Katrina Pets Being Adopted Early

The ASPCA, HSUS and the State Vet of Lousiana changed the date that animals rescued from Katrina can be adopted from October 16th to December 31st. Thank you to everyone who helped make this possible.

BUT, many shelters have already adopted out these animals, either because they didn't know about the change in the deadline or because they don't care. People who were not in the market to adopt a cat or dog from their local animal shelter prior to August 31 are now agressively 'shopping' , and small purebred dogs are being fought over.

There is still a backlog of photos that haven't even been posted; many people are still without internet access; many former residents of New Orleans have not had their old phone numbers forwarded or changed. There have been many obstacles to reuniting pets with owners.

We all agree that these animals need to get out of the shelter environment, but there are as many willing foster homes as there are people ready to adopt these animals. Many of these animals will be available for adoption as of the beginning of 2006.

Photos of pets that have already been adopted or are up for adoption will be posted here under the title of the shelter where they were taken. If you recognize your pet in any of these posts, please contact the shelter right away and also contact us, here.

All Found Animals Need to be Scanned
for Original Microchips

Many animals were NOT scanned when they entered Lamar Dixon and possibly at some of the other shelters, but most all were chipped upon intake, thus all the animals that were rescued and taken to Lamar Dixon, Best Friends, LaSPCA, Noah’s Wish, LSU (operating at the John Parker Coliseum) and Pasado are now chipped. Both Home Again and AVID donated thousands of microchips to the search and rescue operation. It’s important to scan all animals for an original microchip.

If you have FOUND or are FOSTERING a Katrina pet, please take it to a shelter, clinic, Petco or Petsmart store to have it scanned! We can help you find its owner from the microchip number.

To all volunteers who are helping pet owners search for lost/missing pets: please contact anyone posting a FOUND pet listing on Petfinder, Petharbor, Craigslist, NOLA.com, etc and ask them to have that animal scanned for a chip.

This is an essential part of the process to reunite these animals with their owners.

St. Bernard Parish Lost Pet Database

...is now up and ready to search.

You can enter the number from a rabies tag, license, or microchip to search for the owner’s name and contact information.

If you don’t get a hit, try again in a few days as more data is entered.

St. Bernard Parish rabies tags are all 6 digits, often beginning with a 0.

Did you volunteer at Lamar Dixon?

We are compiling a list of people who volunteered at Lamar Dixon, specifically in the barns or export, to help us in the process of reuniting pets with their owners. Please send an email to noanimalleftbehind@gmail.com and write "Lamar Dixon" in the subject line. Please include your name, phone number, the time zone you're in, the dates you were there and what jobs you did.

We may want to contact you to ask about specific animals that have been "lost in the system" whose owners are actively searching. Please cross-post and email others who were at Lamar Dixon. No Animal Left Behind and Dog Detective are sharing resources to help reunite Katrina pets with their owners. Any information you share will be used for the sole purpose of facilitating this effort.

Do you know of other shelters
doing early adoptions
of Katrina pets?

All shelters, rescue groups and individuals who rescued or took animals from New Orleans or Mississippi have to post photos and information for at least 30 days on www.petfinder.com. These animals can be in foster homes but they cannot be adopted. Many shelters are showing a great deal of understanding and compassion by postponing adoptions for 6 months. We strongly emcourage all shelters to postpone adoption of Katrina pets unil at least January 1, 2006.

Volunteers are needed all over the country to monitor the situation with their local shelters. If the shelter claims to be too busy to take/post photos, offer to do it for them. If a shelter claims that the animals that are being adopted were "owner surrendered" ask to see the paperwork. If you meet with any resistance, please let us know.

Just because a pet was turned over to the LSU-operated shelter at the John Parker Coliseum does not mean it was surrendered: Pet owners in New Orleans were told that they could bring their pets there for safe-keeping when they evacuated. LSU is supposed to have records of all those pets with owner contact information. Before any of those pets are adopted, each and every owner needs to be contacted.

The Buddy System - Please Join Us and Help Reunite

Our group is growing...please join the Buddy System, named after Buddy, an American Staffordshire Terrier. Buddy's owner, Heather was one of the very first people I was in contact with who was searching everywhere for her missing pet. Heather found Buddy in Tylertown through a series of contacts, connections and many people being on the lookout for him. Many links in the chain.

It's time for everyone who has internet access and at least an hour a day to become a Buddy and help search for someone's lost or missing pet. I have a long list of people who are actively searching, and you will be matched with one (or more depending on your availability) of them. Many of these people have no or limited internet access. They are all grateful for anything and everything you do.

You will be sent an email with all the information on what to do and where and how to look.

If you are already searching for someone's lost or missing pet, please let us know here so we can keep this well-coordinated. The goal of this is to make sure that there are not 20 people all looking for the same pet, while 19 other pets go without anyone looking for them.

