizations can use some help with any animals that may have come to them. I know the H.S. in Grand Rapids has taken on many of the displaced pets and I’m sure they are looking for help.

Thanks for reading and keeping up with us. Please keep all the volunteers in your good thoughts and send them strength. And of course keep all the people and animals affected by this catastrophe in your prayers.

Carol and Gabby

PS I would like to say a special hello to my God Daughter, Madeline Brill and her computer class in Colorado. I hear you are reading our postings and keeping up on what we are doing out here. I am so happy to know that you are interested in the animals. From way over there in Colorado, the animals feel all the love you are sending out to them. Thank you!!!

Tuesday's Activities!

2005-09-14T04:23:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends

Wow, what a day! I think we got to sleep at about 8:00am. At 3:00pm I reported for duty at the front doors of the building at the “volunteer” and “owner” table. There, people who want to work with the animals sign in and get a specific volunteer wristband. Then they report to the area where they would like to work. So far, small dogs and cats are getting the most volunteers. The big dogs in the barn need a few more volunteers so tomorrow I will urge people to sign up there unless they have a fear of large dogs. All the dogs here are super sweet. Some of the sweetest of all are the pit bulls. There a so many of them and I have yet to see one even remotely vicious.

The other part of the front door work is checking in owners who are able to visit their pets. Many of the owners are located here in shelters in Baton Rouge, some even staying at the shelter on campus. Others are staying with friends and family nearby. Of course others are scattered all across the country.

It’s great to talk to these people. They have amazing spirit even with all they have been through. They are understandably thrilled to be able to spend time with their pets. I’m sure the pets feel the same way.

Several people came in and checked their pets in for us to watch until they get stable housing where they can be reunited. It is hard for lots of them, but I think they realize that their pets are getting the best possible care. They are very grateful. It makes it all worthwhile.

After that, I ran back to the rig to freshen up and pick up some cat toys having noticed that many of the cats had no toys in their cages.

C-SNIP offered all of their handmade cat nip toys. I brought a huge bag of lovingly hand crocheted and hand hand-sewn kitty toys with love from Michigan. I started at one end of the cat area and made it completely through giving each cat a toy. I had to wake most of them up to do it, but they were all so happy to have a toy to relieve their caged boredom. When I passed back through, the place was buzzing with kitties high on catnip and remembering what it was like before the flooding. So thank you so much C-SNIP for all the toys and thanks to Emma whose kitty gave some of her own toys which made it possible for every cat to get one! If it weren’t for the extra toys that Emma insisted on donating, I would have had to walk away from the last cages without giving a gift. I felt like kitty Santa. It was so far the best part of being here.

Last night I really bonded with 4 kitties that were in the barn. I was sad to see they weren’t in there when I returned this afternoon. I figured they had been taken to Lamar Dixon,(the other big shelter). But when I was giving out toys, I found them all placed among the other cats. Seems I received a little faulty intelligence and they were in the barn for a bit to be quarantined from the rest of the cats for a couple of days, not to be taken away. They were not showing signs of sickness so they were allowed to leave the dog area and I can assure you they are much happier away from all the stinky dogs. Nothing personal doggies…but you are kinda stinky when you all get together in one building.

Some wonderful people are bringing in delicious food which is placed in a volunteer room that is air conditioned. It feels so good to walk into a cool room after sweating like a pig. Speaking of pigs, there is a pig in the barn and also a couple of ducks and chickens. Not sure of their story, but I bet it’s a good one! I am going to have to write a thank you note for the cooks because cooking is just totally out of the question and wasting time to go out to eat is also not on the program.

Gabby spent another day rigging fans from the ceiling of the kennels. Climbing 8 foot stalls like a monkey all to keep the dogs cool. It’s grueling work because it’s really hot in the barn and the only fan blowing is the one that he is directing on the pooches. So, no relief for The Gabb. But boy is it fulfilling. There are 500 stalls in the big barn, and so far 460 of them have fans installed and running.

Tomorrow I am going to continue working the front door and Gabby will install the other 40 fans. I think once we both have a good night sleep, we will feel much better physically. But right now, emotionally, we feel we really did the right thing by coming down here.

Please keep the animals displaced by Katrina in your prayers (as well as their humans). The stories flow in to us about how many animals are still out there awaiting rescue and how other shelters are not as well organized and maintained as this one. No matter what though, the animals are not being forgotten. Everyone is doing their best to help mans best friends and cats who I call “man’s best reminder that they are only on this planet to serve them”. Dogs have owners… but cats have staff!

Love from Baton Rouge,

Carol & Gabby

We Made It Here!

