PET OWNERS: Check here regularly for important information and updates

If your pet seems to be "lost in the system" be sure to check the website for Animal Rescue New Orleans often for info and updates on continuing search and rescue work in New Orleans.

Locate Your Lost Katrina Pet Event hosted by Best Friends in New Orleans Dec. 16-18
We know it has been difficult, even impossible, for families who are missing their pets to navigate all of the available resources.

This event will allow you to search in one place for your missing pets. We will set up banks of computers and give families the opportunity to work with reunion specialists to search for their pets – on a first come/first served basis.

We have asked numerous groups, including Mutt Shack, Grassroots Emergency Animal Rescue (at the Winn Dixie), Humane Louisiana, and Pasado’s Safe Haven to participate, bringing their databases and intake records. We have invited Petfinder, Stealth Volunteers and other reunion specialists to participate as well.

Where:
Garden District Hotel
2203 St. Charles Avenue (corner of Jackson and St. Charles Avenues)
New Orleans, LA 70130
University Conference Room

When:
Friday, December 16 - 10am - 6pm
Saturday, December 17 - 10am - 6pm
Sunday, December 18 - 1pm - 6pm

Free parking in the rear of the hotel

SPCA Cincinnati has many cats and dogs at their shelter

Click here to go to their site to search for Katrina pets. They have a link for cats and one for dogs. Lots of dogs. If you see a photo that you think may be your pet, copy and save the photo and all related information on your hard drive. Katrina pet information is disappearing off shelter websites.

PetHarbor now has a complete list of the dogs sent to EDNAH
1. Go to Petharbor
2. Scroll below the Rita links until you see the yellow box labeled Project Barkansas and click on the dog link.
3. The photos are all blurred until you click on a specific one.
There are now 13 pages of dogs listed. Because the current location of those dogs is still a mystery, if you see your dog there, contact us - include the photo of the dog, the PetHarbor name and number and a description - breed, color, gender. I hope to find out the current location of these dogs soon.

St. Bernard Parish Pets
Photo albums of the pets rescued by Camp Lucky can be viewed at the following location:
Government Complex Building
Public Works Office
2nd Floor
Chalmette
Telephone 504.278.4317
Monday - Friday 8 am - 4 pm (may also be opened on weekends)

This phone number is for Animal Control but will be dispatched to the Government Building where the temporary Control Unit is currently operating. They hope to move from the Public Works Office back to the original Animal Control Site later this week so be sure to call ahead.

These photos are of animals rescued by Camp Lucky through October 1st. The original group of animals went to the SPCA in Los Angeles:
http://www.spcala.com/hurricanekatrina_animals1.html

Most of the next rescues went to the Humane Society in Pinellas / Clearwater Florida, or the Wild Animal Orphanage in San Antonio, Texas. Some but not all of the photos/reports have begun to appear on Petfinder, so if possible, travel into the Parish to view the actual photos.

New Orleans Library Hours - Internet Access to search Petfinder and Petharbor
Internet, fax and photocopy service available.
The Nix branch at 1401 South Carrollton Avenue, is open Monday-Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
The Hubbell branch at 725 Pelican Avenue in Algiers Point, is open Monday-Friday, noon-4 p.m.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION IF YOU NEED HELP SEARCHING FOR YOUR PET
If you need help searching for your lost or missing pet, please follow these recommendations. We have very little time left to find many pets for many people, so please understand that these recommendations are intended to benefit the most number of people with the limited resources available. The phone number is only for those people without internet access. Everyone else, please use email.

Our volunteers have access to resources and information that may not be available to the public, so if you are already working with someone who is able to help you in that way, please understand that we can't ask another volunteer work with you too. We need to adhere to having just one-volunteer per pet owner. There are thousands of missing pets and only hundreds of volunteers, all with limited time to do this, and we are trying to help as many people as possible. We would like to be able to find every single missing pet so the better allocated our resources, the more likely we are able to do that. Thank you for understanding.

Send an email to noanimalleftbehind@gmail.com with all of the following information:

1) In the subject heading - write Searching for Max, Male German Shepherd mix (or whatever the name, sex and breed of your dog is) or Searching for Fluffy, female orange tabby. Include all of the following information:

2) The address the pet was left at, rescued from or last known to be, even if this is just a neighborhood. Include zip code and name of section, parish, etc. If the pet is known to have been rescued, the date to the best of your knowledge. Mention any writing on the house or notes left by rescue groups. The more specific you can be, the better. If you do not know for sure if your pet was ever rescued, please indicate that.

3) A complete description of the pet - breed(s); color; sex including if spayed or neutered; age; weight; approx. height; markings; color of eyes; condition of teeth including if any are missing; any scars. All unique characteristics such as if one ear is bent in a different way than other ear; docked tail; extra toes; spots on tongue, etc.

If there is a Petfinder LOST report, please include the Petfinder number(s).

4) Collar (type, color), tags, or any other external identification. All known information from tags. If the pet is micro-chipped, include the number if known.

5) Any other pets left at/rescued from this address and whether they are still missing or have been found. If found, where and when. If missing, please list separately.

6) Your name, current phone number and email address. Also, your old phone number in New Orleans if now out-of-service. Your current complete mailing address.

7) Please include a photo of your pet if you have one. If you have one but are not able to send it electronically, we will help you get the photo sent to us.

Thank you very much! Check this specific link often for updates and information.


