Date: September 24, 2005

Time: 1:48 pm EST

Re: Hurricane Katrina and Rita rescue efforts

From: Oscar 

I arrived on Thursday and met up with the rest of the Emergency Response Team on board the mobile unit at the Baton Rouge airport. They had just finished loading the airplane with all of the animals to be airlifted to the League in New York.

The team debriefed me on their activities prior to my arrival. Shirley and Jen were helping in Tylertown, Mississippi and used the League's mobile unit as as cooling station for the animals so they were able to get out the extreme heat of the day. Jeff and Corey were helping out with the Emergency Care Unit and giving fluids to the overheated animals as needed. By the end of the day, the animals were doing great - running around as though nothing happened, just looking for a nice walk and a treat to eat.

From the airport we went to Gonzalez, a large animal staging area located at Lamar Dixon. We headed to the export area to find out what other animals we could transport to safety from there. Everyone was trying to keep ahead of Hurricane Rita at that time and we successfully loaded up about 16 dogs from there.

We then received a phone call from Jacque Meyer, the Shelter Director for the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, telling us there were a few animals from the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center staging area being held by VCA Airline and in need of transportation to another area. After we finished at Gonzalez, we made our way there and picked up 7 dogs and 4 cats. Once we finished, we headed towards Hattiesburg, Mississippi.

We spent the night in Hattiesburg and then headed to Birmingham, Alabama where we spent the night waiting for Rita to pass and to receive instructions on the next phase of our mission.

That is all for now...till next time

Oscar and the Emergency Response Team