At this time we are only working with those owners who ask for assistance and support.

If you are a pet owner who would like a Buddy, please send an email to: noanimalleftbehind@gmail.com and provide as much information as possible about your pet, including your phone number and an alternate phone number. You will be contacted as soon as a Buddy is found to help you.

Contact Information
No Animal Left Behind

Please call or write if you are searching for a lost or missing pet and would like assistance, support and/or information.

Toll-Free Number: 877-680-0090
Email: noanimalleftbehind@gmail.com

Please read the previous post:Tips & Suggestions for Finding Your Pet

Email me if you want an updated list of all shelters that have taken Katrina pets.

If you FOUND a pet and need help locating the owner, a very good list of tips and suggestions have been compiled and can be foun at: http://www.KatrinaSanAntonio.com

If you are fostering an animal and would like help locating its owner, please send an email to: noanimalleftbehind@gmail.com and provide a complete description as well as a good contact number and we will do our best to have someone call you.

Here are some additional things to consider:
Collars were removed from most pets at Lamar Dixon for a variety of (mostly stupid) reasons. Unfortunately when these collars were removed, the information on the tags was also removed.

Many pets were rescued by independent rescuers and did not go through Lamar Dixon. Many of these groups have their own websites which I will do my best to list here as I learn of them. Tonight I traced a dog who was rescued in New Orleans to an animal hospital in Mississippi to a shelter in Maryland and from there to a foster home. The good news is that this dog is safe and healthy and while I hope it is the one I've been looking for, at least it is hopefully one that someone is looking for.

Additional websites to check for your pet:

www.thewildones.net
(these are the pictures of the animals that are being fostered by the Humane Society of Calvert County. The phone number for the shelter contact person is: 301-904-5528; the number for the HSCC is 410-257-4908 - expect to get voice mail only.
www.animalarkshelter.org
www.pasadosafehaven.org
www.bestfriends.org

Reunion: Lazarus has been found !

Read the complete story here: http://hometown.aol.com/moncheri1213/index.html

Dottie has been found...


















but Charlie is still missing.

At the end of the day there are many animals on my mind; Candy, Oscar & TJ, Chelsea, Dutchess, Egraine, the four small dogs that were left behind in a trailer in Empire, LA, and many more. But a few I think about all the time: Clearview, Mary's 12 year old black lab mix who looks like an angel; Lazarus, Kim's sweet and beautiful orange tabby, and Charlie & Dottie.

As the family was preparing to evacuate, the dogs sensing the danger of the approaching hurricane, ran away. The family had no choice but to leave without them. Charlie was spotted by a neighbor last week, so we are hopeful that he will soon be found. He is a male Chow mix, 2 1/2 years old with a soft light-medium brown coat. He has a purple tongue, curled tail and before Katrina weighed around 90 lbs. The family lived in Buras, Plaquemines Parish. If anyone reading this will be in that area soon or knows anyone who will be, please look for Charlie so he can be reunited with his big sister Dottie and the rest of the family who misses him so much.

There weren’t many (if any) rescuers working in that area, so if anyone can get there to search for animals wandering around, please do so. Bring food and drinking water. If there are animals you see but can’t get, try to take a picture and write down all the information you can. If you email me the pictures I’ll get them posted.

Adoption Deadline petition - Please Support

No Animal Left Behind is a coalition of individuals, shelters and rescue groups that believes that the animal victims of Katrina not be allowed to be adopted until no sooner than January 1, 2006. We believe that there are enough people willing to provide long-term foster homes to these animals in order to give the owners sufficient time to locate them. Many of these pet owners are still without reliable and consistent internet access and/or phone service. Further, many of the animals who are labeld as "hard-to-place" are those most likely to belong to someone. Pets who are older and/or have chronic health problems have someone out there who has loved and cared for them for a very long time. We are concerned about getting all pets back home and need more time, especially for those most likely to be disposed of by overcrowded shelters.

Photos of RESCUED Pets in St. Bernard

The St. Bernard Parish Animal Shelter is now operating at Rebel Field behind Chalmette High School. The animals that have been photographed are posted on a new website. They will begin trapping animals that are roaming around so if you believe your pet was rescued from, or found in St. Bernard Parish, visit this site often. The photos are much better than those on Petfinder. They also have a turtle, snake, horse and some chickens.

