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| An unknown number of pets roamed loose after Katrina. |
When Katrina struck in late August 2005, it was immediately clear that the hurricane's raw force would cause colossal damage to the infrastructure and capacity of animal care and control agencies in the Gulf Coast region. For that reason, even as The HSUS launched and sustained its direct rescue and relief work, staff planners also began to look ahead, with two goals in mind. The first was to make established organizations in the region fully operational as soon as possible. The second was to develop a strategy not simply to restore, but also to substantially enhance the state of animal care and control in Louisiana, Mississippi, and neighboring states.
Of course, this work and planning took place against a backdrop of general emergency, unequaled devastation over a vast expanse, and large-scale displacement of the human population, especially in and around the city of New Orleans. With an unknown number of once-owned pets loose, and some groups involved in feeding programs to keep animals alive until owners, caregivers or others came along to rescue them, the question remained: What would become of these animals in the long term? And what about the continuing claims of some animal rescuers that large numbers of animals were running free, and breeding, throughout the desolate and uninhabited zones of New Orleans and other communities?
It is estimated that tens of thousands of animals, domestic and feral, died during the disaster. There is considerable disagreement about the number of animals actually loose and breeding in its aftermath, however. In New Orleans, several surveys of varying thoroughness have been conducted, and most of those who have attempted to count stray and roaming dogs and cats have found only small numbers of animals (totaling less than a few thousand in the two parishes of Orleans and Jefferson).
On the other hand, there are others who assert, often with great conviction, that there are more than a few thousand strays but that they are so shy of humans that they only come out from hiding in the hours between midnight and 5 a.m. (Dogs and cats are normally most active during the hours of dawn and dusk.)
Such uncertainty notwithstanding, The HSUS has allocated funds to a number of projects that focus on spay/neuter work in the Gulf Coast region, to ensure the success of post-Katrina recovery strategies. A substantial rise in the number of unwanted companion animals would cause havoc to the practical work, current budgets, and long-term stability of local societies, which have a full range of responsibilities apart from animal control. That's why, to date, The HSUS has made a commitment of more than $2.5 million to these projects – helping to advance the most concentrated application of spay and neuter programs in this nation's history.
Getting Humane Societies Back into Business
From the earliest days of the disaster, The HSUS made a concerted effort to distribute funds to a broad range of Gulf Coast organizations, to keep them all in operation. Open admission shelters, limited admission shelters, rescue groups, and wildlife centers all received reimbursement or recovery funds in support of their work.
"We gave our strongest support in the form of grant-and-aid packages to the Louisiana SPCA ($4.5 million) and the Humane Society of South Mississippi ($665,000), two organizations whose work will anchor the general recovery of animal protection in the stricken areas," says Wayne Pacelle, HSUS president and CEO. "Both organizations are strongly committed to ending the euthanasia of healthy animals because there are no homes for them. And both are strongly committed to reducing animal numbers through spaying and neutering."
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| Once-owned pets became strays. |
The Louisiana SPCA (LA/SPCA), chartered in 1888, is the state's largest humane society, with humane education programs, law enforcement authority, and a wide range of programs for the public. The LA/SPCA has long been committed to spaying and neutering as a means of reducing the population of unwanted companion animals. In 2004, the LA/SPCA spayed or neutered approximately 5,000 dogs, cats, and rabbits.
Even before Katrina struck, the LA/SPCA had been working on a spay/neuter ordinance for Orleans Parish, a goal it will pursue with vigor as recovery ensues. Since the LA/SPCA lost its veterinary clinic following Katrina's ravage, it has partnered with the Southeast Louisiana Veterinary Medical Association to provide $10 and $20 spay and neuter vouchers. The program is expected to launch in the next few months.
The LA/SPCA is also participating in a voucher program for spaying and neutering in the state, sponsored by a number of organizations and coordinated by Spay Louisiana, which has set a target of 8090 surgeries per year for each of the next two years. The LA/SPCA has had a trap, neuter, and release program (TNR) since 1999, and is cooperating on "Feline Frenzy," an attempt to spay and neuter 1000 feral cats during a two-week period in late May, and related work.
The Humane Society of South Mississippi (HSSM), established in 1952, moved to its new location on March 3, 2006, and quickly reestablished programs interrupted by Katrina. The HSSM started an in-house spay/neuter clinic in 1995, and followed with spay/neuter surgery services for the public in 2000. Today, HSSM offers free spay/neuter surgeries for the animals of people on government assistance, while others pay $50. HSSM has a policy of neutering all animals adopted from its shelter prior to their release to new homes. In 2005, its veterinary staff performed 4,225 spay/neuter surgeries. Now, as a partner in the multimillion dollar voucher program, of which The HSUS is a sponsor, HSSM will be able to allocate $1.1 million to spaying and neutering work in the years ahead. HSSM has set a goal of 16,800 surgeries per year.
