Jim Cook's Photography Journal: Katrina is a disaster for animals as well

From the Humane Society Of The United States Katrina disaster update September 8th, 2005:

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.

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 help spread the word about our disaster efforts on the Gulf Coast.

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 10 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 www.hsus.org 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. Again, thank you for your recent donation and please take a moment to tell a friend about our efforts.

Sincerely,

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