Tips and Suggestions for Finding Your Lost or Missing Pet

Some helpful websites:

www.craigslist.com
Post a listing about your pet. Be sure to include your email address and at least one phone number. Be as specific as possible in describing it. Post a photo if you have one. Request that it be cross-posted elsewhere. Be sure to click on the New Orleans link, and from there the Missing Pets link. Put your full name or the full name of the person the pet can be traced to in the posting. This will also allow your name to show up in a Google search which is helpful if the pet was rescued from your house.
http://petharbor.com
http://disaster.petfinder.com/emergency/rescue
There are problems with both of these sites; many of the photos are bad and much of the information is wrong. Check both often. If your dog is a 50/50 mix, Lab/Boxer for example, be sure to search under both breeds as well as "pit bull", "mix", "Rottweiler", etc. Sad but true but a lot of the people entering information into the database had no idea about breeds. I’ve seen golden retrievers listed as yellow labs; lhasa apsos listed as shih tzus; an all black cat listed as a grey tabby and a small fuzzy kitten described as a Rottie mix. And for reasons I can't figure, some aniamls are of undetermined sex. There have even been a few times when a found pet was posted under "Lost Pets", so leave no stone unturned. Start off with a narrow search in case you get lucky and expand it as needed.

Both sites allow you to search by the address the pet was rescued from. Use only the name of the street, not the words st., rd., ave., blvd., etc. If you see a FOUND pet listing that may be yours, save the entire listing in a file on your computer because listings change and even disappear!

If you don't get a resonse to your inquiry to the contact person who has posted the FOUND listing, please contact us here.

http://www.findkatrinapets.com/pages/1/index.htm
They have compiled a comprehensive list of shelters around the county where animals have been taken to. They also have lots of other ideas and suggestions.

http://www.dogdetective.com/
Search for found/rescued dogs here.

http://www.alleycat.org/
Search here for found/rescued cats here.

Other Useful Suggestions:
If your dog is a purebred, contact as many rescue groups as possible for that breed, especially those in and closest to the Gulf region. Send emails. Enclose a photo and description of you dog if you have one. Breed rescue groups are more likely than many shelters to provide long term fostering while continuing to look for you. We have Breed Coordinators who will work with you to find your pet.
Send us an email and include complete and detailed information.

Even if you don’t have a photo, find one on the internet that looks similar to your pet and post it, stating that it is not an actual photo but close to what your dog or cat look like. Provide information as best you can about the dog’s height, coloring, weight, condition of teeth. State if it was spayed or neutered. Was it micro-chipped and if so, do you have the number? Many animals personalities have temporarily changed due to the stress and conditions they’ve experienced, so it may not be helpful to say that your dog loves to catch a Frisbee or roll over.

Just because your dog was wearing a red collar when you evacuated doesn’t mean it will be wearing it now. Collars were removed from dogs. Your pet may have lost weight, gained weight, been injured. Some animals have been shaven to remove mats and gunk. Some animals may have “aged” a few years during the past month so be careful how you describe your pet. Someone who may have your pet may not realize it if you describe it as it was pre-Katrina.

If your animal can be traced in any way to your former home phone number, even if it is now out-of-order, call the phone company and request that your number be transferred to another number. If you have voice mail through your former NOLA phone number, change the greeting to include a number where you can be reached now. If you don’t have voice mail, call the phone company immediately and sign up for it. Also make sure to have your mail forwarded someplace where you can get it every day. Rent a P.O. Box if you need to.

Contact someone at your former place of employment to let them know how to get in touch with you if necessary and to see if there is a message or information relay/ response system in place.

There are a lot of people willing to help.
Send us an email or call toll-free 877-680-0090.

Welcome to No Animal Left Behind

Hi everyone and welcome to this site. Please join me and the hundreds of others who have come together over the past 37 days in a cooperative effort to help rescue and reunite thousands of Katrina evacuees and their pets. The task is daunting and exhausting but the most exciting and rewarding experience I’ve ever had. In these 37 days I’ve cried many tears of sorrow and some tears of joy; I’ve made great friends, I’ve met some of the coolest people from all over the country, Canada and even Germany. Over the next few weeks and months please check back often for photos of lost and found animals, ways to get involved in your local community or within this virtual community and much more.

Please read the following statement to extend the deadline for adoptions of the animal victims of Katrina. If you agree with this, please add your name to the list by sending an email to noanimalleftbehind@gmail.com and include your full name, city, state and affiliation (if any).

No Animal Left Behind is a coalition of individuals, shelters and rescue groups that believes that the animal victims of Katrina not be adopted until January 1, 2006. We believe that there are enough people willing to provide long-term foster homes to these animals in order to give the owners sufficient time to locate them. Many of these pet owners are still without reliable and consistent internet access and/or phone service. Further, many of the animals who are labeled as “hard-to-place” are those most likely to belong to someone. Pets that are older and/or have chronic health problems have someone out there who has loved and cared for them for a very long time. We are concerned about getting all pets back home and need more time, especially with those most likely to be disposed of by overcrowded shelters. Finally, we request that everyone who fosters one of these animals agrees to actively try to locate its owners. We are here to help.