- By Sharon Garland
- Around Town
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Katrina Karavan II has returned. I believe that the trip was a huge success. Each group was extremely grateful that we could help save lives. Bridget Roun spent 5 days feeding stray dogs and cats in areas of New Orleans that are not livable at this time. One of the hard parts was being in neighborhoods with deserted cars in the driveway and not one person on the block. Seeing the lower 9th ward first hand made us wonder that anyone could survive with so many homes off their foundations or just flattened or gone.
I flew in Thursday evening in the rain -- the airport looked like nothing had happened. As we moved into town you could see the damage on almost every block. We spent Thursday might transporting puppies from a vet hospital to a temporary shelter. Many people had donated food and crates, but people is really what was needed, Bridget will tell you that trying to feed entire areas in one day was hard -- some of these feeding stations had not been attended in 1 month. The dogs and cats are basically wild at this point afraid of humans -- so they need to be trapped to get hem out of the areas.
After spending the night 2 blocks from the Silver Dome, we took a trip to the 9th Ward. To see the devastation first hand made us both nauseous -- such a ravaged area. It's no wonder they are still finding human remains. We brought back a cat from the 9th ward -- how he survived 6 weeks on his own is unbelievable.
We then headed for Plaquemines Parish Katrina Shelter. We had thought that we would get 6 dogs but ended up closing this shelter by taking all 12 dogs and 1 cat. Some of these dogs had been there since the Hurricane and are as sweet as can be. The folks that worked with them were tearful because they wouldn't see them but happy that they could be saved. OF course the sun then came out so we had to but Cage fans at Petsmart -- they were generous with us also. BY 4 pm we had collected 17 dogs, 2 puppies and 4 cats -- and I felt we couldn't take any more. Some of these pets were owner surrenders -- families that gave up their pets because they couldn't keep them in temporary housing. Everywhere we went the people were grateful. Each group asked us when we were coming back. I felt bad that we couldn't get to the St John's Parish Shelter but the last stop had a woman show up with 3 dogs -- she couldn't keep them in the home she was sharing with others.
We then headed out past Slidell where there were hundreds of apartments that looked like they were in a war zone. No windows, only debris in piles -- never to be lived in again. A very humbling experience indeed.
We then headed out past Slidell where there were hundreds of apartments that looked like they were in a war zone. No windows, only debris in piles -- never to be lived in again. A very humbling experience indeed.
The next 29 hrs were on the road. We stopped 3 times to walk, feed and exercise the dogs. We went from 80-degree temperatures to snow starting in Binghamton. The last stretch from Whitney Point to Meadowridge took a long time. The dogs faired well -- I'm still recovering.
We have placed 4 dogs and 1 cat so far. If you are interested in fostering or adopting please call me at Meadowridge 533 --7661. Our luck ran out about heartworm, of the 17 adult dogs 13 were positive and we'll treat each of them as part of the adoption. Drs Barry and Armao and Shakespeare once again helped vaccinate, and worm the dogs and cats when we got back -- a great way to spend their day off. I hope that the pictures come out. -- Sharon Garland
We have placed 4 dogs and 1 cat so far. If you are interested in fostering or adopting please call me at Meadowridge 533 --7661. Our luck ran out about heartworm, of the 17 adult dogs 13 were positive and we'll treat each of them as part of the adoption. Drs Barry and Armao and Shakespeare once again helped vaccinate, and worm the dogs and cats when we got back -- a great way to spend their day off. I hope that the pictures come out. -- Sharon Garland
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