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September 21, 2005, 12 p.m.: PETA Team Races to Save Animals Before Time Runs out and Hurricane Rita's Rains Arrive
With Hurricane Rita in the Gulf of Mexico and the storm's rains threatening to flood New Orleans, PETA's team is "desperately trying to get as many animals out of the city" as possible, team leader Laura Brown said in her report early this morning.
Tuesday found our team again split into two units and working in newly opened areas of Orleans Parish. Laura's unit began its day by meeting a couple who were moving their belongings from their once-flooded home. The couple told them that they had not yet checked on their two dogs, who had been left in an upstairs bathroom. With the couple's permission, the team climbed the home's staircase and immediately smelled death, which Laura said has become "eerily familiar" to team members.
After opening the blockaded bathroom door, Laura and her unit found the bloated remains of a dog. She said that they also saw a second dog, who initially appeared to be dead as well. But then, the dog gasped for breath and Laura quickly scooped her up and ran downstairs to her seemingly unfazed guardians. The guardians gave our team permission to rush the dog for veterinary care, but minutes later, as Laura helped her drink some water, the dog died in Laura's lap. Laura wondered in her report this morning what the dog, who had suffered for days next to her dead companion, must have thought as she heard her guardians finally return to the home but completely ignore her plight upstairs.
Laura's unit then came to the rescue of two "ragged"-looking pit bulls roaming the streets. With the heat index soaring to 116°F in Orleans Parish yesterday, Laura said that it was "flat hot" and that these two dogs could only drink the murky water collected on the street. Both of the dogs were covered with scars, suggesting that they had been fought many times, and the male's mutilated, cropped ears were "barely there." Both he and the heavily pregnant female dog were soon eating out of Laura's hands and safely moved into our van within minutes.
Another dog was found down the street in a back yard, where he had evidently sipped sludge and killed and eaten stray cats in order to survive. Laura said that it took them a long time to earn this dog's trust but that their patient approach paid off when he was finally moved into a carrier and our van.
Laura's unit then set up a feeding and watering station for a matted Chow Chow found sitting in—and drinking from—a puddle of putrid water. The team will return to live-trap this dog and take him to safety.
Jessica Cochran led our team's second unit through a nearby neighborhood, where it discovered what Laura called a "nightmare house." They entered the home to find a dead pit bull and the rotting remains of her seven puppies. Laura met Jessica's unit at this address and said that "maggots and muck were all over the place."
Jessica and Laura then found a terrier chained to the handrail of the home's staircase. The dog had either drowned in the floodwaters or been killed by other dogs in the home—her remains were so decomposed that it was unclear what, or who, had killed her.
Next, our team found a pit bull who had obviously been used for fighting hiding in a closet and rescued him. They also found a spaniel hiding under a bed inside a bedroom. The terrified dog ran into one of the many holes in the bedroom's walls, but Laura said that Jessica again "worked her magic" and managed to leash the animal and coax her into an animal carrier.
Today's work was scheduled to begin with a meeting about what to do with the 1,700 rescued animals currently being held at temporary animal shelters near New Orleans as Hurricane Rita approaches the area.
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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
