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World Conscience

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Disaster Update: HSUS teams race to save animals

HURRICANE KATRINA SPECIAL COVERAGE:

From The Humane Society of the United States:


"It's truly a race against the clock. Our teams are working
feverishly to rescue as many animals as possible and get them
out of the watery cesspool left behind by Hurricane Katrina."

- HSUS President & CEO
Wayne Pacelle

Dear Reader,

After initially being blocked from entering the most devastated
areas in Louisiana and Mississippi, HSUS Disaster Animal
Response Teams (DART) have been working around the clock to help
save stranded and sick animals on the ground.

What we are finding is truly heartbreaking - animals trapped in
flooded houses, caregivers wandering the streets desperately
searching for their beloved pets, and nearly destroyed animal
shelters where the surviving animals have spent days keeping
their heads above water in their cages.

But this is why we are here and why we are counting on our
supporters to make an emergency donation of any amount to help
our disaster response efforts. Please click here to make your
donation:
https://secure.hsus.org/01/katrina_relief/ned1JE371SXOz?source=gabai2

Block after block, our teams are entering homes and apartments,
sometimes forced to break into them, searching for stranded
animals. Yesterday in Mississippi, one of our DART teams rescued
a dog who had been washed into someone's attic; the storm surge
had stranded the animal. The woman who owned the house was
elderly; she had slipped some food and water into the attic for
the dog, but hadn't been able to go upstairs to carry him out.

We are finding and rescuing more animals as each hour passes -
more than a thousand so far - but with many more thousands
needing our help. In the past two days, we've focused on these
activities:

:: Marshalling all of our resources to provide relief for these
animals. We have 125 people and 39 support vehicles in
Louisiana, and more than 100 emergency personnel and 17 support
vehicles in Mississippi. The call is out for many more rescuers
to converge on these two states before it is too late.

:: Calling on ALL federal, state, and local responding agencies
to help provide animal rescue assistance immediately. Even
though we've been able to put hundreds of people in the field,
we worry they may not be enough.

:: Logging thousands of telephone calls through our HSUS call
center, as well as responding to thousands of emails. Staff
members in every section at headquarters dropped their normal
duties to assist in the response to Katrina, searching for
boats, trucks, crates, carriers, supplies, food, and other
essential items for transport and operations in the impact zones
of Louisiana and Mississippi.

:: Establishing our online Disaster Center at
https://community.hsus.org/ct/mp1JE371cRt7/ featuring critical
updates on our relief efforts, video and slideshow footage, and
ways that individuals can help us save even more animals
affected by Katrina. We're encouraging all our supporters to
visit the website often and take a moment to let others know
about our emergency response.

In the days ahead, we will be expanding our large-scale rescue
of the animal victims of Hurricane Katrina. In light of the
devastation we have witnessed, our rescue efforts cannot come
fast enough. Your support will help us secure even more vital
resources and emergency personnel so crucial to our work in
Louisiana and Mississippi. Please click here to make your
emergency donation today.
https://secure.hsus.org/01/katrina_relief/ned1JE371SXOz?source=gabai2

Sincerely,

Laura Bevan
Incident Commander
HSUS National Disaster Animal Response Team
Jackson, Mississippi



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