Word From the Field
by: Press Release
September 2005 Article # 6093

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The Humane Society of the United States Situation Report: Friday,
Sept. 2, 2005

Filed from reports by Laura Bevan, HSUS Southeast Regional Office
Director and HSUS Animal Response Branch Director for Mississippi; and Lou
Guyton, HSUS Southwest Regional Office Director and HSUS Animal Response Branch
Director for Louisiana; compiled by Anne Culver, Director, Disaster Services

MISSISSIPPI:
HSUS DART members have been working their way south from Jackson,
helping animals in areas from Jackson to south of Hattiesburg. Late Friday
afternoon the team was given the go-ahead to proceed all the way to the besieged
Gulfport area, which has been waiting for help since the storm finally ended.

The DART teams rescued and transported approximately 120 animals
from the Gulfport area and gave relief to a DART volunteer living in Gulfport,
who has been giving us situation reports when she can get communication.

Continuing and extending yesterday's efforts in counties just south
of Jackson, the DART took a strike team of HSUS, Humane Society of Missouri, and
American Humane members, who joined with Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams to
conduct assessment and support of animal needs in Jackson County, on the coast.

The logistical unit of the HSUS team, based in Jackson, is preparing
the HSUS convoy for two-weeks of totally self-sufficiency in the coastal
counties of Mississippi. There are many severe animal needs in the coastal
counties and we anticipate a protracted deployment there.

Fuel remains a major problem. Food, water, power, and communications
are scarce to non-existent. Even as far north as Jackson, power outages are
frequent, fuel is scarce and gas lines long. Some response vehicles stood in
long gas lines along with ambulances, other rescue equipment,and the general
public.

The emergency animal shelter at the Jackson Coliseum is continuing
operation, with approximately 100 animals; the animal owners are staying at the
nearby Coliseum. It has served as a base for the HSUS operations in Mississippi.

Veterinary Medical Assistance Team (VMAT)-3 was dispatched to Camp
Shelby today and was accompanied by eight HSUS responders, one from HUMANE
Society of Missouri, and two from American Humane, who will then team up with
other rescuers on Sunday in preparation for advancement into the coastal
counties.

VMAT-2 is currently at Keesler Air Force base in Biloxi, Miss., and
has requested our assistance in transporting an injured animal to a veterinary
clinic. Our teams are headed that way tonight and will make contact as soon as
possible.

On Sunday, Florida state government animal emergency management
personnel are expected to arrive in Jackson to support the Mississippi effort,
through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC), giving the
Mississippi Board of Animal Health personnel much needed relief and support.

Last night, the HSUS Mississippi Animal Response Branch Director,
Laura Bevan, had submitted a weblog ("blog") with her observations and
information about the response in Mississippi. This is attached below.

LOUISIANA
The HSUS team has been working in the Baton Rouge area today to
coordinate out-of-state animal responders on behalf of the LA SPCA.

The major task at this point is coordinating the transport of
animals from crowded temporary animal facilities to out-of-state facilities. For
example, about 500 animals from St. Tammany Parish are to be transported to
out-of-state shelters. These animals have been released for adoption. The HSUS
team is working with HSUS headquarters staff to coordinate transport and receipt
of some of these and the many other animals that we anticipate will need to be
relocated.

Another part of the HSUS Louisiana team is at the Louisiana State
University (LSU) Coliseum, which the state is operating as an evacuation
shelter. Pets of evacuated residents are currently being sheltered in a facility
on this campus, and the HSUS team is supporting this operation.

The HSUS team is working with others from many organizations, first
bringing in transport resources according to the request of the state. For now,
in-state animal control resources are handling rescues.

We have seen many stories of communities around the country taking
in evacuees. One particular web site, www.hurricanehousing.org, had received
more than 20,000 offers of housing. The web site provides a means for hosts to
indicate if they accept pets. To families who have
lost everything else, not having to separate from their pets can
mean the world.

