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Heroes of the Storm
While our animal-rescue team works its way through New Orleans, the national media has reported on the courageous and compassionate actions of disaster-stricken men and women going out of their way to help one another and their companion animals. Following are a few tales of heroism and generosity that have emerged from Katrina's wake. Be sure to check back to read about the heroic actions of our emergency responders.
Bill McLaughlin, a California real estate developer, has chartered 14 flights for animals rescued from areas struck by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in recent weeks. McLaughlin’s efforts have brought 1,400 animals to safety so far, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.
Hurricane Rita has also given rise to tales of heroic works undertaken by kind, compassionate individuals.
One such person is Don Henderson, vice president and managing director of the Hyatt Regency Houston. In the days before Rita struck Texas and Louisiana, Henderson set aside rooms to house evacuees’ animal companions and even purchased material to cover the floors to make the animals more comfortable. “For the first time in this hotel’s history, we’ve had about half as many dogs and cats as guests,” Henderson told The Houston Chronicle.
Bravo Company 1st Sgt. John Raschilia of the Massachusetts National Guard hit the nail on the head when he recently told the Boston Herald that "You have to take care of their animals to take care of the people."
Raschilia and his peers in the Guard's Bravo Company have been plucking terrified dogs from death in New Orleans since their arrival there in early September. To date, the company has rescued and cared for some 75 dogs and set up a makeshift kennel for the animals in an elementary school.
The company has even been able to reunite at least two dogs with their relieved guardians.
On Saturday, September 10, 2005, Melvin Wheat, a captain with the Denham Springs, Louisiana, Fire Department, and John Jones of the New Orleans Harbor Police found this dog languishing in the murky and contaminated floodwaters of the Industrial Canal in New Orleans. After approaching and befriending the dog, the men carefully plucked him from the filth and carried him to their boat and-finally-to safety.
In some cases, members of the media have taken it upon themselves to give viewers a poignant look at the animals' plight in Katrina's wake and even help save animals.
On her September 6 broadcast, a tearful Oprah Winfrey told her viewers the story of an unnamed 24-year-old man and his 14-year-old dog. The man was forced to leave his dog at an interstate rest stop and "hope for the best" when he was evacuated to Baton Rouge. Days later, a Good Samaritan managed to reunite the man with the dog. But that tale is the exception; many, many others had to leave their animals on the side of the road.
CNN's Anderson Cooper, together with his camera operators, famously came to the aid of one elderly woman who had refused official orders for 10 days to abandon her service dog. Cooper has apparently been spotted playing with strays on the street, as well.
Among the latest heroes in New Orleans are the National Guard personnel who carefully write “DOG” in red spray paint on houses where animals need help; who have flagged down the PETA team’s vans to point out places where animals are in dire need; and who have shared their Gatorade with our thirsty and exhausted team members!
The wonderful power company men who lent our crew a crowbar to get into a house where animals had been left to die also deserve our gratitude.
For many of Katrina’s human and animal victims, Liz Blackman, president of 1-800-HELP-4-PETS, will likely be a hero. Blackman announced on September 15 that the company—which provides a 24-hour, nationwide companion animal identification service—is offering lifetime, gift memberships to anyone and their animal companions who were evacuated and/or later reunited in Katrina’s wake. Interested guardians can call 1-800-HELP-PETS for information.
With our team in New Orleans reporting daily on the shortage of space for rescued animals, the actions of Boone Pickens and his wife are truly heroic.According to the Associated Press, Pickens, a Texas oil tycoon, and his wife paid to charter a commercial jet and flew some 80 rescued dogs from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to animal shelters in San Diego and San Francisco. The plan, dubbed "Operation Pet Lift," has its sights set on transporting more animals from the disaster-area in the coming days.
When his wife, Sandy, evacuated, Kenner, Louisiana, resident and City Council member Kent Denapolis stayed behind in order to care for their six cats and one dog. Little did he know that he would soon become the caretaker of many animals left behind in his area and far beyond.
While Sandy has been gathering and coordinating requests for visits to and care for stranded animals, Kent has secured pallets of dog and cat food from a local outlet and visited countless addresses to ensure animals' safety and nourishment. On September 6, he even drove to Baton Rouge—a 90-minute drive in even the best of conditions—at the request of one family distraught over its animals' fate.
Sandy and Kent are true heroes in this time of crisis.
An anonymous man floating on a tire in the water refused to come on board a rescue boat, saying that he had two dogs he simply wasn't going to leave. He kept saying, "I am responsible for them. It's as simple as that. I'm not coming on board."
Dr. Paul Seemann Jr., a veterinarian at Ridgefield Animal Hospital near Thibodaux, Mississippi, who is loaded up with sick animals, says there will be no bill for any of these companion animals of refugees.
Mississippi residents Carole, Patricia, and Lillian Montet would not leave their cat behind. "Leave McGinty?" Carole said. "This cat helped my mother get through her hip surgery; McGinty inspired my mother."
"It was terrible," said Patricia. "Our animals are the only semblance of normalcy we have left."
"She's family," Lillian said of McGinty.
Jack Weber, who lived on St. Denis Street near the Fairgrounds in Mid-City, got out with his family too. That includes his wife, Ollie, 56; their daughter, Tamara, 30; and their Dalmatian-retriever mix, Spartica. "That's my family," Jack said.
Their roof blew off, then the Sheetrock fell as the family moved from room to room "until there wasn't more room," said Jack. Then the ceiling fell down, and they managed to get in their little boat and took on a neighbor, Leon Gomez, who's in a wheelchair, and Leon's rottweiler, ODB.
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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