NEW PHOTOS OF RESCUED PETS
It was just learned that the LaSPCA, who rescued animals from New Orleans in October and took them to their new shelter in Algiers, posted these animals on the wrong section of PetHarbor. These animals do not show up in a normal PetHarbor search for Katrina animals and they are not on Petfinder.

To searh the LaSPCA pets on PetHarbor, visit the Animal Rescue New Orleans website and click on the Find Lost Pets link for easy step-by-step instructions.

REUNION: Pepper the Chi

HUGE thanks to volunteers Sara Ratekin, DVM and Susan Bongiorno. They worked together for weeks, following leads, collaborating information, digging up photos of possible matches, and sending those photos to Pepper'sowner, Tony Licciardi who has been fighting bone cancer. Pepper has been in a wonderful foster home in North Dakota with Darla Yliniemi who brought her back to N.D. with her after helping with rescue efforts in September. Sara first met Tony during one of her three trips to New Orleans and she promised him that she would help find Pepper for him.

In the photo above, Karen Thunshelle, shelter manager for the Souris Valley Humane Society, gets a kiss from Pepper. On Saturday, Thunshelle will fly with Pepper to Mississippi to reunite her with Tony.

December 8, 2005
THE MINOT DAILY NEWS
By Jill Schramm, Staff Writer

Pepper is going home for Christmas.

The 6-year-old Chihuahua has only a few more days of Minot's sweater-weather left before hopping a plane to Mississippi to be reunited with an owner she hasn't seen since they were separated after Hurricane Katrina.

Karen Thunshelle, shelter manager for the Souris Valley Humane Society in Minot, said Pepper will be as glad to be back in warmer temperatures as she'll be to see her owner again. Thunshelle boards a flight to Mississippi with Pepper Saturday.

Darla Yliniemi, who has provided a foster home for Pepper, said Pepper gets along better with her dogs and cat than she does with the weather.

"She likes to wear her sweater," she said. "She doesn't like the cold but she's not afraid of my big dogs."

The Humane Society of the United States is funding the trip to bring Pepper back to her family, Tony and Shirley Licciardi, before Christmas.

"I can't wait to see her," said Tony Licciardi, who has bone cancer that he described as widespread. He said Pepper's return might help his physical health by relieving the distress he's felt since losing her.

"All I do is cry about her, cry for her," he sad. "I sure miss her."

Pepper came to North Dakota after Thunshelle befriended her while assisting with animal rescue in Louisiana following Hurricane Katrina in September. The white and pale brown short-hair came to the rescue shelter dirty, hungry, carrying fleas and scared.

"She was a little nippy," Thunshelle said. "She actually just bonded with me. I was about one of the only people who could handle her down there. I just couldn't leave her down there."

Thunshelle arranged to bring Pepper to Minot.

Tony Licciardi said he became separated from Pepper and his two other dogs when police came to rescue him from his home flooded under seven feet of water. When the police went back for the dogs, they couldn't find them.

Licciardi said he spent a couple of days on a Navy boat and it was some time before he could search for his dogs.

"I have been all over looking for them, calling everybody," he said. The two missing dogs are a Chihuahua and Pomeranian.

Licciardi told an animal rescue worker in New Orleans about his dogs after returning to check on damage to his home there. The worker searched the hurricane registry through Pet Finder and located Pepper in Minot. Licciardi said he identified Pepper's Internet picture on the computer in a library.

"I said 'Yes, that's her!'" he said. "I have never seen another one her color with markings like she has."

Pepper, who had been known as Booboo at Souris Valley Humane Society until identified about three weeks ago, is recovering from the trauma of the hurricane.

"The first time the wind picked up, she paced half the night. She just couldn't settle down," Yliniemi said. "She's slowly adjusted to know the wind is not going to hurt her."

Thunshelle said the local humane society will miss Pepper, but they are pleased that Pepper's homecoming means Licciardi's losses to Hurricane Katrina will be one less.

"He doesn't have anything anymore, so we are glad we can make at least something good come out of this," she said.

PLEASE Look At This Photo

Desperate owner looking for Rueben, a very sweet older dog who (along with another dog since found) was released from 726 North Hagan Street in New Orleans by a well-meaning rescue worker or military person. A friend had been providing food and water.

Rueben is part Golden Retriever and part … lab? shepard? His owner says he was often mistaken for a St. Bernard. He is large (about 80 pounds, pre-Katrina) with long silky black hair with a brown undercoat. His legs are brindle and he is missing one of his canine teeth. He has a very sweet disposition. If found please call Jordana Smith at 504-237-8364 or send an email to us here if you have any information about where Rueben might be.

I found this reunion story on the website of New Leash on Life and wanted to share it here. I think it makes it clear why returning a pet to its family is the right thing to do for all concerned including the pet.

Just wanted to share this with you, it's things like this that make you smile and keep you going. I just got off the phone with Max's owner. To put it mildly, they are overjoyed! They got Max in 1995. They thought they would never see Max again, they were sure he was dead, (he is 11 and a bit overweight). Another pet was found still in the yard on October the 2nd, almost a skeleton and exhaling oil fumes with every breath. He is in a hospital and is very ill. When I spoke with them on Saturday they couldn't believe they might get Max back. They were worried after everything he went through and the time away, he might not remember them. When the crate was brought in at the cargo terminal, they could see him and called his name. He almost broke the crate open with excitement. They had an hour ride home from the airport and called to let me know he arrived safely. They kept repeating, "He is so happy." I know that if we hadn't found them Max would have been adopted and probably had a nice life but now he can spend his remaining years with the only family he's ever known. They are right, he is "so happy."