For more information on disaster preparedness, training, and
response for animals for individuals, animal facilities, and communities, or to
support our efforts, please refer to www.hsus.org/disaster or call
1-800-HUMANE-1.

WEBLOG FROM LAURA BEVAN
September 1, 2005
Jackson, Mississippi

Night has come to the Jackson Fairgrounds, the location of a pet
friendly shelter for evacuees from the coast and the staging area for all relief
efforts for animals in Mississippi. Located almost 200 miles from the Gulf, it
was dealt a hard enough punch, a frightening prediction of the devastating blow
dealt to areas farther south and especially on the coastline.

I am the currently the team leader for The HSUS's Mississippi effort
to Hurricane Katrina. But just three weeks ago, I was here, in Jackson, teaching
a Disaster Animal Response Team training in conjunction with the Mississippi
Board of Animal Health, which has been working on the state's disaster plan for
several years. The weekend after I left, they conducted their own pet-friendly
shelter training, using the materials I left behind. Now, we are all back
together putting those plans into action.

Every year since Hurricane Andrew decimated Florida in 1992, I have
gone to hurricane and emergency management conferences on behalf of The HSUS to
preach about disaster planning for animals. Every year, there is talk of the
storms that took place the year before, but also of the "big one," the one that
hasn't happened yet.

Now it has.

Watching Katrina lumber into the Gulf, then grow stronger and larger
after battering Southern Florida, I knew we were in for a bad time-but how bad
was beyond anyone's comprehension

Today, assessment teams swept through the counties between Jackson
and the coast to determine the animal needs in the area. Tomorrow, Melissa
Forberg, our National Disaster Animal Response Team (N-DART) coordinator, will
take a strike team composed of The HSUS, Humane Society of Missouri, and
American Humane Association members, and join the federal Veterinary Medical
Assistance Teams (VMAT) in assessing Jackson County, the coastal community that
borders Alabama. We have not received even a trickle of information from the
area, leaving us all anxious to know if the animal shelters, veterinary clinics,
and horse stables survived.

We all know too much of the horror of its neighboring county to the
west.

Harrison County, Mississippi--home to Gulfport, Biloxi, and other
smaller communities--has been virtually wiped off the face of the map. Search
and rescue continues for humans, and the death toll rises by the hour. The
animal death toll, incomprehensible in number, remains unknown.

It is in Harrison County where a 30-foot storm surge swamped the
Humane Society of South Mississippi, drowning hundreds of dogs and cats in their
cages. The shelter itself is destroyed, and the survivors are now being
collected to be moved from the area as soon as possible. The society is also
coping with the tragic loss of a long-term employee who drowned in his home
along with family members.

Words are too meager to express the horror and grief all of us here
are feeling. We may not have known those animals or the staff member who worked
with them. We may not have personally known the distinct personalities of each
of those animals, or worked side-by-side with the dedicated staff member who was
lost to the flood, but their losses and the survivors of the society are part of
our humane family. We grieve for them.

Now, our job is to help the people and animals of Mississippi pick
upmthe pieces and build a new world and renewed lives. Our experiences in
Florida's four hurricanes last year have equipped us with the guidance to deal
with a disaster larger in scope than all of them put together.

Sitting here as the night quiet settles over the compound of trucks,
trailers, big rigs, and tents, I know our work will not end in the next week or
the next month. The extent of the animal and human need here is overwhelming,
but I am committed, we are all committed, that those needs will be met.

There really is no other option.

Want to help pets and other animals hurt by Hurricane Katrina?
Please donate to our Disaster Rescue Teams today. Go to
https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005.






"To know a Thoroughbred is to be lifted up to a place of unparalleled passion,
exhilaration and transcendence. Look into the eyes of a Thoroughbred and feel
his supreme power and spirit, and you'll be lifted up to a special place of
beauty, passion, possibility and freedom." - Unknown


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