August 23, 2015 Hurricane Katrina
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Most of the animals were covered in what we termed “toxic goo...” |
HC: I primarily helped with exams on animals that were brought in at the end of the day. Trucks would spend the morning to evening searching for animals. They would arrive at the shelter in the early evening and we would examine, microchip, vaccinate and treat them before other volunteers would get them set up for the night.
SH: I initially responded with the Veterinary Medical Assistance Team and did some intake exams. While on site, I ran into a vet student that I had worked with on a RAVS trip. She let me know about other activities going on at the Expo Center, including a place where they were vaccinating and otherwise preparing animals to be shipped out to Houston and Petfinder, and they were looking for people who could input descriptions into their software. I also learned that there was no organization for the daily care of the dogs and cats being sheltered. Volunteers were just sent to work at one of the large barns and left to their own devices.
I spent the next couple days alternately working at Petfinder in a blissfully air-conditioned RV, and, when the generators caused the system to crash, doing basic animal care. I met a nice local woman who was helping with the cats, but had no veterinary training. She was excited to find someone who could handle the “mean” ones so their cages could get cleaned. Not my dream job, but good thinking on the part of this good-hearted layperson. I discovered that volunteers were taking individual cat dishes to the end of the barn and attempting to clean them with a pressure hose. I instituted the Girl Scout 3-bucket (soap, bleach, rinse) system and had them leave the dirty dishes and take clean ones. This simple thing was celebrated by the other volunteers as if I had invented the wheel. The lack of organization in those days was both astounding and dismaying. With about 5000 animals on the property and temperatures in the mid-90s, the task of caring for them was overwhelming.
When Dr. Eric Davis arrived we spent a day going around the property to find all the vets and vet techs, and asked them to meet us at 5 p.m. to make a plan to improve the situation. At that meeting, we got people to set up shifts to supervise volunteers sent to work at each of the barns full of animals. Others had specific work they were doing in shipping, rescue, or with VMAT. We found that there was a particular need for professionals to work at triage, and I worked on that for most of my remaining time. Rescuers would start bringing animals from New Orleans to the Expo center in the late afternoon, but triage of these arrivals lasted until about 3 a.m. Each animal was given a physical exam, paperwork describing the physical appearance and location where the animal was picked up was filled out, the animal was photographed and then sent either to a barn designated for general housing, to VMAT for treatment of serious injuries, or to a secure area for aggressive animals. Most of the animals were covered in what we termed “toxic goo,” and had to have the combination of oil, sewage, and other unidentified sludge washed off them prior to kenneling them.
Some of the dogs (almost all were intact pit bulls) had clearly been fighting dogs. Others were very freaked out by what they were going through. I teamed up with a couple of volunteers known as the “dog whisperers.” These talented trainers loved working with aggressive and defensive dogs and were able to calm them enough to approach. They appreciated my knowledge of animal behavior that allowed me to examine the dogs without scaring them again.
HC: Prior to leaving for Mississippi I was working at a specialty animal hospital.
SH: I was teaching in a veterinary technician program.
HC: I’m doing similar work but just on a larger scale.
SH: I'm still teaching.
HC: Every time I come back from any work with The HSUS/HSVMA it positively affects the work I do now. It keeps me humble and patient. I’m more able to tolerate “problems” that arise.
HC: I think my veterinary skills were well-utilized while I was there. My skills allowed me to see the problems that these animals had been living with since the hurricane.
SH: Because of my shelter experience and field clinic experience as a RAVS volunteer, I was equipped to deal with the population of animals at hand and was used to making adjustments to accommodate the less-than-ideal conditions for veterinary work. I had been active in American Red Cross Disaster Services. I thought that training would be useful, but at the time I was in Baton Rouge, it was clear that the major players didn’t know how to set up an effective command structure, communication system, or how to supervise volunteers effectively. Initially, I was so overwhelmed by the need and lack of organization, that I was driven to tears.
HC: I’m not sure how it occurred, but a separate organization was helping The HSUS and they were able to take several dogs to their shelter to house them while their owners were located. There were three dogs that were the most energetic and happy in the bunch they were taking. They named those dogs: Heather, Katherine, and Leo (after myself and Drs. Katherine Goldberg and Leo Egar) That made my heart melt.
SH: The best things were running into people who I had worked with on RAVS trips and networking with them to make things a little better while we were deployed.
I was definitely a changed person when I got home. |
HC: This is hard to answer. So much of it was tough. I specifically remember these three Chihuahuas that were brought in who were so scared. Petrified. They were very well cared for and this was by far the most horrifying thing that ever happened to them. It was heart-breaking to see them paralyzed with fear and the saddest part is that I heard that their house was destroyed and that likely one of their owners had died. I always wondered what happened to them.
I broke down at one point in the week and had to go outside and just cry. It was so overwhelming and constant. There were no breaks from it. I remember the National Guard having to escort us to and from the shelter. I remember not being able to shower because there were reports that there was a rapist on the loose who had assaulted someone in the women’s room. I was definitely a changed person when I got home.
SH: The living conditions were abysmal. I slept in a one-person tent pitched in a gravel parking lot. The ground was so packed, we used gallon bottles to hold down the tent ropes because we couldn’t get stakes into the ground. Even at night, it was in the 80s and very humid, and they came by and sprayed the whole area with insecticide each night. There were only two individual shower stalls available for hundreds of female volunteers. I would strip off and use a kennel hose to rinse off the toxic goo, then go to my tent at about 3 a.m. At 6 a.m., I would wake to traffic helicopters taking off from the adjacent helipad and sun beating down on me. No point in trying to sleep anymore!
One of my most interesting experiences was driving some volunteers into St. Bernard Parish to staff a “shelter” set up in a lumber yard by a veterinarian. The return trip was spooky. Mine was the only vehicle on an eight-lane highway full of craters and lined by abandoned belongings of residents fleeing the area. I drove really carefully – there was no help to be had if I broke down! It was a scene out of an apocalyptic movie.
HC: I have deployed with The Humane Society of the United States to help with dog-fighting busts in several parts of the U.S., and I have also been deployed to help with a few hoarding cases.
HC: Absolutely. Immediately.
SH: Maybe. I think a lot was learned about disaster preparedness relating to animals from this event.
HC: It makes me want to continue to do field medicine and welfare work. I prefer to be in a makeshift shelter than a state-of-the-art operating room.
SH: I’m not sure...
HC: I said to multiple people that the hurricane was probably the best thing that happened to a lot of those animals. Regarding society, I wonder if enough time has passed that people don’t think about it as much. I live in the Washington, DC-area, which wasn’t affected by the storm at all. I don’t think it’s on anyone’s radar here.
SH: It woke people in disaster relief up to the fact that animals need to be included in disaster planning. You can’t get many people to leave unless there is accommodation for their animals. Vet clinics and other animal facilities must have a disaster plan. It woke animal organizations up to the fact that you need advanced planning and controlled deployment of resources, and especially a plan to deal with animals after they have been removed from the disaster zone. The animal organizations also learned they had to consider how to provide for the basic needs of their disaster responders. Pet owners became more aware that they need to think about how to evacuate and the importance of having ID with current owner information on their pets.
HC: Despite how stressful and sad it was, I would do it again today if I had to.
You can read more details about my experiences doing rescue and recovery work in the Gulf Coast region in 2005 and 2006 on my website: New Orleans and Second Trip. |
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