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Reviving memories of its huge animal rescue effort following Hurricane Katrina, Best Friends Animal Society today announced that a full animal rescue team is hard at work helping to free companion animals from floodwaters that have the tiny town of Oakville, Iowa, submerged in five feet of water.

Located in Louisa County in southeastern Iowa, Oakville (population 450), is about 40 miles from the city of Davenport. Approximately 60 dogs and cats, pets left behind by fleeing residents, have been seen on rooftops and balconies. And 500 pigs, released by a beleaguered farmer, are scattered over 10 miles, with some stranded on top of a local levee.

Responding to an official request from the State of Iowa Emergency Operations Center, the Best Friends rescue team will be hard at work for at least the next three days. This morning, Best Friends Rapid Response manager, Rich Crook, and his swiftwater-trained team were piloting a Hurricane Katrina-tested, 14-foot Jon boat through the town, looking for abandoned dogs and cats.

“It’s a familiar scene,” says Crook, who along with dozens of Best Friends employees and volunteers spent months helping to save 6,000 dogs and cats in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Unfortunately, pets and farm animals are immediate victims of a natural disaster, and this situation is no different. Oakville residents, caught by the suddenness of rising waters, were forced to flee their homes, leaving frightened and forlorn pets behind.

Pigs and other farm animals are scattered in and around Oakville. A local farmer, Ron Lanz, was forced to leave his 500 pigs behind, fearing that floodwaters would sweep across his 450-acre farm. He escaped by catching a ride in the back of a friend’s pickup.

Surviving pigs from Lanz’s farm have managed to scramble to high ground and have been spotted along a 10-mile stretch. “Unfortunately, because the pigs are damaging the levee, local officials have given permission for locals to shoot the pigs to protect the levee,” Crook says.

“So far more than 20 pigs have been killed,” Crook says. “But fortunately, most of the people we’ve talked with, including the Iowa State Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, are willing to seek an alternative, in spite of the fact that the pigs pose a danger to the levee.”

Crook’s team is working closely with the local sheriff, local authorities, and the state agriculture department to not only rescue companion animals, but devise an efficient way for families to reclaim their pets once floodwaters recede.

Floodwaters are expected to remain high in Oakville for the next five to seven days. Although floodwaters along Highway 80, near Oakville, have receded, Crook says surrounding farmlands remain saturated and people are beginning to call authorities inquiring about their animals.

People concerned about their animals can check to see if they are in custody by calling Best Friends Animal Society’s Animal Help department, 435-644-2001, ext. 4789, or e-mail animalhelp@bestfriends.org.

Photos by smitme for Kinship Circle on Flickr

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June 24, 2008 : 5:41 PM ET
posted by: czimmer671

What disappoints me is that, in Iowa in 1993, there was very similar flooding. It was just as tragic. People who live along the Mississippi, have very recent and clear evidence of the risk of floods. They also have the benefit of floods being precipitated by heavy rain! It takes days for the levees to become dangerous.

People who claim they only had 5-10 minutes to run their lives, and had no choice but to leave their pets, made choices. There were signs, there was warning...days of heavy rain? And in 1993, days of rain preceeded deadly flooding. I am sorry for the tragedy, but even basic preparation, minimal preparation, would have made these sad stories very different. More people need to take responsibility for themselves and the animals in their care. My cats are my responsibility. It is my job to plan for an emergency, especially if I am warned by several days on rain. Leaving pets behind, feeling bad about it, then sending others to get them...who is the responsible party here?

June 20, 2008 : 1:16 PM ET
posted by: Cariah

God bless Best Friends and all of its supporters for their work in Iowa. I am a native Iowan, from Burlington where your team is currently stationed, now living in North Carolina and it's heart breaking to see the plight of my home state. My entire family are proud supporters of Best Friends.

