Hello, ferret peeps. F.E.R.R.E.T. has been in touch with the local
animal emergency responders in NYC, offering our assistance in terms of
providing food, supplies, fostering, adoption services and veterinary
care to ferret owners and shelters with ferrets in the affected areas.
We are now a part of the official response and they are aware that we
are a species-specific support.
What we will do: provide food, bedding, cages and other supplies to
individual ferret owners or unclaimed/stray/found ferrets in disaster
shelters or animal shelters housing these animals. We can also connect
available homes and shelters with the families or disaster shelters to
provide a home for the ferrets until their owners are able to care for
them.
We can connect veterinarians or owners with ferret-knowledgeable vets
who can help with special circumstances to help provide services to
animals that may be euthanized because their special need is not
recognized nor understood.
We will post any specific needs and ways to help on the F.E.R.R.E.T.
facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/FerretEmergencyResponseRescueEvacuationTeam
and the FML. The Yahoo groups have been quiet, but I will also post
to them. Additionally, this is a good time to update contacts and
available shelter and foster information so we will have that
available information always ready. I will check the documents
files everywhere.
How you can help:
First, get your personal emergency evacuation plan in place.
2) Donations. There is a donation button on the webpage at
ferretemergency.org that can be used to donate. This money goes to
purchase new supplies and items needed to assist those who need them,
as well as provide the vet care needed to make sure the ferrets are
healthy and current on vaccines if needed for the owners to get into
new housing.
3) Bedding or other supplies. We connected individuals with each other
following Katrina and I also received and mailed out bedding for
shelters and families that took in ferrets after that.
4) F.E.R.R.E.T. supplies. Do you have our cages? They SHOULD be
labeled. We used them to transport ferrets after the Ohio ferret rescue
and they were left locally to be available when needed. We may need
them now.
5) Foster homes. These were not needed very much after Katrina, but
they were needed. These ferrets are/were someone's beloved pets and
we would like to REUNITE them. If you live near the affected area and
would like to offer a home to them temporarily, please let us know. If
you are a shelter and can temporarily take them in, please let us know.
I want to stress that you should not create stress or disharmony in
your own business and it would be best if they could be kept separately
from your own.
6) If you are a veterinarian and have not been contacted by us or
are willing to be a contact/resource for veterinarians or disaster
shelters in the affected area, please let me know that and I will
add you to my contact list.
7) If you are a business and would like to make an inkind donation,
please let us know.
8) If you are interested in deploying, please obtain the proper
training through a response group like the American Red Cross Disaster
Services, Noah's Wish, the Humane Society of the United States, the
International Federation of Animal Welfare or other group. You can take
the first classes online through FEMA and links are found at the Yahoo
groups site. I will also put the links on the facebook page.
As we know that shelters or individuals are safe, it would be nice to
post those to the Ferret Emergency facebook page. We would like to be
able to provide a central location for information. Thank you to all
who are able to do this.
To volunteer or to refer someone to F.E.R.R.E.T. for assistance, email
us at [log in to unmask] Those needing assistance can also
contact me at (907)268-0215 or (860)906-8798. Other F.E.R.R.E.T. board
members are Lisa Oestereich in Maryland, Lisa Leidig in Virginia Beach,
Vikki Caldwell in Florida and Cindy Scheidt in Kentucky.
Hopefully we will never need a huge response, but it is better to be
ready and not needed than needed and not ready. Thank you for how you
come together as a group and support each other.
--
Renee Downs
"Eventually we will realize that if we destroy the ecosystem we
destroy ourselves." Jonas Salk
"The most effective way to do it, is to do it." Amelia Earhart
It's amazing how much can be accomplished if nobody cares who
gets the credit!
Ferret Emergency Response, Rescue & Evacuation Team (F.E.R.R.E.T.)
http://www.ferretemergency.org
[Posted in FML 7606]
|
