Noah's Ark Legislation would prevent discrimination against pet owners and adopt a policy that no pet nor human be left behind!

In the aftermath of hurrican Katrina there have been thousands of lost, abandoned and neglected pets, many of which are dogs.

In at least one case a young boy had his dog, Snowball, forceably taken away from him by police officers. The dog had already been rescued by family members, survived hurricane Katrina and the terrible conditions of the Superdome, only to be left for dead by police and authorities who had adopted a No Pets Allowed police with respect to evacuating pets.

What is needed is Noah's Ark Legislation that no pet nor person be left behind during an evacuation. There needs to be a federal law that states no pet nor person shall be left behind during an evacuation, that pet owners will not be discriminated against and/or made to part with their pets; that pet owners must be given the same access to public and private accomadations as non-pet owners.

I urge everyone to contact their congressional representatives and urge that Noah's Ark Legislation be passed, that this be made the law of the land! It is high time that the civil rights of pet owers receive the same protection as those of other minority groups.

The reason pets, especially dogs, were not included in the evacuation of New Orleans had nothing to do with having to make a choice between people or animals. It was just some brilliant idiot's idea to adopt a No Pets Allowed policy. Perhaps someone did not want the clean, bright and shiney buses to be soiled. Perhaps the operators of the Astrodome or other shelters were worried dogs and cats would make a mess. Whatever the reason it represents ignorance, prejudice and discrimination toward and against pet owners, especially dog owners.

Leaving pets, especially most loved dogs and cats, behind in an evacuation to starve, drwond or die a cruel death, is a form of cruelty to animals imposed upon people by FEMA, the police and other agency personnel who have adopted a No Pets Allowed policy. There needs to be Noah's Ark Legislation that makes it a crime to neglect and abandone animals, to separate owners from their animals. The policy in force should be to leave no animal or human behind; to rescue pets and pet owners; to never separate a responsible pet owner from its most loved pet and to provide equal access, treatment and care for all pet owners and their pets.

The origin of "No Pets Allowed" policies stems from such Islamic fundamentalist beliefs that pets, especially dogs, are filthy animals. Also many Christian religions teach that man is superior to animals, that man was made in God's image, that therefore man has a soul and is somehow superior to animals. This idea ultimately results in carnage upon animals and is one of the primary reasons in the United States, Europe and other largely Christian countries animals are viewed as property that can be treated inhumainly, abandoned and disposed of without a second thought or what would amount to a fair trial and reasonable consideration.

The horrible state of affair in New Orleans in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina is a prime example of why Noah's Ark Legislation is needed to insure that never again will pets be left behind in an evacuation or pet owners be denied equal access to public and private facilities. All government contractors who provide food, shelter or other services for people should be required to provide equal services to pet owners without discrimination. Noah's Ark Legislation would prohibit the discrimination agaist people who own pets and require that service providers provide accommadations for pet owners.

Now is the time when pet owners everywhere should ban together, should unite and insist that our representatives in both Washington and at state and local government adopt Noah's Ark Legislation. Such legislation to protect the rights of pet owners, to outlaw "No Pets Allowed" policies as a form of discrimination, is long over due.

Of course it may take time to get Noah's Ark Legislation on the books. In the mean time New Orleans has been flooded and has become a virtual ghost town with many abandoned dogs, cats and other animals which will starve, drown or die without immediate emergency assistence. This does not mean rounding up the animals and killing them; it means rescuing the animals, finding their owners, reuniting pets with their owners and/or finding new owners or foster homes for the animals while their former owners reestablish their lives.

If you want to help you may contact any of the organizations listed below.

The following articles have been reprinted for informational and educatonal purposes:  

By MIKE STOBBE, AP

ATLANTA (Sept. 5) - As Valerie Bennett was evacuated from a New Orleans hospital, rescuers told her there was no room in the boat for her dogs. She pleaded. "I offered him my wedding ring and my mom's wedding ring," the 34-year-old nurse recalled Saturday. They wouldn't budge. She and her husband could bring only one item, and they already had a plastic tub containing the medicines her husband, a liver transplant recipient, needed to survive.

Such emotional scenes were repeated perhaps thousands of times along the Gulf Coast last week as pet owners were forced to abandon their animals in the midst of evacuation.

In one example reported last week by The Associated Press, a police officer took a dog from one little boy waiting to get on a bus in New Orleans. "Snowball! Snowball!" the boy cried until he vomited. The policeman told a reporter he didn't know what would happen to the dog.

At the hospital, a doctor euthanized some animals at the request of their owners, who feared they would be abandoned and starve to death. He set up a small gas chamber out of a plastic-wrapped dog kennel.

"The bigger dogs were fighting it. Fighting the gas. It took them longer. When I saw that, I said 'I can't do it,'" said Bennett's husband, Lorne.

Valerie Bennett left her dogs with the anesthesiologist, who promised to care for about 30 staff members' pets on the roof of the hospital, Lindy Boggs Medical Center.

"He said he'd stay there as long as he possibly could," Valerie Bennett recalled, speaking from her husband's bedside at Atlanta's Emory University Hospital.

On Saturday afternoon, she said she saw a posting on a Web site called petfinder.com that said the anesthesiologist was still caring for the animals.

