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Hurricane diary by HSNY staff member Lexie Montgomery Please Be Advised: Some of the photographs that accompany Lexie's Journal may be distressing to view.
Tuesday August 30th Monday, September 5th
Sunday, September 11th Inside John M. Parker Coliseum at Louisiana State University, there are rows upon rows of dogs in cages. Dogs who have been claimed by their human companions, all of who have been displaced by Katrina and cannot take care of their animals for the time being. Behind the coliseum is an outdoor barn area with stables full of dogs, cats, horses, birds, even snakes and turtles. I tended to animals in triage all day. Cleaning, feeding, watering and exercising them; occasionally assisting a doctor. The rooms are so crowded with sick and injured animals there's barely room to move. I met some locals tonight who are letting me stay the night. They took me to a coffee shop where we talked with some evacuees. It reminded me of 9/11, then I realized “It is 9/11!”.
Tonight 5 puppies came in soaked in dark gray floodwater. I bathed them all twice. The smallest one had puncture wounds in her belly. I doubt she'll make it through the night.
Tuesday, September 13th Joined in on the morning meeting with Animal Search & Rescue coordinator Jane Garrison. The current strategy is to feed and water as many animals as possible, only picking-up animals in critical condition. In the time it takes to pick up 10 animals we can feed and water 100. There are dying fast! Mostly from dehydration. Clear and concise notes must be taken of all animals fed and watered so that we can go back and pick them up later. Lamar is continuously full to capacity and animals must be transferred out to no-kill shelters around the country for fostering, to make room for animals coming in.
Because of the overwhelming need to rescue and the lack of space at Lamar, individuals have organized their own rescue operations around the city. Setting up in parking lots, trucking docks and empty day-care centers. These camps are like small M.A.S.H. units with donated food and water, medical supplies, fans, lights, volunteer vets and vet techs. Mostly organized on-line, people from all over have pooled their resources.(I've even met vet techs from Finland !) They follow the same basic paperwork and photo documentation for www.Petfinder.com. Emotions riding high, no sleep, unbearable heat and humidity. People are stressed! So many animals everywhere, dead and alive… The National Guard and the U.S. Marshals have been great! Helping us unload supplies, directing us to trapped animals, they even bring us animals they find. This afternoon I opened a gate between houses that had a sign “Beware of Dog”. I looked around and called out “Good dog! C'mon!” This stocky, short, smiley, tail waggin' Pit Bull comes up behind me slowly and a bit shy. He said hello, licking my hand. He didn't look too bad except that there was a pot of brown sludge water he'd been drinking. We dumped it out and filled it with fresh clean water, put down a bag of food and closed the gate. I wrote down his description and location. Hopefully he'll be okay ‘til we have room to take him. I'll check in on him in a couple days.
Friday, September 16th I've never seen so many intact males. It seems no-one in th is state knows anything about spaying and neutering. Almost none of them have rabies tags and I have yet to see an I.D. tag, forget about microchips. Apparently there was one microchipped dog in Hattiesberg, Mississippi whose companion, an older woman, died. The woman's son, living in Chicago, was able to call the microchip company with his information and within 3 days was reunited with his mom's dog.
Saturday, September 17th I mostly tended to animals at a substation on Phillip Street. It's so hot they all need fans on them and lots of water and shade. Larry, a rescuer from Atlanta, brought in a little poodle he caught. The little poodle was so dirty and matted that his front paw was matted to his chest and his mouth had matted shut. It took the vet techs most of the day to shave him down. He's pretty shaken but very sweet. Most of the animals are so scared when we pick them up but after a few hours of touch and TLC they seem to remember their connection to humans and relax a bit. It's us humans who have domesticated these animals. We have a responsibility to them. We must not abandon them no matter what.
Sunday, September 18th It's hard to sleep when there are so many spirits that need help but I have to pace myself or else I'll be no good to anyone.
Worked with Lou from Atlanta all day in Mid-City door to door. They are dead everywhere, on porches, tied up in back yards, decaying into front yards, inside their homes; so many trapped in carriers inside homes. Evidence that their people thought they'd be right back. We knock on every house, call out and listen for some kind of life. Other than the occasional helicopter or tank, there are no other sounds to compete with because the city is literally deathly quiet. The only signs of wild life I've seen are pigeons. The worst thought is wondering how many houses have I passed by with an animal inside still alive who is either too weak or too scared to call out? Sometimes I think I hear something so I break into a house, pushing past muddy and moldy debris with a flashlight searching as best I can through all the garbage for hopes of finding signs of life. Not once have I seen any “In case of emergency” pet info stickers.
While on line for vet-intake I met a Jack Russell named “Jack”. His people had been walking out of the city to evacuate when they were stopped at a checkpoint on the highway and told they weren't allowed to bring him. Jack somehow found his way back home and waited there for 2 weeks until his people were able to contact someone from Search & Rescue to go get him and bring him back to Lamar Dixon. Tonight they will be reunited.
Monday, September 19th I have filled out paperwork with the State of Louisiana so that we can foster some animals back at the Humane Society of New York, as soon as we can get a vehicle down there. |
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Monday, September 12th
With so many animals (there must be somewhere between 2,000-3,000) it's hard to feel like I'm making any kind of difference even though I've been going non-stop since this morning. 
Thursday, September 15th
The smell in New Orleans reminds me of the smell of lower Manhattan after 9/11 mixed in with mold and decomposition… 
Just before sunset we decided to just drive around and follow our instincts. We found a group of cats in pretty good shape. We set up a food and water station for them when a pregnant dog ran past us. We followed her with the car. We threw handfuls of wet food near her. She stopped to eat them but not long enough for us to catch her. We were taking notes of her area when I heard a scary hacking sound. I followed the sound and must have passed the dog 3 times ‘til I saw him locked behind a gate, half way under a house. Very thin injured and sick. We picked him up and took him back to Lamar where he was diagnosed with Kennel Cough.
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