I am somewhat upset about some of the comments here. Over 38,000 people were evacuated in Iowa-where do you expect them all to go? With entire towns wiped out and homes swept away by the river, I don't know where you expect people to go. Perhaps you would all like to house some evacuees and thousands of farm animals on your little plot of land? Not to mention that almost every resident of these towns pulled together and sandbagged for days to hold their levees, usually up to the last minute, still trying to save their towns and all of the inhabitants within. I'd like to see what you would all do in that same situation. Iowans are good people who support each other and do what they can to help the rest of the nation whenever anyone needs help. Now they need our help and you want to criticize them for not evaucating in time. Put yourself in that situation before you judge others. Right now, those same people are helping to rescue their neighbors and the animals and continue sandbagging efforts to save what they can. I thank all of you who have pitched in your help. I am doing all I can from here in NC to provide donations and monetary support to both the people and animals who are in need. Please remember-these people lost absolutely everything in a 500 year storm! How often does that happen? FEMA says it's less than a 0.2% chance of flooding. I have to wonder how many of you live on a 500 year floodplain and yet don't evacuate immediately when you get a heavy storm. Iowa has a lot of experience with floods and have put several things in place as precautionary measures but a flood of this scale was completely unexpected.

BTW-If you can find the story about the pig who somehow made it from Gulfport, IL to Burlington, IA, please read it and then tell me that people don't care about pigs. There are tons of rescued pigs and other animals housed on a temporary shelter in Burlington right now, this particular pig included.

June 19, 2008 : 5:04 PM ET
posted by: kjgtaylor

Thank you to everyone who is helping these animals and their people. BF's experience from Katrina is obviously a lifeline to these stranded pets. Keep up the good work!

On the other hand, I have to agree with Marcy below about irony and hypocrisy...people who are upset at being told to shoot pigs to save the levee are likely the same people who wait until the pigs are fattened up, slaughtered, and served up for a meal. I don't get it... they all have feelings, they all get scared, and they all deserve to live.

June 19, 2008 : 4:11 PM ET
posted by: westwynd

Hopefully Farm Sanctuary has been called in about the farm animals. It is very hard when these kinds of disasters happen to move quickly and know exactly what to do. That's why disaster planning is so important for any community. I believe there are classes one can take at the Humane Society web site on disaster planning. If not I would check your state and/or local humane society. Good thoughts and prayers to all who are struck by this tragedy. My heart goes out to you all.

June 19, 2008 : 3:41 PM ET
posted by: mamapearl

I am a senior citizen. I have 2 cats who I love with all my heart. They are the reason I get up every day. I will go hungry before they do. That said, I do not have a car. I am disabled and have enough trouble getting me around. Getting groceries is a major accomplishment. You think I don't worry about what I would do in an emergency? My cats hide when they are scared. I hear news of a fire on t.v. and I panic. I know when the fire alarm in my building goes off with monthly testing, I can't even get them to come out with food. It wouldn't matter if it were a fire, flood, hurricane or whatever. I have no way to get them anywhere. If I had a car, maybe we could live in that for awhile. But for how long? And if I opened the door to get out, maybe to look for food or a bathroom, and they got out, I don't know how much I'd be abled to do to find them. I AM DISABLED. I supposed I might find some kind of shelter alone, but with animals - well, who cares about animals? I do. In my nightmare about fire, I could either die here with my cats, try to throw them out the window (if I could find them) and then jump out myself. I honestly don't know if I'm brave enough to stay and die with them. I can also hear my 6 year old granddaughter asking "but why didn't mama get out?". And what do you propose the farmers do with their livestock? The farmer with the pigs. Was he supposed to load all those pigs in the car and take them.....where? You have never come close to putting yourself in someone else's shoes. You can't judge circumstances you don't know about. And for your sake, I hope you never find yourself in one of those situations that you can't control. Have you volunteered to go help the Best Friends Network?

June 19, 2008 : 2:58 PM ET
posted by: veganmarcy

what's saddest about this story is that those smart, sensitive, able-to-feel-pain pigs...even if they make it up to higher grounds, they are shot. even if they are rounded up for rescue, nobody's sending hundreds of pigs to farm rescues. they're ending up as bacon on our plates. think of the demand, people. please. it'd be like crying over dead dogs and then eating them. it's hypocritical and doesn't help the animals. it just strikes me as odd that i read so many people posting about the pigs at the sanctuary as individuals who should have everything done to save them and keep them alive and give them a good life...same thing for geese, ducks, and other critters who get eaten every day. (or shot for entertainment aka sport.) anyways, i really don't post about this stuff post of the time, but it really frustrates me to see such a double-standard. there is no rescue for these pigs. because we make it that way everyday. sigh. they don't deserve that.