Marty
09-27-2005, 12:27 PM
College Park, MD -- All seven puppies were dehydrated, malnourished and glutted with intestinal parasites.
But one in particular — a floppy-eared black Labrador retriever-mix, nearly five weeks short of nine weeks, the age puppies can be safely weaned — was close to death from the days he spent in New Orleans’ wreckage without food, clean water or its mother’s care.
“I basically made a pact with the puppy,” said Jennifer Hammond, a volunteer for the Montgomery County Humane Society. “I looked at him and said, ‘If you don’t die, I’ll bring you home with me.’”
The puppy, which thrived and is now nearly eight weeks old, is living with the Hammond family in Laurel. Many area residents have temporarily adopted the remaining six puppies and other animals that were abandoned by their owners as floodwaters forced thousands to evacuate the Gulf Coast. Some, like Hammond, have even traveled to the devestated areas to aid animal rescue efforts.
Hammond, 28, a 2000 alumna working as a vetinary technician, traveled to Gonzales, La., with five other volunteers to help care for hundreds of animals streaming into a makeshift clinic at an exposition center. The group left on Sept. 8 as part of efforts by the Montgomery County animal shelter.
They made the trip in the shelter’s mobile treatment vehicle, a truck equipped with basic medical supplies and crates to hold the animals. Arriving in Louisiana early on Friday afternoon, Hammond said the sheer number and condition of the animals shocked her.
“I was appalled that animals’ lives were treated like furniture — leave it behind and hope it’s there when you get back,” she said.
The exposition center contained about 1,400 animals when the group arrived, she said, with as many as 400 animals arriving every hour. When the group left on Sunday, the space contained close to 4,000 pets.
Hammond and the group evaluated incoming pets and provided basic medical care before veteranarians could treat them. They also selected 31 animals — five cats and 26 dogs, including the litter of puppies — to bring back with them.
Many of the dogs were underfed, dehydrated and infected with heartworms — parasites transmitted by mosquitoes that infiltrate the heart muscle and surrounding blood vessels — that thrive in the warm, moist surroundings of the flooded city.
The Calvert County Humane Society also sent a corps of volunteers to Tylertown, Miss., about two weeks ago to bring back 20 dogs. A subsequent trip yielded 17 more dogs and a hampster. Rescuers found one of the dogs, a male pitbull, in the wreckage of a home, cradling a tiny black Labrador retriever-mix puppy to his stomach. They named the dog Daddy, and called the puppy Daddy’s Boy. Another dog was found stranded atop an air conditioner.
Sally Lounsbury, president of the shelter, said the pets have been placed in foster homes. They will be held for 90 days and then will be available for adoption.
The Montgomery County shelter also placed the animals in foster homes. Shelter officials will wait 30 days to give owners a chance to locate their pets before giving them up for adoption.
Hammond said the shelter has been inundated with requests from people eager to adopt an evacuee pet.
“A lot of people want the nostalgia of a Katrina dog,” she said. “But many aren’t interested in a regular animal.”
Hammond is also fostering a 2-year-old Rottweiler named Soul Ja. Thanks to a microchip implanted under his skin, the shelter was able to contact his owner, a New Orleans woman who lived in the city’s western Uptown district.
The Montgomery County shelter posted the rest of the pets’ images on Petfinders.org, an online database of lost and missing animals. They’ve also contacted the owner of a gray Cocker Spaniel.
“Both of the [owners] were in tears — overjoyed, overwhelmed, excited,” Hammond said.
Lounsbury said she thinks most of the pet owners thought they would see their pets again in a few hours when they left their homes.
“I suspect they never dreamed they’d not be coming back,” she said. “No one expected New Orleans to flood.”
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/27/43392dc3ea5b6
But one in particular — a floppy-eared black Labrador retriever-mix, nearly five weeks short of nine weeks, the age puppies can be safely weaned — was close to death from the days he spent in New Orleans’ wreckage without food, clean water or its mother’s care.
“I basically made a pact with the puppy,” said Jennifer Hammond, a volunteer for the Montgomery County Humane Society. “I looked at him and said, ‘If you don’t die, I’ll bring you home with me.’”
The puppy, which thrived and is now nearly eight weeks old, is living with the Hammond family in Laurel. Many area residents have temporarily adopted the remaining six puppies and other animals that were abandoned by their owners as floodwaters forced thousands to evacuate the Gulf Coast. Some, like Hammond, have even traveled to the devestated areas to aid animal rescue efforts.
Hammond, 28, a 2000 alumna working as a vetinary technician, traveled to Gonzales, La., with five other volunteers to help care for hundreds of animals streaming into a makeshift clinic at an exposition center. The group left on Sept. 8 as part of efforts by the Montgomery County animal shelter.
They made the trip in the shelter’s mobile treatment vehicle, a truck equipped with basic medical supplies and crates to hold the animals. Arriving in Louisiana early on Friday afternoon, Hammond said the sheer number and condition of the animals shocked her.
“I was appalled that animals’ lives were treated like furniture — leave it behind and hope it’s there when you get back,” she said.
The exposition center contained about 1,400 animals when the group arrived, she said, with as many as 400 animals arriving every hour. When the group left on Sunday, the space contained close to 4,000 pets.
Hammond and the group evaluated incoming pets and provided basic medical care before veteranarians could treat them. They also selected 31 animals — five cats and 26 dogs, including the litter of puppies — to bring back with them.
Many of the dogs were underfed, dehydrated and infected with heartworms — parasites transmitted by mosquitoes that infiltrate the heart muscle and surrounding blood vessels — that thrive in the warm, moist surroundings of the flooded city.
The Calvert County Humane Society also sent a corps of volunteers to Tylertown, Miss., about two weeks ago to bring back 20 dogs. A subsequent trip yielded 17 more dogs and a hampster. Rescuers found one of the dogs, a male pitbull, in the wreckage of a home, cradling a tiny black Labrador retriever-mix puppy to his stomach. They named the dog Daddy, and called the puppy Daddy’s Boy. Another dog was found stranded atop an air conditioner.
Sally Lounsbury, president of the shelter, said the pets have been placed in foster homes. They will be held for 90 days and then will be available for adoption.
The Montgomery County shelter also placed the animals in foster homes. Shelter officials will wait 30 days to give owners a chance to locate their pets before giving them up for adoption.
Hammond said the shelter has been inundated with requests from people eager to adopt an evacuee pet.
“A lot of people want the nostalgia of a Katrina dog,” she said. “But many aren’t interested in a regular animal.”
Hammond is also fostering a 2-year-old Rottweiler named Soul Ja. Thanks to a microchip implanted under his skin, the shelter was able to contact his owner, a New Orleans woman who lived in the city’s western Uptown district.
The Montgomery County shelter posted the rest of the pets’ images on Petfinders.org, an online database of lost and missing animals. They’ve also contacted the owner of a gray Cocker Spaniel.
“Both of the [owners] were in tears — overjoyed, overwhelmed, excited,” Hammond said.
Lounsbury said she thinks most of the pet owners thought they would see their pets again in a few hours when they left their homes.
“I suspect they never dreamed they’d not be coming back,” she said. “No one expected New Orleans to flood.”
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/vnews/display.v/ART/2005/09/27/43392dc3ea5b6