Photo by Troy Snow

Kanab, UT - (9/15/2005) - Today, Best Friends Animal Society became the first animal rescue organization to enter St. Bernard Parish since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast.

We entered at 9 a.m. with Councilman Mark Maderi, operating under the authority of St. Bernard animal control officer Cecile Trog.

Before today, 17 days after the disaster, no official assessment had yet been done.

Best Friends reports that assumptions that most of the animals had drowned or otherwise perished are INCORRECT. Thousands are alive -- albeit in desperate conditions. We estimate that they have at most 3 or 4 days left to survive.

Our assessment included Chalmette, Mereaux, Arabi, and Violet.

We saw many animals who had been rounded up by military people, who have been doing their best to look after them on an unofficial basis and feeding them MREs. But these animals are still emaciated and dehydrated and need urgent medical attention.

Major resources are needed to address the needs of these animals immediately. They are on the streets, locked in houses, everywhere.

We urge and implore the state and federal authorities to mount a massive effort to support animal rescue efforts to save these household pets in need.

These needs include: - Additional emergency shelter locations, since the primary shelter at Gonzalez is already full to capacity - Veterinary medical attention - Efforts to locate the animals' families.

Best Friends Hurricane Relief Special Reports blogs are intended to encourage friendly discussion around the animals and the disaster.

In order to keep this a positive and constructive blog, we will remove messages that do not follow our guidelines: terms and conditions. We will also remove posts that encourage activities that will potentially harm the animals or the people involved in the aftermath of the hurricane.

September 28, 2005 : 7:25 PM ET
posted by: gianna59

17063. ASPCA NEEDS BODIES IN ST B by counselor, 9/28/05 18:56 ET

ASPCA REQUEST Tuesday, 9/27 11:35PM ET

We were just emailed with this alert from the ASPCA. Email them if you are interested. We are posting this as a public service.

The emergency shelter in St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans is in urgent need of shelter staff, rescue teams and dedicated hard workers.

Qualifications: superior dog and cat handling skillsexperience as veterinary technician or shelter worker a plusanimal control or emergency-response training a plus

Requirements: ability to deploy to St. Bernard Parish within 72 hoursability to work at the shelter for a minimum of 5 daysability to provide your own food, water and accommodations (ie: tent or rv)There is currently no electricity at the shelter.

Time is of the essence - please respond ONLY if you meet these requirements.Emaildisaster@aspca.org with your name, contact info, and brief description of your qualifications.

September 25, 2005 : 9:24 PM ET
posted by: gianna59

September 25, 2005 : 8:44 PM ET posted by: sswaim

Spoke to Dr. White's wife at New Iberia....Desperate need for horse water/food buckets, halters, leads. Dog/cat bowls, slip leashes, larger size crates/cages (don't need any little ones right now) and cat food. Have dog food now. Can ship to him c/o Iberia Humane Society, attn: Rita, 1919 Sugar Oaks, New Iberia, LA 70563. This will be good for just a few boxes. Larger shipments or deliveries can go straight to Acadiana Fairgrounds, attn: Dr. White, 713 Northwest Bypass, New Iberia, LA 70563. She also asked that if anyone happened to be bringing large amount of supplies to them if they would call ahead so they could be ready (everyone has been out bringing in animals). If shipping need to verify service is available.

September 25, 2005 : 6:58 PM ET
posted by: barely

Looking for: 1.)Tan Shih Tzu (Tobias) w/green collar w/rabies tag stating (Pet Care Center on David Dr.in metairie) left in Chalmette High School Gym

2.)White Shih Tzu (Zoe) black tipped ears, rear side, & 1 paw tipped blk. left in Chalmette High School Gym

3.)Black PotBellied Pig (Barely) white on feet, tip of head,undercoat & eyes you cannot see.180 lbs.left on 3420 Van Cleave Dr.,Meraux LA (Lexington Place Subdivision) in shed with in/out door.

email me please dana@orleansornamental.com (Dana)

September 24, 2005 : 8:53 AM ET
posted by: lail59

Am looking for a two year old husky female black and white wearing a purple nylon cover missing from Pascadoula MS. Anyone with information on rescues done in that area, please advise.

