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From HSUS website:

Sunday, September 4, 2005; 9:48 p.m.

In their first foray into the embattled city of New Orleans, members of the HSUS Disaster Animal Relief Team (DART), together with animal control staff from the Louisiana SPCA, targeted animals stranded at the Superdome as their priority goal. There, they rescued dozens of animals relinquished or abandoned by desperate evacuees who fled the city to escape Katrina’s rage.

Once the base of operations is established in the city, animal rescue workers will face a grim and urgent challenge. Throughout the weekend, reports of animals in urgent need of rescue continued to pour into the HSUS Disaster Call Center (1-800-HUMANE-1) and into other organizations mobilized in the region. “It's just overwhelming," Laura Maloney, executive director of the Louisiana SPCA, told a Knight-Ridder journalist. "There are countless thousands of abandoned pets in the city. And hundreds and hundreds are stuck inside their homes."

Progress in Mississippi

While awaiting news of what transpired in the Crescent City, another HSUS DART team in Mississippi began moving its main base of operations south to Hattiesburg, where team members made preliminary damage assessments, staked out sites for placement of equipment, and identified the resources necessary to carry out large-scale animal rescue.

In Jackson County, Mississippi, they assisted the Sheriff’s Office with the capture of a seal, most likely one of those missing from the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport. The team also assessed the Jackson County Animal Shelter, a promising candidate for housing animals as well as for setting up larger support operations. The county and its law enforcement agencies have welcomed animal rescue workers and provided practical support and supplies.

The DART logistical trailer and 40-foot transport trailer will be relocated to the grounds of the Jackson County shelter, which is situated next to soccer fields that will provide additional needed space. With these resources in place, the basic water and electrical needs of the shelter can be sustained.

In Hattiesburg, which was pounded by Katrina, a multi-purpose facility controlled by the city survived the storm intact. With power supply, an RV park, stalls, an arena, and other buildings, it may prove suitable for a long term base of operations in the area.

New Orleans Calling

With limited access to the city, the news from New Orleans came mainly in the form of calls to the HSUS Disaster Call Center from people concerned about animals whom they, their family members, or their friends had left behind. Three days after the HSUS call center launched its operations, they were still calling. And we kept answering.

We learned about the essential details for rescuing a cat from a house at the corner of Napoleon and Fontainebleau Streets…. the medicine necessary for an ailing dog….the approximate number of animals being tended in a hospital by a brave doctor who stayed behind to care for his colleagues’ pets after they evacuated with their patients…and of offers of technical assistance for the construction of appropriate animal housing facilities. All of this will be critical to the efficient and timely rescue of the animals trapped in the city.

In all, we’ve handled telephone calls from thousands of people – people distraught over lost and relinquished animals, and people willing to help, whether through providing supplies, practical assistance, or financial contributions.

More encouragingly, there were generous donations, many from citizens who had never previously contacted The HSUS, all earmarked for the support of DART teams on the ground.

The level of calls surged late Saturday night after Larry King mentioned the HSUS call center number on his Hurricane Katrina special, an unexpected boost that stretched the capacity of the center even as it boosted the spirits of those who were doing what they could to provide help and comfort to others -- human and nonhuman -- caught in Katrina’s ghastly aftermath.

By Bernie Unti