PRESS RELEASE Department of Agriculture and Forestry News UpdateLDAF Pet Evacuation Operation A Success BATON ROUGE (September 11, 2008) - Pet owners are praising the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry (LDAF) for its efforts to get pets out of harm's way during evacuations for Hurricane Gustav. Katie Pierre of Terrebonne Parish said LDAF-directed volunteers "were beautiful to my dog" during evacuations at the State Fair of Louisiana in Shreveport. Pierre boarded a Shreveport-bound bus to escape Hurricane Gustav. Her shih-tzu, Max, boarded a climate controlled 18-wheeler and was transported to a pet-friendly shelter, also in Shreveport. The LDAF partnered with the Louisiana State Animal Response Team (LSART) and other volunteer groups to set up pet shelters in Shreveport and Alexandria to help evacuees and their pets with critical transportation needs. National groups like American Humane, American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Emergency Animal Rescue Service-United Animal Nations, Humane Society! of the United States, International Fund for Animal Welfare, Noah's Wish and numerous local humane organizations provided vital support throughout the hurricane event. LDAF Commissioner Mike Strain, D.V.M., said Louisiana is the first and only state to initiate such a program for pets and their owners with critical transportation needs. "We wanted to make sure that no one would have any reason not to evacuate," Strain said. "That meant we had to set up a plan to move pets. People didn't leave New Orleans during Katrina because there were no shelters that would take their pets." "We believe that lives were saved because we set up this pet evacuation program." Pet owners like Pierre who weren't able to drive themselves out of the storm's path brought their dogs and cats to parish pick-up points and registered both themselves and their pets with the LDAF-LSART team. Lap pets were allowed to travel with their owners. Larger animals were put in crates ! assembled by the inmates of Dixon Correctional Institute in Jackson an d trainees of Forcht Wade Correctional Center in Keithville. The animals not traveling with their owners were transported to Shreveport and Alexandria pet shelters in climate-controlled tractor-trailer rigs. The pet transport was followed by a vet-med team in a trailing van. The pet truck stopped every two hours to allow for a quick health check of the animals by the vet-med team. When the animals arrived in Shreveport they found a well-prepared shelter with proper security and a volunteer veterinary team to tend to the pets. "The volunteers were a tremendous help," said Martha Littlefield, D.V.M. "We could not have done this task without the help of numerous unpaid volunteers who took care of these pets like they were their own." Most pet owners were settled in nearby shelters and participated in the care of their pets. "I was able to go and feed and walk Max," Katie Pierre said. "It was nice to be able to do something while I was in the shelter and! the volunteers told me they would take good care of Max when I had to go back to Houma. They were beautiful to Max." Strain said 1,604 pets were evacuated from the coastal parishes. Most were from Orleans and Jefferson parishes, but they also came from Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Bernard, Calcasieu, and St. Mary. The breakdown was 200 cats, 1400 dogs, one rabbit, one bird, one guinea pig, and a hermit crab. Forty percent of the animals traveled with their owners on evacuation buses. For more information on Louisiana's pet evacuation program, visit www.ldaf.state.la.us. For the latest information on hurricanes Gustav and Ike, visit emergency.louisiana.gov. ###
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