In one example reported last week by The Associated Press, a police officer took a dog from one little boy waiting to get on a bus in New Orleans. “Snowball! Snowball!” the boy cried until he vomited. The policeman told a reporter he didn’t know what would happen to the dog.
At the hospital, a doctor euthanized some animals at the request of their owners, who feared they would be abandoned and starve to death. He set up a small gas chamber out of a plastic-wrapped dog kennel.
“The bigger dogs were fighting it. Fighting the gas. It took them longer. When I saw that, I said ‘I can’t do it,”’ said Bennett’s husband, Lorne.
Valerie Bennett left her dogs with the anesthesiologist, who promised to care for about 30 staff members’ pets on the roof of the hospital, Lindy Boggs Medical Center.
“He said he’d stay there as long as he possibly could,” Valerie Bennett recalled, speaking from her husband’s bedside at Atlanta’s Emory University Hospital.
On Saturday afternoon, she said she saw a posting on a Web site called petfinder.com that said the anesthesiologist was still caring for the animals.
Related Link: [Animal Planet: Animals Weather Hurricane Katrina]
Breaks my heart. I know most people didn’t have any choice – I don’t know what I would have down with our 4 cats & 2 dogs, I certainly couldn’t leave them.
Many cultures better understand how close the relationship between human and pet can become. It’s an extension of family relationships that goes back to our primitive roots — and probably serves us better than some of the other leftovers.
I imagine most of us would not agree with the petty reasoning of some dork in an “official” position who would separate a boy and his dog. If you care to donate, the Humane Society is as useful as most:
https://secure.hsus.org/01/disaster_relief_fund_2005?
Petsmart has a program in place to assist with the care of these animals. I would encourage everyone to give what they can to assist these animals so that they may be returned to their owners if they are ever located. I believe the Humane Society also has a program in place.
I feel bad for the hurricane victims, especially the ones who lost their pet. My pet dog died in 2000, and I still miss her.
The redcross won’t allow pets in the shelters. No other provisions are made, in many circumstances. This is yet another little inhuman move by people who are NOT really thinking like humans. The kid who had to surrender his dog to save himself….just had a lesson in extreme cruelty. Little inhuman acts add up…and take a bit of the humanity away from all of us. That’s how this whole Katrina disaster was created…not the hurricane, but all the inhuman, senseless acts since.
The government, the big “organizations of aid” and the corporate response is morally bankrupt. There’s no human response.
Sorry for disagreeing: better one more dead dog then one more dead human. The poor kid just learnt a harsh lesson: death is a fact of life.
Anyone familiar with military strategy knows what “black tagging” means… For those who do not, I’ve googled it for you: cnn news
Fabrizio
There’s an article at the Humane Society’s site – it sounds like they were able to reach New Orleans on Sunday and evacuate pets from the Superdome area as well as those being cared for by the doctor described in the AP story above.
Fabrizio – Dickhead
There’s no reason you can’t save both. And personally I’d save my dogs well before most people.
Fabrizio, you’re the reason I’d rather save an animal than a human anyday!
Have they located “Snow Ball” yet??????
This disaster will not only be one of human cruelty, but the greatest example of cruelty to animals this country ever saw! It is sickening that people who lost everything had insult added to injury by being FORCED to adandon their pets. To those who comment on it’s better to loose a dog than a person have no idea what it’s like to have this loss, and no idea what an added health problem this is. Rescue groups were denied access to the city until Sunday, and most abandoned pets will have died by then. There is no way that shelters that accept pets could not be set up. We always have such shelters in Florida for storms. This is just the worst example of inhumanity in a screwed up mess that was poorly implemented. Just as bad is the news channels refusal to show this cruelty, because they knew people would be sick at these images and outraged. We all need to contact these channel to get them to tell the story of all the cruelty to animals in this tragedy
It doesn’t surprise me that the Red Cross wouldn’t allow animal, during WWII and the Korean War they Charged GIs for donuts. They would be the last charity I would ever donate to, or my father would roll over in his grave. But many have forgotten, and don’t see that the upper levels of the Red Cross are filled with political appointees.
Snowball has been found. Boy and dog will soon be united.
I would not leave my kids (Doctor and Sugar my two Basset Hounds) I would have started walking as soon as we got to dry pavement. They are more human to me then most humans…………….
Good luck to all the babies that were abandoned when they most needed to be taken care of. Thank you to all those who are helping. I sent my donation to help the animals. They didn’t know that they were supposed to get out…………………
I too would have started walking, anything to get my beloved animals away from there. My animals show more love and compassion then most people do. My prayers go out to the people searching for there animals and loved one’s.
Helping them is also helping the people affected by Katrina. Rescuing pets doesn’t just help the animals, it also helps the families who have lost everything to Katrina. It give the people whose lives that have been turned upside down hope and something to look forward to out of all of the chaos and all that they may have lost that they may be reunited with their pets. http://www.boominspection.com
President Bush should be so ashamed of himself. Lower than a snakes belly inside out.
Bush and his higher staff members needs to be held accountable for the deaths of pet family members just as the human family members!! Pets are people too. If a person can be charged with assult or killing a police officer when they hurt or kill a police dog, the same should go for this ordeal..
Most of all for the reason being the three day warning ahead of time.
Bush shames the human race.
Animals always get the crap end of the stick from us humans.
I can not say how bad I feel for the dogs stuck in trees and every where else. I can’t get it out of my head.
Please help them.
Pets are so loyal and a true friend forever. I always say, ” I’ ve never been robbed by anyone I didn’t know with my dogs around.”
Troops need to be out there saving each and every dog and cat. After all they are paid by and funded by tax dollars paid in by there owners.
With the 3 day warning the people and animals should not be in this kind of shape in the first place.
I hope everyone out there plans to Call, Fax, Write, over and over the President and all elected officials demanding every thing from accountability to ending there jobs now.
I mean it. People please stand together. Can you not see how the Government has treated human life as if it is nothing?
Look, if 7 million people can buy Harry Potter books in 24 hours then lets see that kind of large scale demands made on this government by WE THE PEOPLE. After all it is our hard earned money that fund all government mission.
God, oh God please help these animals as they are so screwed by human error so often.
Maybe in hell there will be dogs putting humans to sleep by the large numbers as done to them on a daily bases.