I've been staying away from this thread for a while, but it's bugging me.I'm going to tone down my initial reaction to the limited thinking in this thread. I will however paste text from emails sent to me. It has been de-personalized to protect the privacy of others.
Quote
This is what we are facing. Pray for us
------------------------
This is from one of the volunteers onsite at Lamar Dixon. The story
tells me
that it is likely going to be too late for very many horses to have
survived
this ridiculously long wait to rescue them. Many will die of
dehydration.
****************************************************************************
*******************************
Today we had a team of people go into what's left of the French Quarter
and
rescue some of the carriage horses. They all came from one barn. We
hope to
go to a few other of the carriage horse barns tomorrow.
This is a great story...the storm was over and the water was rising.
The
family needed to evacuate, but these horses were not only their pets,
but
their partners. The old man and the rest of the family were
rescued....the
middle aged son stayed behind to care for the family's horses. For 6
days
the man did all he could to save the horses. The jenny mule freaked out
one
day and drug him about 4 blocks through waste high water. He held on to
her
and got her back home.
One of the horses got caught on something and panicked. As he was
trying to
free the large draft horse, he heard her a pop and she fell to the
ground.
Her neck was broken and she died.
When we heard news at the barn that the got the horses, the told us
that one
was down in the trailer. When they got back, she was barely alive. The
LSU
Vet Team did everything they could to help her....finally the decision
was
made to help her over the Bridge. When we opened the back of the fourth
trailer to unload there was another horse down. This one did not make
it
either.
All in all, we have 19 very dehydrated, but happy carriage horses. Most
are
drafts and draft crosses. There are 2 mules and some beautiful Arabs.
Hopefully they will continue to recover. The saddest part was knowing
the
son had to see two more of his beloved horses pass over. He kept saying
that
he had tried so hard to save them. He went for six days with very
little
food or water just to save his friends. He was in waist deep water for
that
long.
After we got all the horses settled in, I took him to the shelter at
Lamar
Dixon and got him a change of clothes, a shower, a hot meal and some
medical
treatment. When he left for the night, he hugged me and kissed my
cheek. It
made me cry...what a hero.
Tomorrow we are going to try to go back and get some more of these
carriage
horses. To me, they encompass so much of the character that was New
Orleans.
They are giant, beautiful and kind creatures. I got quite a few nuzzles
and
kisses from them before I left tonight.
Although I am so sad for the ones we lost, am so pleased we got the 19
we
did. It was mass chaos trying to get these beasts out of the trailer at
night in a strange place after all they have been through. To make
matters
worse, they nearly had to jump over their fallen comrades to get out.
Tomorrow will be another long day.
Goodnight!
Habitat for Horses, Inc/Lone Star Equine Rescue, Inc
A Nonprofit Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation Center
habitatforhorses.org/lser.org
Become a member! Donate Now!
/Quote
Quote
erry gave you a rundown of the situation. There is not too much more I
can
add at the moment other than a personal reflection of what I saw, heard
and
felt.
RT and I left early this morning. We finally arrived at the Expo Center
in
Gonzales, a huge place, filled with thousands of people. Military guys
carrying M-16s and looking very pissed off guarded each gate. Somehow,
we
made them believe we were good people and just needed to drive to the
horse
area.
We had a long talk with the people at that location, including the vets
in
charge of the operation. From the mouths of those in complete control
of the
large animal rescue operation, we now know several facts -
1) This is now a military operation. Everyone takes orders from them.
It has
been taken out of the hands of FEMA, the Louisiana politicians, the New
Orleans mayor and the other government agencies.
2) Everything changes from minute to minute. Up until yesterday, hardly
anyone know what was going or who was doing what to whom. Rumors and
out and
out lies were being spread faster than hot butter, which is why we
could
never get a straight answer. It's a little better now, but not much.
For
instance, trucks delivering feed and hay must have a "permit" to come
into
the state, but no one knew anything about how to get a permit. It took
the
head vet several hours last night to find out who issued the permits
and to
obtain one for our delivery of hay from Illinois. The truck is being
loaded
tonight. The same trucking company has a load of water that in being
held up
at the border for the past two days because the driver didn't have a
permit.
3) We are working with the Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association.
They
are solely in charge of the animal rescue part. The HSUS isn't, FEMA
isn't
anymore, and no one else is. They are under the military command.
4) HSUS has collected a bunch of dogs and cats at the same location.
They
did not go into the zone and get them. Evacuees brought them and are
not
allowed to keep them in the shelter.
5) Someone spread a rumor that HfH/LSER was evacuating horses and
moving
them to Texas. Whoever did that almost killed our whole operation.
6) We are on standby until the military clears the areas. NO ONE is
going in
to rescue any animals until then. The vets and armed guys pulled out 69
horses from a stable in three hours two days ago. Those are the only
horses
at the center. One was left because the owner was taking care of him.
Why
they didn't make the owner leave is beyond me because everyone is to
leave
the Orleans Parish. Someone, somewhere, cared about a foundered horses
that
couldn't load. Amazing.
7) If anyone, any group, tries to evacuate horses, they will be forced
to
leave at gunpoint.
They will be expecting our shipment of supplies next week. Both Purina
and
Nutrena came through and are filling them up with feed. Some of us
pushed
for this and didn't hear back, but that doesn't matter. They did it and
everyone needs to realize how good these two companies are for doing
it.
We have more people doing more things than I could possibly list. The
enthusiasm and organizational ability of our group is shining in a
black
cloud of total confusion. It took awhile to pull it together, but
thanks to
the efforts of the many, it's being done.
One thing I want to scream and yell about, and the purpose of the whole
effort - the horses - are still standing out there or they are dead.
I'm not
going to express my feelings about this now because nothing good would
come
of it. The new changes have been made and rules set out. The moment for
us
to go in has still not come, but instead of waiting and wondering and
waiting a little longer, we've turned our attention to gathering
supplies.
We have a 32' trailer sitting in Lafayette, a trailer will be at the
ranch
on Tuesday to load the supplies, we've introduced ourselves to, talked
with
and explained ourselves to all the people that need to know and now we
wait
for the real hands-on experience of pulling horses out of danger with
the
possibility of returning them to their owners.
I am more than thankful that the operation was turned over to the
military.
Had it not been, thousands more would have died. What we saw this
morning
was nothing less than an entire nation turning into an effective
machine to
extract and protect the living humans. I can only hope, and pray, that
the
horses, dogs, cats, cattle and other living creatures will be next.
We will never know how many we could have saved had we had a chance. At
some
point, perhaps, there will be a time to look back on what should have
happened but didn't, but for now, let our thoughts be on what we can do
and
on how to do it in the most effective way possible.
Our world is changing right before our eyes. This part of the country
will
never be the same, and the country will be shaken to its core when the
final
death toll comes out. Our economy, or way of life, our belief in the
structure of our society will need to be rethought. I can only hope
that in
the process, the few in charge will understand that we hold dear not
only
the lives of our fellow humans, but also the lives of our pets. They
had
nothing to do with this, yet they are the last to be helped.
If we are allowed to go in, that makes us the last responders, and the
last
hope for their lives.
Habitat for Horses, Inc/Lone Star Equine Rescue, Inc
A Nonprofit Equine Rescue and Rehabilitation Center
habitatforhorses.org/lser.org
Become a member! Donate Now!
/Quote
We as humans have taken on responsibility for many animals, not just dogs and cats.
