(continued.)
 
The good news is, the Lamar-Dixon shelter (Gonzales) has downsized
considerably since I was there, with pets being reclaimed or evacuated
to other areas (including state prisons!).  Many animals and all
non-essential personnel were evacuated before Rita hit, starting Thursday
morning.  From a high of 2,000 dogs, cats, etc.  and 400 horses, the
shelter now reportedly has fewer than 750 animals remaining.  Gonzales is
ramping up operations again with the departure of Rita but other animals
will stay in the shelters, foster homes, even universities, where they
were sent before the storm.  (For instance, many occupants of the
"exotics ward," where I found the two ferrets, were slated for evacuation
to a University of Florida campus.)
 
Make no mistake -- volunteers are STILL desperately needed at Gonzales
(and many other shelters and staging areas).  Probably now more than
ever, because most of the volunteers I met at Gonzales had been going 2-3
days straight without sleep, or sleeping only a couple of hours a night
for days, even weeks on end.  When I was there, it felt "cool" when the
temperatures dropped to 90 or so degrees after sundown.  The work was
physically hard and emotionally draining.  You can only take that for
so long; some people seemed to be right on the edge of breakdown.  The
dedication of these volunteers is astounding, and the ones I met were
pushing themselves to the limit and beyond, just trying to keep the
animals alive.  Still, the conditions were very aptly summed up by one
volunteer who dubbed it "Auschwitz for animals." Six, 10, even 20 cages
and crates of all sizes jammed into a single cow stall.  A box fan or two
pointed into each stall to try and keep a breeze going, because even a
hot breeze is better than none.  Animals sitting in their own feces
because even an army of volunteers couldn't keep up with the sheer number
of animals needing constant care.  Improper food.  Small, quart-sized
plastic bags of icewater distributed one to a cage, to try and keep the
animals from overheating.  Imagine the ceaseless cacophony of noise -
barks, yelps, meows, birds shrieking; vets and volunteers shouting, truck
engines and generators blasting.  imagine the incredible stress these
animals were enduring AFTER surviving the hurricane itself.
 
Even with a constant flow of volunteers rotating between cages,
checking food and water, the sheer number of animals needing care was
overwhelming.  Surgery was being performed in the open, on tables set up
in the aisles.  Animals who knocked over their water bowls (like one of
the ferrets I found) were out of luck until the next volunteer happened
by.  I'm sure some of the dogs I saw in their cages were dead or nearly
so.  The exotics, in particular, weren't always getting the proper care
(like the ferrets I found, who were beneath a stack of bunny cages and
were being fed rabbit food with fruit and veggie pellets in it).  Again,
this is NOT the fault of the volunteers, they were just overwhelmed and
were already giving 200 percent.  Nor is it necessarily the fault of the
veterinarians, who were also overwhelmed and weren't even "exotic vets"
to begin with.  (I did see one volunteer from a Tennessee zoo, caring
for snakes, birds and sugar gliders in a nearby stall.)  At that time,
no animals were being allowed out of Gonzales unless with their owners.
I had to hide the ferret cages under my raincoat and sleeping bag to get
past the National Guard troops at the exit, who were examining the inside
of each vehicle with flashlights.
 
Anyone who's been at Gonzales will understand.  But for those who
weren't, and who may still question the wisdom of removing animals from
an "official" shelter like Gonzales, I can tell you it was literally a
matter of survival for those ferrets.  If they stayed, they would have
died.  It's that simple.  Other animals WERE dying from the heat and
stress.  And the vets and other people working in the exotics barn
admitted that to be true.
 
(BTW -- the three ferrets I got to Ken Theus and Nancy Bardwell at NWLAHS
came through Rita and are doing fine.  They're in Louisiana, will be
listed on petfinder.com, and I left names and contact info with the
people at Gonzales in case any of their owners does turn up looking for
them.  All have adoptive homes waiting for them.  I named the little girl
Josephine -- she was found on Napoleon Street in New Orleans.  God knows
her former owner took very poor care of her -- and abandoned her to
flooding, starvation and disease.  Frankly, I don't think her former
owner deserves to get her back.)
 
With love,
Susann Thiel
Endicott, NY
[Posted in FML issue 5013]