EMERGENCY RESPONSE

Report:

PET FRIENDLY SHELTER for Mobile County evacuees from Hurricane Gustav

On Saturday August 30, 2008, I was notified by EMA at approximately 4:00 PM that the local shelters would be opening Sunday August 31, at 10:00 AM. I alerted our volunteers that I would need them to be at the Boys and Girls Club in Semmes at 8:00 AM to set up. Eleven volunteers arrived and we set up within one hour. Six volunteers remained to work through the evacuation storm period.

The halls were covered in plastic taped 4 feet up the walls. The crates were set up for dogs at one end and cats at the other. Carpet mats were laid on top of the plastic to keep volunteers from slipping. We set up our intake table at the entrance to the facility. At 10 AM we started taking in pets. We also took calls all through the day and well into the night from people trying to leave pets with us that were evacuating to relatives homes. These people were all told no. The only pets we were to house were from citizens evacuating to EMA shelters. We had numerous people also drive to our facility wanting to leave their pets that were not staying in the shelters. These people were also denied entrance.

Sunday morning we received a call from a Mobile County school bus driver in Bayou La Batre, that there was a man with a dog and a parrot that was evacuating to the Theodore shelter and he had no way to transport his animals to us in Semmes. I sent one of our volunteers to Bayou La Batre to pick up his animals. The bird stayed in the shelter restroom through out the event since it was very noisy.

Dr. Quinton Meadows DVM arrived at our facility on Sunday afternoon to donate his services. He stayed through the night. He examined all the pets . He gave two rabies vaccinations to two cats at the owners request. He sedated one dog late Sunday night since it was very distressed and noisy. He also monitored another dog that appeared to be getting sick in the early hours of Monday morning.

Alabama State Constable Brad Flott stayed through the event and transported our meals from the Semmes Middle School shelter. He also fielded calls and backed all of us up when we had to turn people away for various reasons noted above.

All the citizens we dealt with were cooperative, even when sent elsewhere. The only problem came from a woman that drove to us with two new born puppies she had found on the side of the road. This was before Dr. Meadows arrived. She stated that the Sheriff’s Department had told her to bring them to us. I explained that the Sheriffs had made a mistake and we were not set up to care for unvaccinated newborns, I gave her options. She could take them home and deal with them herself or take them to one of the local vets on Schillinger’s Road that was taking boarders. I also explained that the city shelter had staff manning their shelter in town and would take them. She declined all the offers and left mad.



The dogs and cats arrived in a steady rate all afternoon and we ended up with 34 pets. Saturday afternoon we were informed by EMA that Louisiana evacuees would be housed in Mobile Shelters.



Our staff of volunteers remained at six throughout the storm. The Alabama Director of the Humane Society of the United States drove to Mobile from Jasper. She arrived at about 9:00 PM and spent the evening helping out. Her experience in disaster sheltering gave all of us a boost in our confidence that we were handling this event in the proper manner. She stayed through the next day and help supervise the break down and clean up since I was pulled away to transport the remaining pets of Louisiana evacuees.

Monday, as the storm subsided, local residents in the shelters came and got their pets. One Louisiana owner was located at a friends house, where he had stayed through out the storm We requested he remove his dog. This was the dog that appeared to be sick during the night. When he arrived, we had the dog up and eating and drinking. We advised him that the dog needed to be watched closely and see his vet as soon as he got home.

The evacuees from Louisiana were sent by Red Cross to local churches as the shelters closed at 5 PM. We were left with 14 pets to transport to Mobile SPCA. The man from Bayou La Batre also failed to retrieve his dog and bird. They too went to Mobile SPCA. By 7 PM on Monday the Boys and Gils Club was cleaned and ready to open for business the following day.

The Bayou La Batre dog and bird were taken back to the owner on Tuesday after he informed us he could not drive to Mobile SPCA to get his pets. Mobile SPCA transported the pets.

Louisiana owners were informed where their pets would be when they were allowed to return home. On Tuesday August 2, we received a Chihuahua that an evacuee had kept at a shelter. One of the SPCA employees went to St. Paul‘s Lutheran Church and picked up the dog. All pets remained until Friday and Saturday, when the last evacuees returned to Louisiana. All pets were cleaned, fed, watered and exercised by Mobile SPCA staff during their time with us.

Saturday morning, Sept, 6th. I transported the last dog to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church for the evacuees leaving for Houma La. Mobile SPCA also supplied a pet crate and pet food for the evacuees to travel with the dog since they were going home to a devastated area and the dog might need to be contained even after they returned home.



Respectfully ,

Elizabeth Flott
Director Pet Friendly Shelter
for Mobile EMA

 

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