2005-09-13T17:04:00.000-04:00

Hello from Louisiana State University

Gabby and I arrived late Monday night (September 12^th). The Parker Agricultural Center is the temporary home of animals who were either taken from veterinarian offices in New Orleans or surrendered by their owners who are in shelters or temporary housing themselves that do no allow pets. There are 1,100 cats and dogs here. I heard there is a pig too, but I haven’t seen him yet.

We are allowed to park our rig directly behind the building and have electrical hook ups. We are very thankful for this as it will surely allow us to come and go as we please and not have to drive. We also have a nice cool haven to escape to when we need it.

When we arrived on the scene last night I can only describe it as controlled chaos. Can you imagine dealing with an influx of animals like this? Luckily there are many systems in place and many volunteers who have worked for a week or so and know what they are doing.

Last night, I was not one of those volunteers. Pretty much clueless, Gabby and I were sent to the “barn”. The barn, when functioning is intended is for larger farm type animals. There are hundreds of wooden pens and they are now homes for the large dogs. There we found a volunteer who was also displaced by the hurricane Katrina. She was unable to evacuate on her own because her car was in the shop being repaired. She refused to go to the superdome because she was not able to take her dog. So she stayed until Wednesday when she was able to leave with her dog safely.

Stacey is the type of person who would do ANYTHING for an animal. She was climbing the six foot stalls and rigging up box fans to keep the dogs cool. There is no air conditioning in the barn or the building where the rest of the animals are kept. I suspect they will have a huge electric bill when this is all over because there are at least 400 fans running at all times. Stacey looked like she could use a hand so Gabby began to help her.

I was supposed to man a table and wait for things to happen which really didn’t so I wandered to a table off to the side of the barn where 4 cats slated to go to Lamar Dixon were in their cages. Lamar Dixon is in Gonzales, Louisiana and that is where the animals with no known owner are being sent. Remember, the animals here have known owners and some are even getting visits from their owners during the day and receiving love and petting and walks outside.

It’s obvious these 4 kitties are housecats who had once lived in a loving home because they were very unafraid of me. It felt good to be able to clean their cages and give them fresh food and water and lots of kisses. I want to take them all home with me.

Kim and Joel have a bet going as to whether or not Gabby and I will bring a cat or dog home with us. It’s too early to tell right now, but I am sure tempted. Who wouldn’t be?

We stayed well into the morning and I was put on assignment to take census of the small dogs in the Parker Coliseum, which is right next door to the barn. There are 13 rows of anywhere from 17-26 smaller dogs. Then there is an area for dogs that have no known owner (who will probably be going to Lamar Dixon), the biters (who are kept separate and only able to be touched by vets and vet techs) and the quarantined ones who are or might be contagious.

I had to record how many dogs were in each cage and whether or not they were a small, medium or large dog. All animals have their own cage unless they came from the same household and are more comfortable with their furry friend. One pen in the barn housed a German Shepard family (mom, dad and 5 puppies). While on my census taking detail, I was barked at a lot and I suspect this barking meant “pet me, pet me, pet me”. I sure did pet a lot of them. Rarely would I walk by a cage where a dog would not stir and come to the front to lick my hand. Now, I know this sounds very sad, but you must keep in mind the other side of the story if this place was not in existence. Sure being in a cage is no animals wish, but they are safe, dry, being fed and some are able to see their owners.

After that, I passed though the outer halls of the coliseum where the cats are housed. In cages stacked 3 or 4 high, these babies sang a chorus of meowing that was not matched by anything you have ever heard. I met a few that I would love to have as my own. I guess I’m not alone because some cats even with known owners have notes on their cages with offers to foster or adopt them.

Early this morning I was working “the front”. Talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire. With no real orientation myself, I was put in charge of opening the door for volunteers, vets and pet owners. Nobody else is allowed into the building. And it’s a lock down situation for some of the animals here. There is a need for military police here because some of the animals are at risk of being stolen. Dog fighting is rampant in Louisiana and some really horrible people have tried to steal some pit bulls. They are locked in their pens with a chain and padlock to prevent this.

So far in the few short hours of being here, I have seen a woman come in and surrender her dog because the hotel she was relocated to (with her 5 children) does not allow pets. I can’t imagine how hard it would be to do that. But people were very loving and sensitive to her situation and at least she knows where her little dog is and can visit until she finds a more permanent “pet friendly” place to stay.

I saw a woman pick up her two large dogs and leave for the place where they will finally be able to stay with her. It was really wonderful to see that.

