(no subject)
Katrina evacuees distraught over pets
9/4/2005, 12:13 a.m. CT
By MIKE STOBBE
The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) - As Valerie Bennett was evacuated from a New Orleans hospital, rescuers told her there was no room in the boat for her dogs. She pleaded. "I offered him my wedding ring and my mom's wedding ring," the 34-year-old nurse recalled Saturday. They wouldn't budge. She and her husband could bring only one item, and they already had a plastic tub containing the medicines her husband, a liver transplant recipient, needed to survive.
Such emotional scenes were repeated perhaps thousands of times along the Gulf Coast last week as pet owners were forced to abandon their animals in the midst of evacuation.
In one example reported last week by The Associated Press, a police officer took a dog from one little boy waiting to get on a bus in New Orleans. "Snowball! Snowball!" the boy cried until he vomited. The policeman told a reporter he didn't know what would happen to the dog.
At the hospital, a doctor euthanized some animals at the request of their owners, who feared they would be abandoned and starve to death. He set up a small gas chamber out of a plastic-wrapped dog kennel.
"The bigger dogs were fighting it. Fighting the gas. It took them longer. When I saw that, I said 'I can't do it,'" said Bennett's husband, Lorne.
Please. If you only have $5 to give, everything helps. I've never begged for anyone to give money to a charity before in my life, but if you have a pet that you love or if you ever had one, please give just a little something in their honor.
I know I posted these links a couple of days ago, but this is information that needs repeating again and again. All of these organizations are helping right now to rescue pets in towns hit by the hurricane, and are in great need of donations. This is not just in New Orleans, but in Slidell and on the Mississippi coast, and anywhere there is a need. You can find out more information on what each group is doing by following the links.
Noah's Wish
The Humane Society
American Humane
International Fund for Animal Welfare
ASPCA Hurricane Relief Fund
Northshore Animal League
EARS: Emergency Animal Rescue Service
9/4/2005, 12:13 a.m. CT
By MIKE STOBBE
The Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) - As Valerie Bennett was evacuated from a New Orleans hospital, rescuers told her there was no room in the boat for her dogs. She pleaded. "I offered him my wedding ring and my mom's wedding ring," the 34-year-old nurse recalled Saturday. They wouldn't budge. She and her husband could bring only one item, and they already had a plastic tub containing the medicines her husband, a liver transplant recipient, needed to survive.
Such emotional scenes were repeated perhaps thousands of times along the Gulf Coast last week as pet owners were forced to abandon their animals in the midst of evacuation.
In one example reported last week by The Associated Press, a police officer took a dog from one little boy waiting to get on a bus in New Orleans. "Snowball! Snowball!" the boy cried until he vomited. The policeman told a reporter he didn't know what would happen to the dog.
At the hospital, a doctor euthanized some animals at the request of their owners, who feared they would be abandoned and starve to death. He set up a small gas chamber out of a plastic-wrapped dog kennel.
"The bigger dogs were fighting it. Fighting the gas. It took them longer. When I saw that, I said 'I can't do it,'" said Bennett's husband, Lorne.
Please. If you only have $5 to give, everything helps. I've never begged for anyone to give money to a charity before in my life, but if you have a pet that you love or if you ever had one, please give just a little something in their honor.
I know I posted these links a couple of days ago, but this is information that needs repeating again and again. All of these organizations are helping right now to rescue pets in towns hit by the hurricane, and are in great need of donations. This is not just in New Orleans, but in Slidell and on the Mississippi coast, and anywhere there is a need. You can find out more information on what each group is doing by following the links.
Noah's Wish
The Humane Society
American Humane
International Fund for Animal Welfare
ASPCA Hurricane Relief Fund
Northshore Animal League
EARS: Emergency Animal Rescue Service