Hi everyone,
 
First I wanted to let everyone know that I'm back home safe.  It's good
to be with my family but heartbreaking, too, because I know there are
still hundreds of animals barely clinging to life in the Gulf, and
volunteers literally breaking down from exhaustion.  I drove 3,380
miles in seven days and I wish I could turn around and go right back.
 
Many, many thanks to Renee, you are an angel from heaven!!  Thanks to
Danee and Brenda, Julia Fischer and Sharon Gorski; to Theresa Sheehan
and her husband, Greg; to Sherry and Dennis Riley, Ken Theus and Nancy
Bardwell, to Denise and her family in Alexandria, LA; to Mary for
listening and helping to spread the word through the media; to the caring
people at Gonzales who helped smuggle the ferrets out, and everyone else
who has helped to rescue the survivors of Katrina.  Thanks to all the
National Guard troops, cops, firefighters, utility crews and other
volunteers from around the country who took it upon themselves to rescue
animals, even when their official orders said otherwise.  And thanks to
the thousands of people who traveled from every corner of America to do
whatever they could, from kicking down doors to rescue trapped animals
in New Orleans, to sending medicine and blankets to a shelter, to just
taking a dog out of a filthy, stinking cage at Gonzales or Hattiesburg
for a precious few minutes of affection and exercise.
 
So many shelters in LA and MS have been damaged or destroyed.  I first
encountered the damage when entering Mississippi at Meridian, a good 200
miles from the coast.  The big blue highway "Welcome to Mississippi" sign
was peeled in half like an opened sardine can.  Soon the road was lined
with trees snapped in half or uprooted completely.  Highway signs were
blown over, shredded or missing altogether.  As I approached New Orleans,
flooded and destroyed homes became a common sight.  Gas wasn't easy to
find, or a working ATM, and cell phone service and electricity were
spotty at best.
 
At the least, all these shelters need fresh medicines and supplies.  One
of the three shelters I visited before going to Gonzales, to drop off
medicine, bags of food and other supplies, had been without power for 2
1/2 weeks since Katrina hit.  This shelter in Luling, LA (just south of
New Orleans) is a designated rescue and surgical center for the LAHS but
had no vaccines, etc.  due to lack of refrigeration.  Now they're saying
some areas of southern Louisiana could be without power for a month.
 
Some shelters/rescue sites just need rebuilding supplies, people to feed
and walk rescued dogs, or blankets to wipe off the slime and mud.  They
may not be ferrets -- but they are suffering so much!
 
Kinship Circle is doing a great job of keeping track of what's going on.
If you don't already get their dispatches, check out
www.kinshipcircle.org for more info.
 
Susann Thiel
Endicott, NY
[Posted in FML issue 5013]