This morning several dog owners came in with leash in hand to walk their dogs. I am sure it’s a great comfort for them to see each other.

When I was manning the phones (which I wasn’t really trained to do either), I received three calls from people looking for their pets. I recorded their information in the many notebooks attached to a board titled “looking for cat” or “looking for dog”. The information will be entered into a database where people will be able to search for their loved ones. I think petfinder.com is heading up this charge.

Another man called to offer his services to do ANYTHING. He is from Minnesota and is willing to come with one of his employees, truck and waders and walk the streets of New Orleans to rescue animals. God bless him. Like us, he wanted to help but has gotten caught in the system. Gabby and I are on 4 lists to help but have not gotten calls from any of them either. Gabby’s persistence brought us here and our help is surely needed. I’m going to get this man’s name to the higher ups and hopefully he will be able to feel like he is doing something productive.

At 7:30 am, I came back to the trailer to shower off the dog dookie, dirt and sweat and to catch a little shut eye. I’m up at noon because I can’t sleep knowing there are things I can be doing. I suspect the coming 2 weeks will be like this. If I get any sleep at all, it will be a miracle. I don’t want to do anything other than be with those animals. I am sure you would feel the same way.

It’s amazing work these people are doing. Gabby and I are so happy to be a part of it.

Thanks for reading.

Carol & Gabby

PS There are so much food and supply here. It’s mind boggling. And there are packages in the front of the building mailed from across the country holding more supplies and food from people who want to help. My current suggestion if you want to help, is to send money to an animal welfare organization instead. What is needed can be purchased on site and the money saved in postage can be donated too.

Leaving Really Soon

2005-09-10T16:35:00.000-04:00

hi friends

waiting for the fridge to cool down enough to take food.

filling the tires up with air.

will take quick showers and then be on our way.

thanks for keeping us in your good thoughts and prayers.

we'll be in touch

carol & gabby

this is a picture of buzzby last fall when we found her at our RV park in allendale. this was the last photo of her we have before we made her an inside kitty. she is much happier, safer and warmer in winter now. buzzby, trixie and socks will NOT be coming along with us on the trip. we don't want to expose them to anything that we might carry around on us from the animals who were exposed to so much bad stuff during the floods in New Orleans. They will be watched by a very, very excellent kitty mom...our neighbor Jonelle.

Thanks Jonelle!

Leaving Today

2005-09-10T09:03:00.000-04:00

well, we should be able to roll out today. we had a little battery trouble and we might still have a little refrigerator trouble, but we are forging ahead anyway.

because of my dear friends, we have a trailer storage compartment filled with dog and cat food, treats, toys, towels, bowls and a bunch of other very useful items that we can take to help the animals. we also received donations of cash to make purchases for the animals if they need something when we get down there.

other dear friends gave us a gas card and a human care package to ease our wallets and give us nourishment while we are away from home. god sure smiled down on me when he gave me my wonderful friends.

when we contacted pet stores early last week, i found a very sweet and generous manager at pet supplies plus (near woodland mall) who wanted to personally donate items to help the animals displaced by katrina. when i met ashley, i was drawn to her and gave her a big hug. while i'm a hugger, i usually don't do it upon first meeting a person at a pet store. turns out...get this, ashley is the daughter of deb who is the director of gabby's dad's assisted living facility. can you believe it. gabby just learned of this yesterday. what a hoot. we always liked deb because she is so warm and loving and here is her daughter (just like her) making donations to our cause. small world huh?

if you have room in your home and heart to foster a katrina pet, do contact your local humane society or animal shelter. many are coming into our humane society in kent county and it's likely they are coming to your area too.

we hope you enjoy reading this blog. we will try to update it daily.

love to all

carol and gabby

We're On

2005-09-09T01:23:00.000-04:00

dear friends

if you read my last post (only an hour and a half ago) we had no place to go down south to help.
but, through gabby's persistence he got through all the red tape of online applications (with seemingly little hope of getting an urgent response) and found us a place to work at The University of Lousiana, Baton Rouge. they have turned the Parker Colliseum into a shelter for the Katrina animals. the head guy down there said we were the type of volunteers he was looking for. he also welcomes any of the donations we are able to bring.

so we are still slated to leave on saturday and hopefully arrive monday sometime. whew! i was afraid that wasn't going to come through for us. regardless if we had heard from anyone or not, gabby was very determined to head south and help someone with something. i was a little more insistent on having a "plan". but that's the difference between us. his amazingly huge heart got us a gig. seems like he is good at getting gigs! fancy that.

so, keep an eye on this blog to see what we are up to.
keep us in your good thoughts and be sure that we will do
whatever we can to help the animals in need.

and don't forget to contact your local shelters and humane societies to see if you can foster a pet, volunteer to help with the extra animal load or donate some funds!

thanks so much.
carol & gabby

Where to go for information regarding animals

2005-09-09T00:00:00.000-04:00

Dear Friends

It seems that every day, things change with regard to what should be done to help the animals.
Because of this i'm suggesting that to get the most up to date information, view the sites www.bestfriends.org (sanctuary in kanab, UT) or hsus.org (humane society of the united states) or aspca.org (american society of the prevention of cruelty to animals).

