http://www.noahswish.com/Hurricane%20Katrina.htm

Update: September 5, 2005 9:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Noah’s Wish has 269 animals currently under their care. Animals are being brought in by teams comprised of Slidell Animal Control and Noah’s Wish rescue members. Noah’s Wish is still working strictly in Slidell, LA.

People are starting to come in filling out lost animal reports. A woman came in and was reunited with her 3 dogs and her iguana. Noah’s wish is taking care of her pets until she is able to take them home.

We are housing primarily dogs, but also have cats, 5 rabbits (A big thank you to the House Rabbit Society volunteers who showed up to help!), 6 parakeets, 1 parrot, 4 cockatiels from the Slidell Animal Control office, 1 hamster, a ferret, 3 baby squirrels, an iguana (being sheltered for the owner), two corn snakes, (A big thank you to Jan Freas a volunteer who is a reptile person. We also got in a macaw that came into the shelter in an old ratty cage that was not appropriate for him. We went out and purchased him the Taj Mahal of parrot cages so he is comfortable. He will be taking his new cage with him when he returns home.

We currently have a team of approximately 75 volunteers on site including 2 coordinators and 1 volunteer who have come from Canada with 4 more Canadian volunteers to arrive next week. The Slidell Public Works department workers have been wonderful. They tend to gravitate towards us because they love animals. Several of them have their pets with us. They are able to do their work knowing that their animals are safe. They have been so helpful, assisting with everything from helping set up fans, helping move heavy items, taking care of our garbage and so much more. It’s like setting up a shelter in a Home Depot with an entire maintenance staff on duty. We had a 2 member crew from CNN who came in to do an interview, when they left, they had trouble getting out because of the roads, so they came back to walk dogs for a few hours. Our volunteers are currently being housed, 10 to a room, at a Best Western in Hammond which is closing on Thursday due to a lack of staff and supplies. We are trying to make arrangements for the volunteers needing housing to be housed in the Federal Building in Slidell.

Our volunteer team also consists of two veterinarians and two Veterinary Technicians. We are going to have a mobile clinic coming from Washington D.C. to set up because the Louisiana State Veterinary School is becoming overwhelmed with the sheer volume of animals needing their help. We are trying to take care of the least serious cases without having to add to their work load. We are lucky to have excellent vets and techs volunteering with us. All of the vet practices in Slidell are still closed, with no idea of when they will open. One of the clinics was severely damaged.

Medical needs our vets have treated so far are, many dogs coming in with dehydration, and several have had skin conditions. We have one dog with a broken leg that has been treated, and a senior poodle mix with early stage kidney problems. There was also a dog today brought in with severe tail lacerations, so the vet staff made the decision to amputate part of the tail as they were not able to repair it. They will be starting to vaccinate animals, and treating for flea/tick infestations. In addition, we will be starting to get dogs groomed.

We are making contact with Alley Cat Allies to find people who are experienced in humane cat trapping. There are a number of cats who are in need of being trapped so that they can be reunited with their families. We are setting up feeding stations for these cats so that they have a safe place to eat and clean water to drink.

There are now 50 dog runs set up in the back of our shelter under tents. We are still finding animals alive in homes as we continue our rescue in the city of Slidell. Locked in the laundry room of one house, a rescue team found an over-bred, emaciated pit bull mix huddled between a tipped over washer and dryer. The house had almost 6 feet of water in it. There are dogs that are seen on the streets, as time goes on, they are beginning to get hungry enough to start coming closer.

We have been doing food distribution throughout the city. Supplies of pet food are slim to none in stores that are open, and many people are finding their food is destroyed by flood water. Fresh water is a must as well. Volunteers are going to be going to houses where pets have been removed, leaving notes for their owners to let them know their pets are safe. Noah’s Wish will be making arrangements for foster care for pets that are not able to go home in the near future. Fostering is going to be done as locally as possible, because we want the pets to stay close by their humans. They need each other right now. In some cases, the pets are the only thing the families have left other than their own lives.

We went with Damian Anti, the supervisor of Slidell Animal Control to do an inspection of the Animal Control building. Sadly, the building is going to have to be leveled due to structural damage. Noah’s Wish rented a Uhaul truck for transporting supplies. A team will be taking the truck to help the Animal Control staff haul items that can be salvaged. Noah’s Wish has agreed to help replace items that need to be replaced. Items such as computers, a new refrigerator, a washer and dryer, shop vacs, generator, etc. These are all items damaged in the flood. The temporary shelter area set up by Noah’s Wish will be used as a long term shelter until a new one can be build. There is a possibility that they might be able to rebuild the shelter on higher ground that is less likely to be flooded. Working with Mr. Ante, and the Animal Control officers Horace, Billy, and David has been a wonderful experience. They are some of the best Animal Control personnel we have ever worked with. They are grateful that we are able to help them.

Updates have been sporadic, and we are sorry for that. There are many issues out here that are being dealt with. The two biggest problems are communications and finding gas. You have to drive to find a place where you have phone service, including cell phone service. The police dept doesn't even have phones. Trying to get gas is a nightmare, when you can find it, you wait in long lines up to 3 hours at a time, sometimes to have your gas rationed. We are trying to conserve the gas so that our rescue vehicles have enough. This means we are not always able to communicate with “the outside world”. It can make just purchasing supplies very trying. This disaster is equal if not worse than Hurricane Andrew in the challenges we are facing.

What is so gratifying to see is the difference our 3 day trainings have made. The benefits of having our 3 day intensive program are very apparent during this disaster. Everything is running very efficiently despite the problems of not having enough gas and outside communication. People who have been involved in Emergency Management have commented on how impressed they are with the way the shelter and rescue operations are being run.

All the Noah’s Wish volunteers, here onsite, and off site working behind the scenes are all doing an incredible job.