HelpingAnimals.com // Features // Latest News
September 20, 2005, 11 a.m.: PETA Teams Given First Access to Hardest-Hit Area
Monday found PETA's rescue workers entering newly opened areas of Orleans and St. Bernard parishes in Louisiana. PETA was the first humane agency to access these areas, where floodwaters had reached many homes' second floors. Our team again split into two units, led by Laura Brown and Jessica Cochran, respectively.
Laura's team quickly found two pit bulls languishing in the trash-strewn back yard of their guardians' home. The friendly dogs were covered in what Laura called a "toxic muck" that burned our team members' noses and eyes. "I don't know how they survived," Laura said of the dogs, who despite their predicament were very friendly and easily rescued.
Minutes later, an animal, dubbed by Laura as "the skinniest dog I've ever seen," came stumbling up the street to team member Maggie Libby Davis. The scarred pit bull quickly made friends with Maggie, and the dog was promptly moved to safety.
Laura's team then followed a dog's barking to the second floor of a collapsing home. There, locked in a bedroom, was an animal who had apparently survived for three weeks on trash and the collected, putrid water. The dog's semi-aggressive nature necessitated a cautious approach. The team slowly made friends with the dog by slipping her treats and wet food under the bedroom door, causing Laura to lightheartedly observe that the dog kept sliding her tongue under the door in search of more food. Eventually, a trail of food that led to an animal carrier did the trick, and the dog was safely rescued.
Maggie then followed a terrier as the dog ran at large through several neighboring back yards. After temporarily losing sight of the animal, the team suddenly spotted her on the second floor of yet another crushed home. The dog had plastered herself behind a bed there, and she was "terrified." Laura managed to slip a leash around her neck and lead her to safety.
Jessica's team worked in the same neighborhood and managed to rescue five dogs and a boa constrictor, who had been left to die in an aquarium in one house. Two of the dogs who were saved by Jessica's team were found cannibalizing the remains of a third dog inside their guardians' abandoned home. Two other dogs, both pit bulls, were rescued later in the day. One dog, who was pregnant, was found lying on a filthy mattress in a back yard "starving for food and attention." The other came running to our team from across the street as it helped the pregnant animal.
You can improve the lives of dogs and cats suffering from cruelty and neglect.
Forward this to friends.
PETA's House Government Reform Committee Testimony
Heroes of the Storm
Stars Urge Officials to Take Action to Protect Animals in Disasters in PETA Ad
Read the Latest News From the Gulf Coast
Listen to PETA's Reports From New Orleans
Watch Footage of PETA's Life-Saving Work
See Pictures of PETA's Rescue Work
