Volunteers break into homes to rescue pets left behind

http://www.wwltv.com/local/stories/WWL092905pets.a6860b7f.html

Volunteers break into homes to rescue pets left behind
02:32 PM CDT on Thursday, September 29, 2005
Associated Press

Volunteers have spent weeks wading through hazardous floodwaters, breaking into houses, and sometimes risking their own lives to rescue pets left stranded by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Anna Strates, a volunteer from Olney, Md., said Thursday that her group has addresses of pet owners who were forced to leave their pets behind as they left town.

"We literally have permission to break into houses and rescue dogs and cats," said Strates, a volunteer with the Humane Society of the United States. "It takes sometimes an hour to break into one house, because there is so much debris."

Strates and fellow volunteers were working Thursday in the city's Ninth Ward, parts of which were still flooded.

"It's complete devastation," she said.

On Wednesday, Strates was rescuing a cat when she heard a dog barking in an apartment next door. She said workers broke down a wall to find the dog, which was frightened and stuck in a closet.

"He unfortunately was pretty vicious because he was terrified," Strates said. "We left him a ton of food and water."

Jo Sullivan, spokeswoman for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said at its peak, there were several hundred volunteers working to rescue animals in New Orleans.

Sullivan said once animals are rescued, they are taken to a staging area, where they are treated for medical needs -- usually dehydration, hunger and lacerations -- and then they are fitted with a microchip containing identifying information in hopes of reuniting pet with owner.

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