People aren't the only victims of Katrina. Pets are not being allowed on the buses that are evacuating victims from New Orleans, and many animals were left behind when people were evacuating.

When a national tragedy like this strikes, charities like the Red Cross see a huge spike in donations, and that's a good thing. But, unfortunately, when people donate to one charity, they tend to neglect others that they may have normally donated to.

There are several animal welfare organizations working to rescue animals in the wake of Katrina, and they could use financial support.

http://www.noahswish.com/
http://www.uan.org/
http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer
http://hsus.org/

I sent a donation to HSUS, poor little guys, like tossing them in an ocean :(

I donated to HSUS too. Couldn't afford it, but hey, I'll make it work out. I'm not going to die :-/

I donated to two of them since i dont think one organization is worse than the other. I sent an email around work and 4-6 people responded saying they made a donation since the email went to 80 people i guess thats good, hopefully a few that didnt respond still did.

I won't give to the American Red Cross anymore, since I found out they experiment on animals. For example:

http://www.pcrm.org/resch/charities/questionable.html
More recently, the Red Cross performed some shockingly gruesome experiments on pigs and goats to test a new bandage technology. Extensive and severe liver injuries,7, 8 kidney injuries,9-10 and artery damage 11, 12 were inflicted on live pigs, and live goats were given shock-inducing ballistic injuries.13 There were at least 12 different experiments published in papers dating from 1995 to 2003, as well as eight unpublished experiments. All came to similar conclusions: The new bandage technology works better than the old one.

HSUS seems to be doing really good work trying to rescue and shelter animals from the effects of the hurricane. http://www.hsus.org/

Dam, I wish i new that this morning :(

Wolfgar, I was just getting ready to post the same article...Yes, really sad.

The Humane Society of Canada has partnerned with the American Humane Association to help with animal rescue and relief. Canadians can donate through HSC to help animals (and still get a tax receipt). We are sending a cheque today.

More information is here. http://www.humanesociety.com/newsrel/newsrel.asp?thisrel=02092005&page=1

I'm sorry if this ruins everybody's day. I just wanted to post yet another reason why I rarely, if ever, go onto the AOL message boards these days. The following is a genuine post from one of AOL'S Hurricane Katrina message boards.

You're damn right they aren't! Looking at the full scale of this disaster, the rescue of pets should absolutely be on the bottom of the list - they are not important at all by comparison. People need to make choices. If they choose to save their pets rather than themselves, so be it! They die and the pet lives. What possible benefit is there in that? Dogs are NOT someone's child, they are a substitute for a child. Dogs are NOT going to be a help to New Orleans after all is said and done. They are a liability now and have been all along. Pet owners, you know this and you should be damned ashamed of yourself for even considering putting your pet in the boat in place of another human being. By insisting on rescuing your pets, you make it perfectly clear that you value your pet more than your fellow humans!!! Sadly, there are way too many people who think like that.

Lovely person, huh?

If people are expecting their pets to take the place of another human being, then yeh, whoever posted that is right. But if that person is complaining about people who are getting upset and finding it difficult to abandon their pets, then they have no idea what it's like to own a pet. A pet is a family member, i feel so sorry for those who have had to do that. :(

I can't see why they can't keep small pets on their laps :(

I'm sorry if this ruins everybody's day. I just wanted to post yet another reason why I rarely, if ever, go onto the AOL message boards these days. The following is a genuine post from one of AOL'S Hurricane Katrina message boards.



Lovely person, huh?

Yes, really.

If I'm ever in a flood I'm saving my cat. He'll be right there on my lap in the boat and if anyone has a problem with that, too bad. Mushrooms has been with me through too much for me to just leave him behind without trying to save him.

On a brighter note, some people don't seem to think saving non-human animals is stupid: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1756&e=1&u=/050904/photos_us_rank_afp/050904232405_899o7rcv_photo0

Yes, really.

