As most people know, there has been quite a bit of destruction along the eastern and southern coasts from raging hurricanes. Everywhere from Hurricane Katrina, to Hurricane Rita, to Hurricane Ike has damaged many homes and businesses and left many people homeless. However, people are not the only ones that were left homeless.
After the hurricanes ripped everything apart, thousands of animals were left to roam the streets, lost, and most likely never to be found by their owner again. These animals ranged from dogs to rabbits to birds.
Hundreds of volunteers from the Humane Society and other rescue organizations were sent to towns hit hardest by the hurricanes to find and gather whatever lost animals they could. For example, one member of the Humane Society, according to the Woodbury Bulletin, was sent from Minnesota all the way to Houston, Texas to help animals in need. He says he does it because it is a rewarding experience to help animals. This is very true, but if it wasn't for volunteers like him, animals everywhere would be wandering around streets, most likely to die from hunger or getting hit by a car.
The newspaper article goes on to report that a total of 119 dogs were found and taken care of in the AHS shelter in Texas. After they are provided and cared for, these dogs will be transferred to five more AHS shelters in the area.
News about the vast numbers of homeless animals from the hurricanes has reached many states all over America. Those affected by this sad story were not just in places that were hit by the hurricanes, but everywhere. The communities that are taking in these homeless hurricane dogs and cats are calling on the help of everyone, everywhere, to adopt so that these animals would be given a second chance.
The critical number of homeless animals because of the recent hurricanes has led animals to once again be in the spotlight. People want to do a good deed, so they run to their local animal shelter to adopt one of these hurricane dogs or cats. This tragedy has once again, helped the animal industry to boom in the last couple of years. True, these dogs and cats had a home before, but they weren't in a spot light that has caused people to go out and adopt animals based on the idea that everyone deserves a second chance. Whether its an animal from the hurricanes or if its just a shelter dog that was purposely surrendered by its family, society has seen that every animal deserves another shot.
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Actually society has served these animals very badly. After Katrina, animals were held an average of three months and efforts were made to find the owners.
I headed up a group of 1,000 volunteers that was furnished with information on where animals were rescued and we reunited well over 1,000 families, as well as determining that an equal number were being relinquished, freeing them for immediate adoption. Even those who could no longer keep their animal sometimes wept in joy to learn it had survived.
After Ike, animals were considered adoptable after 10 days. The very day that people were let onto the Bolivar Peninsula, their animals became eligible for adoption.
Very little publicity was given this 10 day deadline. Owners were not aggressively looked for (if at all) and there have been very few reunions. I have contacted shelters and rescues offering our assistance in finding owners and no one wants our help. Our only reunions have been serendipitous.
The Ike animals going into the Texas pipeline face full shelters. Even with the wonderful help of shelters outside Texas, and the open hearts of fosters, something has to give. There is just not enough room.
I helped reunite a family last week. They called the Houston SPCA as soon as they were told that was where their dog was. Was the SPCA ecstatic at this possible rare reunion? No, they said the dog might be gone by the time the family arrived because 10 days had passed and it was up for adoption.
(What are they doing with these traumatized family pets that do not pass a temperament test when 10 days is up?)
Now had someone adopted the dog while the family was driving to the SPCA - doesn't that mean another dog is not adopted? Shouldn't the system work very hard to return animals, so as to reduce the adoption population humanely as opposed to making room by killing them?
And before you say someone should not have left their animal and therefore does not deserve it back; I ask; how do you know it was left, and have you ever made a mistake? How are your investments and your mortgage? Are you perfect about that too?
I think everyone should have a plan to take their animals, and more do after Katrina, but it will never be a perfect world and punishing the animal and the owner does not fix anything.
During Gustav, I helped evacuate pets and people from New Orleans. Many of those evacuating with animals showed me a pet that was left during Katrina and I heard and saw what "not without my animal" means. I even met a man and his dog that someone with my group had reunited.
In the case of the missing Ike dog at the SPCA, the owner was evacuating with the dog when his van was swamped. He rescued the dog and started swimming, only to let go to save his own life. The family assumed the dog drowned. The SPCA did not want to release the dog to the family when they arrived, but the dog went crazy at their presence and the shelter reluctantly conceded the ownership.
(I don’t understand this reluctance, but maybe the SPCA asked for tangible proof from these people who now own a slab on the beach; like those insurance companies who ask the homeowners to produce the policy after the house burns down. )
This 10 day period may look OK if you were not in the affected area, but it is coming to a disaster near you because it is working really well at cutting costs without reducing donations.
And do not think it is only the Houston SPCA. They just happened to have this dog; but they are not alone in implementing this.
This is a coordinated effort and I think it was discussed and decided on well before the hurricane season. It is much easier on the shelters to adopt out immediately, but they cut their expenses at the expense of animals destroyed and families left bereft.
The only state that is exempt is Louisiana. They have a state law mandating pet evacuations and pet shelters and a state run effort controlling rescues. I know firsthand that their primary focus is keeping animals safe for return to their Louisiana families, not running an adoption fair.
I can't call it a rescue effort in Texas, because without a reunion there is no rescue. If you never see your family again and your family never knows what happened to you, you survive. There is more heartbreak than rescue in that.
And let me say I do not fault those doing the hard work of retrieving animals from disaster areas. The shelters that take the animals in and get donations for their support, rely on those who volunteer to go into dangerous unhealthy areas for the sake of animals. But those volunteers are animal lovers.
Can you count on volunteers to bring animals out for adoption? Especially when each animal represents a shelter animal put to sleep?
It is not too late to save the animals that will die to make room for Ike animals. If there is anyone within the reach of my voice, I am still happy to receive any info that will help us find the owners. Contact me through http://www.stealthvolunteers.com
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