Rescuing Pets in Louisiana

Rene's Story

Rene bathes a rescued dog in Louisiana.

We arrived mid morning on Sunday Sept. 11 and were immediately put to work. The donation supplies were coming in from all over the country by the truckload and were being offloaded into staging areas. Noah's Wish was overwhelmed with supplies they didn't need as well as with what they did. With limited space, priorities needed to be made. There was allot of confusion as to where to put stuff and so little space to put it in. Eventually things were put outside.

When there was a break in traffic I was grabbed by the supplies manager and asked to organize the supply section. I didn't know what we needed or didn't but at Noah's Wish you learn quickly.. If we didn't have room for it, the abundance was organized outside and given to the Red Cross because it seemed at the time, more would be coming. By 8 pm that evening, we had a system that was working, and we had labeled, organized sections for supplies.

I was noticed and appreciated instantly for my help with supplies and asked to go the St Tammany Parish to work with the shelter there the next day. It was my chance to see beyond Noah's Wish compound. On the sad drive we could see dogs on the streets, destroyed houses, downed power lines and trees, and garbage so piled up we wondered where would it go. St Tammany Shelter was a mess with no power or water except what was supplied through generators. We held more dogs than I could count for two days while the overworked staff worked feverishly to clean the kennels and dogs and cats. Many of the animals were in sad shape, dehydrated and hungry with mats and black sludge clinging to their fur. I also at this time noticed how many dogs were not neutered......most.

The rest of my time there I worked with Jennifer and Pam who were in charge of 200 or so dogs and puppies. This was exhausting hot work. The temperature was around 98 degrees and humid is barely the word for it. We walked these animals 3 times a day and cleaned the crates and gave them as much love as our short walks would allow. My heart went to the older dogs as I wondered if they would ever see their people again. It was easy to get sad, so I tried to keep my mind on the job at hand and making the dogs as comfortable as possible.

I did not want to leave but we had to come home. I will go again if need be. I don't even want to think what would have happened to these animals if we, and the many volunteers we met, had not been there.

Rene'