As with many natural diasters, some of the most helpless victims of hurricane Katrina are the animals. The stories of people and animals being separated bring me to tears. Many people were unable to return to their homes, and do not know the fate of their pets. Others have tried to stay with their pets, only to find that they cannot bring them into shelters or on the evacuation busses:
Many people had dogs and they cannot take them on the bus. A police officer took one from a little boy, who cried until he vomited. "Snowball, snowball," he cried. The policeman told a reporter he didn't know what would happen to the dog.
Pets aren't the only animals suffering. On farms and in zoos, animals are succumbing to flooding, starvation, and dehydration. I can't imagine the horror.
I've found some organizations that are rescuing animals, and they're all accepting donations. I encourage everyone reading this to send just a few dollars to help them out.
- Noah's Wish: an organization focus solely on rescuing animals from natural diasters. The donation link, via Paypal, is about halfway down the page.
- International Fund for Animal Welfare: Their donation page accepts credit cards.
- American Humane/The Humane Society of the United States: You can make a donation by credit card here. They're teaming up with Petco, where you can make donations in-store or online.
There are plenty of other places that are helping, too. If you know of some, please add a comment with the details.
I just read that http://news.bestfriends.org/index.cfm?page=specialreports&mode=cat&catid=04061773-BDB9-396E-9001EF6EC01318A4&stid=4>Best Friends is also down there, with boats, rescuing all the animals they can (via a http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/09/08/pet.rescue/index.html>CNN story).
Posted by: kieca | September 08, 2005 at 10:04 PM
i have a dog thats named sara i love her to death and cant imangine the horror happening to my well all i want is more information on what i can do to help please write back
Posted by: ceidi | January 09, 2006 at 07:24 AM