Louisiana State Treasurer John Kennedy, who was helping with relief efforts Saturday, said some evacuees refused to leave without their pets.

"One woman told me 'I've lost my house, my job, my car and I am not turning my dog loose to starve,'" Kennedy said.

Kennedy said he persuaded refugees to get on the bus by telling them he would have the animals taken to an exhibition center.

The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals picked up two cats and 15 dogs, including one Kennedy found tied up beneath the overpass next to an unopened can of dog food with a sign that read "Please take care of my dog, his name is Chucky."

The fate of pets is a huge but underappreciated cause of anguish for storm survivors, said Richard Garfield, professor of international clinical nursing at New York's Columbia University.

"People in shelters are worried about 'Did Fluffy get out?'" he said. "It's very distressing for people, wondering if their pets are isolated or starving."

The Bennetts had four animals, including two beloved dogs.

They moved to Slidell, La., in July when Valerie took a job at an organ transplant institute connected to Lindy Boggs. Lorne, a former paramedic, is disabled since undergoing a liver transplant in 2001.

On Saturday, as Hurricane Katrina approached, both went to the hospital to help and took all four animals with them.

They fed their guinea pig and left it in its cage in a patient room. They couldn't refill its empty water bottle because the hospital's plumbing failed Sunday, they said. They poured food on the floor for the cat, but again no water.

"I just hope that they forgive me," Valerie Bennett cried.

*** END ***

By MATT SEDENSKY, AP

NEW ORLEANS (Sept. 6) - Among the thousands of crushing moments from last week's deadly hurricane, one image brought the anguish home to many: a tearful little boy torn from his dog while being shuttled to safety.

It tugged at the heartstrings, prompting an outpouring from around the country of people on the hunt for both the boy and his dog Snowball in hopes of a reunion.

They've been scouring shelters, posting notes on the Internet and making phone calls to track them down. One woman set up a Web site to help people pair up pets with their owners. Another set up a reward to encourage someone to come forward with information on Snowball's or the boy's whereabouts.

"Everyone wants to know about Snowball," said Laura Maloney, executive director of the Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

The boy was among the thousands who ended up sheltered at the Superdome after the hurricane. But when he went to board a bus to be evacuated to Houston, a police officer took the dog away. The boy cried out - "Snowball! Snowball!" - then vomited in distress. Authorities say they don't know where the boy or his family ended up.

It was almost too much for Jean Jones to bear.

The 56-year-old woman from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., runs puppymillrescue.com and launched another site, katrinafoundpets.com, to help pair Snowball and other lost pets with their owners. She also started a reward fund - which hit $1,775 as of Monday - hoping money might persuade people to help out.

Billie Sue Bruce, a 65-year-old retired teacher in Jonesville, Va., was the first to donate, giving $500. "The child has been through so much already," she said. "Then to just add to this emotional state is unforgivable."

Late Monday, there was a ray of hope. The United Animal Nations said Snowball was safe, citing news from the state veterinarian's office. However, the information could not be immediately verified. To complicate matters further, the group called Snowball a terrier mix, while others consider the dog a bichon frise.

If the boy and his dog are indeed safe, they have beaten long odds.

Many of the animals - dogs, cats, ferrets and birds - that police collected at the Superdome were herded into a stairwell until the human evacuation was complete. Of the 50 animals rescued from the Superdome on Sunday, not all of them survived.

In Texas, refugees unable to care for their dogs and cats are handing them over to animal shelters already crowded with animals evacuated before the hurricane.

At the Humane Society of North Texas in Fort Worth on Monday, Antoinette Simmons and Wilson Clark dropped off their 7-year-old shi tzu. Staying in a Fort Worth hotel, the couple is unsure when they will be able to take Princess back home.

More than 600 displaced pets remain in Houston. Hundreds more fill kennels and cages in Dallas and around the state. Shelters try to arrange foster homes for pets, and many families have volunteered.

"I've been doing this type of work for 26 years and I've never seen this type of outpouring," said SPCA of Texas president James Bias, who shuttled 30 cats in his van from Houston to Dallas last week.

In Mississippi, many pets were either left to fend for themselves in the powerful winds or trapped in flooding cages as owners fled. Others survived, only to die after days without food and water.

Seventeen dogs and six cats died at the Humane Society of South Mississippi shelter in Gulfport. About 125 survived, many of them dog-paddling for hours until the mix of mud and sewage receded.

The national Humane Society chapter came in Friday and retrieved the survivors, trucking them to shelters further north, said Julie Parks, the assistant director of the Gulfport facility.

"We had dogs that swam the entire time in 4 feet of water and survived," said Parks. "Even cats were in about 8 to 9 inches of water in the upper cages and they swam and survived, too.

Just like everybody else, they're survivors.

"Reuniting Snowball and his owner will require work, patience and luck.

Volunteers planned to make visits to shelters in the Houston area looking for the dog's owners. They were considering walking around carrying signs with Snowball's photo.

"I don't know how hopeful I am," Jones said. "They probably don't know anything about this - that there's a reward out there and we're trying to look for them.

"Associated Press writers Paul J. Weber in Dallas and Brian Skoloff in Waveland, Miss., contributed to this report.09-06-05 03:15 EDTCopyright 2005 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. The above article was reprinted via AOL for distribution to its members of which Project K9 is an affiliate.