Nothing remarkable--just the usual post-disaster fatigue &
stress venting. This is a normal & predictable phase. Of course
there were some real problems; disasters are disasters, after all.
But compared to Hurricane Andrew in 1992, featured on our very first
page one, the rumblings are more like whispers.

The humane community has come a tremendous distance in
developing disaster response capacity since Hurricane Audrey killed
400 people in the same area in 1957, nearly wiping the communities
of Grand Chenier, Creole, and Cameron off the map. At that time,
the American Humane Association and the Humane Society of
Southwestern Louisiana in Lake Charles were able to rescue just 58
dogs and six cats. Among the nameless and never identified victims
were a teenaged girl who drowned while trying to rescue a puppy.
Both human and animal victims were hastily buried in mass graves.

There have been thousands of animal deaths in New Orleans
that could have been prevented if law enforcement agencies had
allowed animal rescuers quicker access to the flooded areas.

Nonetheless, the only post-disaster animal rescue operations
to have saved more animals were those undertaken in India, Sri
Lanka, Thailand, and Indonesia after the Indian Ocean tsunami of
December 26, 2004. That disaster affected thousands of miles of
coastline in nine Asian and African nations. We will never know how
many suffering animals might have been missed.

Following Hurricane Katrina, we can say that about 500,000
people were evacuated. They had about 250,000 pets. About 200,000
pets were evacuated immediately by their own people. That left
50,000. If 25,000 of them survived, about 7,500 have been rescued
to date, or nearly a third of those who might have been rescued.
Many of the subsequent deaths have been caused by Hurricane Rita
reflooding the city, interrupting further rescue work..

Obviously there is room for improvement. Equally obviously,
there is much success to celebrate.

--
Merritt Clifton
Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE
P.O. Box 960
Clinton, WA 98236

Telephone: 360-579-2505
Fax: 360-579-2575
E-mail: anmlpepl@whidbey.com
Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

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