If I'm ever in a flood I'm saving my cat. He'll be right there on my lap in the boat and if anyone has a problem with that, too bad. Mushrooms has been with me through too much for me to just leave him behind without trying to save him.

On a brighter note, some people don't seem to think saving non-human animals is stupid: http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1756&e=1&u=/050904/photos_us_rank_afp/050904232405_899o7rcv_photo0

Awww! Adorable! :smitten:

Bestfriends.org (a giant no kill shelter in Utah) is also helping with the effort.

Some of you may have seen the story of a makeshift kennel on the rooftop of Lindy Boggs (Tenet) Hospital, being manned by hospital staff and caring for the pets of about 30 of their colleagues. Postings from the Nola.com Animal Chat Forum (http://www.nola.com/forums/animals/index.ssf?initial=true) indicate that caretaker Dr. James Riopelle received a pet food air drop earlier today and that all the animals had been evacuated to shelters in TX.
Spoke too soon. He's still there with them:
http://news.bestfriends.org/index.cfm?page=specialreports&catid=04061773-BDB9-396E-9001EF6EC01318A4&mode=entry&entry=294E598C-BDB9-396E-93A94163FCF44C75&stid=1

Bestfriends.org (a giant no kill shelter in Utah) is also helping with the effort.
My friend & I just donated $250 to them. They seem like a very trustworthy & sincere org to donate to.

I wish there was more I could do. I'd do anything to be able to be out there doing hands-on rescues. :yes:

I'm so glad I found others who feel as I do. I brought this subject up on a yoga.com message board and had several other people absolutely slam me about it. Apparently, I'm a horrible human being for being concerned about suffering animals instead of spending all of my pity energy being upset about people.
I'm glad I have you guys to talk to.

Tell you what, folks..............check THIS out......

http://www.yoga.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=19712&posts=17#M31081

This is what I get for being an "animal freak".

Tell you what, folks..............check THIS out......

http://www.yoga.com/forums/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=19712&posts=17#M31081

This is what I get for being an "animal freak".

Looks like you were the one who flew off the handle a bit.

You think? Seriously? I flew off the handle? Hmmmm.

http://www.houstonhumane.org/index.aspx

The Houston Humane Society has taken a majority of the animals from Katrina so far. I'm thinking of making my next donation to them.

All I can say is thank God for the HSUS and others like them. I wonder what the moron saying that animals should be at the bottom of the list thinks of the service dogs now in NO helping rescuers?


ETA: http://www.spca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=Homepage_Template_2004

The Texas SPCA is also doing a great job.

Very true. These animals are supposed to risk their lives to help people who should have been out of NO BEFORE the storm hit but we owe nothing to them?

I don't really care if I offend people with what I say or if I "flew off the handle". I believe what I believe.

You got a little bit riled up, but I completely understand how what those people were saying rubbed you the wrong way. Nobody can tell you, me, or anyone else where our money and assistance should go. You were just making a suggestion, and putting the info out there. Where do they get off "informing" you that your priorities are messed up?

I for one donated to help animals who were victims of the hurricane. It's not that I don't care about humans; my heart told me what I needed to do and in this case it was help animals. If anyone has a problem with it, that's too damn bad. It's my money to give or not give.

When the tsunami hit I donated to the Canadian Red Cross. It's completely up to each individual to decide where they spend their money for assistance.

Glad I didn't send money to the Red Cross after seeing that, glad to help the animal rescue groups though; sad to say, but I can't reach into my pocket for s group that does great work on one hand, but experiments on animals as well.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050905/ap_on_re_us/katrina_pets

a very sad article

I'm not one to cry, but I've read that, and when I did tears were rolling down my face. Some people don't realize how important comanion animals are to people. One person I encountered online claimed that pets are "replaceable." In that line of thinking, friends are replacable - you can always make new friends; children too, which provided you still have the availability, new ones can be made. I don't like that. My friends and family, human and non-human, are not "replacable."