It seems they have very up to date information and each moment, something new is put on top of the old. I guess with the speed of the internet, as soon as a need is presented, it's wired all over the country and the problem is no longer a problem...actually it seems more like the problem is the abundance of items and volunteers coming in to fix the problem. Like here we are responding to an email to come down to Tylertown, Mississippi to work at The St. Francis Animal Sanctuary or send stuff there and now they are asking people to hold back, not come yet and send the items to Best Friends in Kanab, Utah where the items can be sorted and shipped as needed.

So this puts us in a situation where we are all ready to roll, we have supplies and some monetary donations ready help the animals, and we have no place that says they want us to come.

We have registered our desire to help with Best Friends, The ASPCA and The Humane Society of the United States. I think it will be awhile before they sort through the thousands of volunteers and begin to dispatch them to places in need. And then we have just heard that our local Humane Society and Animal Shelters are already getting Katrina displaced animals. So there is much work to do locally.

We still want to go down to the areas outside of the destruction and help in the effort to care for the animals who are being brought there first. We have the means to do so and that's what we want to do. So that is what we are planning to do of this moment.

I myself circulated emails with wishlists from places and now I am realizing that if you want to do something, you should check an animal welfare site first to see what is needed vs following the direction of an email that may be out of date by the time it reaches you.

If you want to adopt or foster an animal, get with your local shelters and Humane Societies and see if they have any animals you can take home for a few months until their families are found.

I am thrilled to report that since I sent the email stating that we were heading south, eight people have emailed me stating that they would foster animals. That is so heartwarming. Bless you for that. I'm sure there are many of you who are willing to do the same. I suggest call your shelters tomorrow and see if anyone needs a temporary home. I have faith that, even though it will take a long time, people WILL find their pets. I really hold on to that with everything in my soul because without that hope, I don't know what I would do. It's just so unimaginable.

Thanks for reading. Thanks for your good thoughts, prayers and donations. We will see that they help animals displaced by Katrina. We promise. If we do not go south, we will at least be spending the majority of the coming days working at our local shelters. That is something that most of us can and should do. I hope you find some time to also. And of course, let's not forget the humans.

Two Days Till We Leave-Thanks to our sponsors!

2005-09-08T18:40:00.000-04:00

Hello Friends and Family-

It's Thursday and we are gearing up for the trip down south. As most of you know, we are headed to The St. Francis Animal Sanctuary. We received an email Sunday requesting volunteers to help with the animals displaced by Hurricaine Katrina. We have been graciously loaned a laptop computer for the trip. The company who is letting us use it is called Meeting Tomorrow (www.meetingtomorrow.com). They ususally rent laptops and similar equipment, but they are loaning the laptop to us with no charge because we are using it for Katrina relief. We hope we will be able to use it to keep in touch with all of you, and offer the use of it to other volunteers at the Animal Sanctuary to keep in touch with their friends and family as well. Not to mention, it will come in great handy for finding resources, as no doubt, needs will arise. If you need a laptop at a moment's notice, don't hesitate to call them. They are wonderful people and didn't bat an eyelash at our request. They just jumped right in. These are the kinds of people who we should all be doing business with.

A couple of area pet supply stores, (ChowHound, Pet Supplies Plus), were very generous and donated food, cages, dishes, leashes, collars and other pet needs. My wonderful neighbors have already been donating items for us to take on the trip that will help care for the many animals who are in need. My homeopaths gave me a whole slew of remedies that will help treat the animals who are suffering grief, anxiety or just plain trauma. I'm sure those same remedies will come in handy for the volunteers as well. Another very kind animal lover who was at my homeopath's place gave me a sizeable check for the animals. We will use any money we receive to buy things that are needed at the sanctuary. There is a WalMart only 20 miles from there and it has power and is stocked and open 24 hours.

We are very excited about leaving Saturday. Tomorrow we will pack the rig and get all the loose ends tied up. Keep reading this blog to see what we are up to.

Take care and thanks to all for your donations, good thought and prayers.