Posted: 11/1/05
Pet rescue leaves powerful imprint on local women
By David Heiller
Argus News Editor
Marcie Jenson and Jenny Moore may have received more than they gave on a pet rescue mission to Louisiana recently.
What they gave during their recent trip was pretty impressive.
Marcie raised almost $3,500 in local donations, and gave that to two pet rescue organizations. She gave her time and expertise also as an animal control officer.
Moore used her skills as a pet groomer to help wash and shampoo animals and assist veterinarians in treating injured and diseased pets.
But the two women said they got a lot in return. ìItís changed my life, it has, the way I feel, the way I look at things, it really has,î Moore said on October 26, breaking into tears.
People in the Hurricane Katrina area lost everything, their homes, their jobs. ìYet they still hold their heads up and talk to you,î Moore said. That gave her a new perspective on her life as a single mother who doesnít make much money and has her share of struggles.
ìMakes you feel good inside,î she said of the trip.
Both Moore and Jenson said they would not hesitate to go back again. ìI would go again in a heartbeat,î Jenson said.
It was very fulfilling, Moore added.
They had different experiences when they visited the hurricane-damaged areas October 9-16. Most of their time was in St. Bernard Parish. Jenson spent a lot of time searching for animals. She would go out with a crew, and they would catch what they could, usually using a catch pole that had a loop at the tip that could be placed around the animalís head.
It wasnít easy to catch the animals. For one thing, some well-intentioned people had put out food and water for the animals. That was a mistake, Jenson felt, because the animals would come out at night and eat, then bed down during the day. ìJust like a coyote or wolf would,î Jenson observed.
ìIf nobody would have fed them, they would have come to us way much easier,î she said.
It was interesting seeing the animals revert back to their wild nature. ìTheir instincts came totally out.î
Owners shed happy tears
After animals were caught, they would be taken to a holding area, cleaned up, examined, and treated by a veterinarian. The animals would be scanned by a wand to see if they had a computer chip in them that identified them. If there was no chip, one would be put in the back of the animal, between the shoulder blades. The chip would contain information such as the breed of the dog, where it was found, and its age. A photo
would also be taken. This would then be entered on a website called petfinders.com, so that people could look for their animals.
Jenson estimated that they took in 26-36 animals a day, with 8-12 of them being reunited with their owners per day. That was special to see, lots of tears, owners on their knees.
ìItís just, whew, pretty happy stuff,î Moore said.
Dogs that were not claimed in five days were taken in air-conditioned trucks to animal shelters for 60-90 days. They will be put up for adoption if not claimed in that time. For example, one semi truck that was loaded with 60 dogs and 20 cats and sent to an animal shelter in Florida.
Conditions were difficult and dangerous. Both Jenson and Moore came back with congestion problems, probably from the black mold that was everywhere, Jenson said.
Jenson also had to be decontaminated twice. ìBecause I was stupid,î she said with a chuckle. The first time came when she walked through flooded water to gather up a dog that was on an island. She carried it in her arms back to her vehicle. ìA lot of muck and crap on the bottom,î she said.
Then there was the time she crawled through more muck and mud under a building to catch a pit bull that had split from the pack of dogs it was running with. She used a catch pole for that dog. Jenson said the dog had a lot of infection and would have died in 2-3 days.
To be decontaminated, Jenson had to have her shoes bleached and watered down and her clothes washed. Jenson had to take a shower on a ship using a special soap.
The smell of death
The saddest part for Jenson was finding dead dogs in schools. She figured that people had been evacuated to the schools, then had to move again and leave their pets behind. She had pictures of dogs that had been eaten by other dogs, which had then died themselves.
The smell was overpowering too. ìAll we smelled the whole time we were there was death,î she said. Both she and Moore said it took about three days to get rid of the smell.
Jenson called the devastation that she saw ìamazing.î She had more pictures that proved her point: vehicles on houses, houses on their sides, houses totally gone from the stilts that they had stood on.
Moore said it was like being in a ghost town. There was no electricity, and people had to drive an hour to get water or ice. Police set up check points and would check identity before letting people enter and leave areas.
Moore said there were people from all over the United States helping
Jenson gave $2,000 to the John M. Parker Coliseum in Baton Rouge, LA. The rest of the donation went to the Lamar Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, LA.
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