Montana Animal Care Team Returns from Louisana

Monday September 19th, a team of volunteers from Montana's state organization, The Montana Animal Care Association known as MACA joined The Humane Society of The United States (HSUS), in Gonzalas, Louisiana.  This team formed by MACA President Phyllis Ruana, reported to the Lamar-Dixon Grounds where several 1000 displaced animals from Hurricane Katrina were being housed and cared for.

Heat, humidity, lack of accomodations, flooding, sanitation issues, tornado watches, lack of power and communication are just a few issues the team dealt with.

Every morning at 5:30 am, teams assembled in order to pack their trucks and vans with animal food and water and head for New Orleans. Each small group was given a map and an area to cover either by going door to door or by mass feedings in locations where animals had been spotted.

Animals are still being rescued as the waters are receding and  homes can be accessed, however the condition of many of the animals is very poor at this point

Having hurricane Rita  follow Katrina was yet another disappointment.  The Lamar-Dixon facility had to move tons and tons of supplies under cover as well as move all the animals housed on the outer stalls to the inner stalls for protection.  This  also meant that large numbers of animals had to be shipped out the evening before Rita hit due to lack of "safe accomodations" from the elements..

To walk, clean cages, feed and wash animals takes many hours.  I felt like we were in the land of Pit Bulls.  It would be a safe guess to say 8 out of 10 dogs were Pit Bulls or Pit mixes.  They were so kind and so appreciative.  From the tiny pups to the massive Pits.  At the end of the day, just getting down on the ground rolling with them made it all worth while.

MACA's  organization mission is to improve the welfare of Montana's domestic and wild animals by providing training & networking opportunities for animal care professionals, spay & neuter assistance and  to increase awareness of animal issued through education.

Ruana stated that the goal of this team was not only to assist in the rescue and recovery of the animals in the New Orleans area, but to return home with first-hand knowledge & experience that will assist Montana should we experience a disaster here at home.  After a recent conference in Billings, where 7 states got together for training.  Ruana said that she found very few organizations actually have an outlined disaster plan where large numbers of animals would be involved. After the Helena event, designing an animal care disaster plan became the focus and goal of each attendee.

If you are interested in more information about disaster volunteering or would like to join MACA please contact adoptapetnow@aol.com. 

website www.montanaanimalcareassociation.org

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