September 22, 2005 : 10:11 AM ET
posted by: gianna59

palulukon, 9/22/05 4:38 ET

From: "SHARON ADAMS"Subject:

URGENT/PIT BULLS IN DIRE NEED OF HELP: Wed, 21 Sep 2005 19:24:13 -0400

>please, crosspost too!!!!! Leah, from Houston's Spindletop pit bull rescue has been going to New Orleans the past few weeks and rescuing as many pit bulls as she can, besides her normal load of rescues.I know she took over one hundred just from N.O last week.Now the new hurricane is coming her way and she is in desperate need of help, here are two please/ posts from her: "from Leah... if you're near Houston and can lend her crate(s), please call ASAP

"I am going back tomorrow for my last trip for this week. I had tagged some dogs, already have fosters for them and I am also picking up "Buddy" to reunite with his owner (see Buddy's story below, he was found at a MS shelter). I will be back on Thursday evening to start evacuating Spindletop. I am short 55 crates because of the displaced owned dogs I have here from Katrina, so I am in need of crates ASAP. So if you know anyone that can even loan one crate, I need it immediately.f Rita reaches strong Cat 3 status, my kennels will be gone. So pray this thing stays on the mild side or just takes a left turn completely. I will not be on the computer after today as I am packing my things from my house as there will not be time once I get back from LA. If you need to reach me, my cell is 713-614-2410. and an update, this evening for a warehosue:We are looking for a place to put the Spindletop dogs. The warehouse Leah usually uses will not withstand the wind.

1. Please, does anyone know of a warhorse of about 2000 square feet (or more) that could be used to save the dogs. The dogs will be in crates.

2. Spindletop is in need of more crates.

As you know, they have a lot of Katrina dogs there, too.

Anyone in Houston that can help, please call the cell number

September 21, 2005 : 11:21 PM ET
posted by: pisces303

http://www.badrap.org/rescue/adoptions.cfm

UPDATE.... A Team from BAD RAP is headed to Gonzales, LA Our hearts are breaking for the pit bulls from the storm. They are much less likely to be absorbed into shelters than non-pits, yet they make up a majority of dogs fished from the flood waters. We will be in Louisiana from Sept 21-26 with two vans full of medical supplies, a CA vet and a vet tech to help care for and assess the hundreds of pit bulls in the Gonzales staging area. By identifying the most adoptable dogs, we hope to encourage shelters to accept a few along with the non-pits in their rescue runs. We need support to help us with this mission and to transport twelve adoptable pit bulls back to new lives in CA. If you can contribute, we would be very grateful. All dogs will be posted here and offered for adoption once their 30 day hold is up.

September 21, 2005 : 3:10 PM ET
posted by: grtpyrs

Please let me knwo if you need me to take the Great Pyrenees, I am in Mmephis but will come nad get it. I am with a GP rescue organization here and can foster them until either their owner(s) is found or until cleared for adoption.

Thanks, grtpyrs@hotmail.com

September 21, 2005 : 12:24 PM ET
posted by: gianna59

For immediate distribution:

http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/09-20-2005/0004111798&EDATE=

September 20, 2005 : 10:46 AM ET
posted by: gianna59

LETTER TO OFFICIALS SEE THE LINK AND EDIT THE LETTER IF INCLINED AND SEND OFF! PASS THIS ALONG

Pls go to this site AND forward on to others. Sroll to the bottom and fill out a few pieces of info, it sends it to all the addresses automatically, it only takes a minute to do. Pls do this, we have to keep pressure on. We need to bombard them to try and get animals out due to the Rita threat https://community.hsus.org/campaign/katrina_governmentresponse Tell President Bush and Governor Blanco that Animals Need Their Help!

Also, pls email networks, the animal coverage has been falling off - you can paste these addresses in the 'to' line of your email

letters@msnbc.com, Today@NBC.com, WT@nbc.com, Dateline@NBC.com, Nightly@NBC.com, viewerservices@msnbc.com, MTP@NBC.com, feedback@ap.org, nytnews@nytimes.com, news-tips@nytimes.com, executive-editor@nytimes.com, managing-editor@nytimes.com, editor.reuters@reuters.com, abramowitz@washpost.com, Feedback@foxnews.com, friends@foxnews.com, Viewerservices@foxnews.com, Comments@foxnews.com, Foxreport@foxnews.com, FEMA-Correspondence-Unit@dhs.gov