Animal activists: Pet rescue efforts coming too late

Benjamin Grove

Monday, Oct. 17, 2005 | 7:26 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Six weeks after Hurricane Katrina, animal activists say it is too late for a point person to coordinate pet rescue efforts, a request made last month by Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev.

Ensign sent the request to President Bush in a Sept. 14 letter. On Sept. 28, the veterinarian-turned-lawmaker flew to Louisiana to examine the animal rescue efforts for himself. Adm. Thad Allen, who is coordinating federal relief efforts, told Ensign that he would name a point person to coordinate pet rescue in both southeast and southwest Louisiana, Ensign said.

But it is not clear that the Federal Emergency Management Agency ever followed through on the request. In recent days, two veterinarians with the U.S. Public Health Service -- Capt. Patricia Brown and Capt. William Stokes -- were assigned to keep tabs on animal welfare issues with the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry's office of animal health services, FEMA spokesman Len DeCarlo said.

But that came too late for the appointments to do much good, animal activists said.

Ensign was unavailable for comment Thursday and Friday.

Brown, who is based in Maryland, said she had served as the point person for a two-week rotation in Louisiana, and had just handed the job to another public health service officer, veterinarian Stephanie Ostrowski. Brown said the pet rescues had been a team effort and that several people had served as team leaders.

Two major pet rescue centers in Gonzales, La., and Hattiesburg, Miss., have served their purpose and closed, activists said. With the flood waters mostly pumped from the streets, residents are now being encouraged to return to New Orleans.

More than 5,000 pets went through the larger of the two shelters, in the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, and more than 2,500 went through the Hattiesburg shelter, said Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States. About 700 pets were reunited with their owners and the rest went to other local shelters or into arranged foster care, he said.

Not long after people were rescued in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, media reports were filled of stories of the pets left behind. Animal relief groups scrambled to save animals as best they could, sometimes making massive "food drops" in neighborhoods to help keep scavenging dogs and cats alive.

There are no reliable estimates of how many pets were left to wander the streets, or how many perished. There have been at least two reports of authorities shooting animals, one captured on video by a Dallas Morning News staffer and posted on its website this week.

Hurricane Katrina taught valuable lessons, activists said.

Perhaps the most important, Pacelle said, is that the federal government needs a specific plan to rescue pets in the next disaster.

Benjamin Grove is the Sun's Washington bureau chief. He can be reached at (202) 662-7436 or by e-mail at grove@lasvegassun.com.