Next on Tap: An Array of Spaying and Neutering Initiatives
Animal overpopulation in the Gulf Coast states has been an intractable problem for decades, due in part to the tendency of many citizens to allow unaltered pets and strays to roam and breed freely. Currently, the severity of the animal overpopulation problem in the region is in dispute.
Nevertheless, according to Pacelle, there is ample reason for investing in spaying and neutering, even though the actual numbers cannot be known. "Whatever other good it accomplishes," Pacelle says, "our investment helps to ensure that Gulf Coast animal organizations can return to their full range of activities without having to devote all of their post-Katrina resources to an unmanageable animal control challenge created by a large breeding population of dogs and cats."
At least some part of The HSUS's anticipated funding in this arena will go to the very important task of determining how many dogs and cats there are in the Gulf Coast regions of Mississippi and Louisiana (not just New Orleans) and uncovering both their sterilization and health status. With even a rough idea of these numbers, it will be possible to plan much more effectively, and to direct appropriate resources to the main problem areas in the future.
The HSUS's specific commitments to spay/neuter work in Louisiana and Mississippi are expected to take the following form:
Veterinary Schools/Rural Animal Veterinary Services Partnership
Grant Award: $1,600,000
The HSUS is negotiating with the Gulf Coast region's schools of veterinary medicine to build long-term, self-sustaining spay/neuter programs on the models of The HSUS's highly successful Rural Area Veterinary Services (RAVS) and the Humane Alliance. RAVS has an outstanding record providing spay/neuter surgery and other veterinary services for animals in disadvantaged communities. In 2005 alone, the program provided nearly $1.5 million in services, treated 42,000 animals, involved 873 veterinary students, 105 technicians, and 182 practicing veterinarians, and provided humane education in 115 communities.
The Humane Alliance has developed a model spay/neuter program that is supported by local veterinary practices and is capable of sterilizing around 5,000 animals per clinic veterinarian per year. Using the approaches developed by RAVS and the Humane Alliance, The HSUS expects that the veterinary school programs should be able to spay and neuter at least 1,000 animals per student team in the field per year.
In the United States, the overwhelming majority of spay/neuter surgeries are performed by private veterinarians. By exposing Gulf Coast veterinary students to the RAVS philosophy and program, The HSUS hopes to lay the groundwork for their increased participation in such efforts in the future. The next generation of veterinarians in the Gulf Coast region will play a crucial role in delivery of practical services to animals, dissemination of knowledge concerning responsible care, and effective animal population control.
Southern Animal Foundation
Grant Award: $575,000
The Southern Animal Foundation (SAF) has received a grant of $250,000, earmarked for the establishment of additional surgical suites at its facility, expansion of its spay and neuter work, and acquisition of medical and clinical supplies. If the specified program goals are being met, The HSUS will provide an additional $250,000 later this year. These funds supplement a prior grant of $75,000. According to its web site, SAF has spayed and neutered 2315 animals at its clinic since 2003 or close to 1,000 a year.
Voucher Program
Grant Award: $200,000
The HSUS has committed $200,000 to a $3 million joint venture with the ASPCA, PETsMART Charities, United Animal Nations, (UAN) and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) to provide spay/neuter vouchers and support a high-volume spay/neuter clinic in Mississippi. The vouchers will be used to underwrite surgeries at clinics and veterinary practices throughout the Gulf Coast states.
Mississippi Spay and Neuter (SPAN) will coordinate the voucher program, working with HSSM and other partners. SPAN was doing 3800 surgeries per year before Katrina, and has set a goal of 4000 for the current year.
Humane Alliance's Big Fix Rig
Grant Award: $125,000
Together with The ASPCA, The HSUS will pay for the Humane Alliance's Big Fix Rig's first year of operating expenses. The Rig is a 53-foot trailer fitted as a mobile stationary clinic. Its presence in the Gulf Coast region (Mississippi in May and June, and Louisiana after July) will allow groups in both states to offer low-to-no-cost spay/neuter surgeries to residents and feral cat caregivers through the Humane Alliance's high-volume spay and neuter system.
SPAY Louisiana and Mississippi SPAN are responsible for coordinating the Big Fix Rig's itinerary in their states, working with local animal organizations to schedule the surgeries and publicize the mobile spay unit's visit to each community.
In a separate program, initiated before Katrina, The HSUS has established a three-year, $900,000 partnership with the Humane Alliance to establish 27 high-volume spay neuter clinics modeled after their own successful and self-sustaining clinic in North Carolina in selected communities through the country. The Humane Alliance has been in talks to establish such a program in the Gulf region. "We are absolutely committed to putting an end to the pet overpopulation problem in this country, and the series of programs we have launched will bring us measurably closer to that goal," adds Pacelle.
Toward a better tomorrow
Katrina's harsh pummeling of the Gulf Coast states not only brought death to thousands of animals and misery to thousands more; it also delivered a serious and damaging blow to the region's animal care and control infrastructure. At the same time, as sometimes occurs in the wake of a disaster or catastrophe, the hurricane has created an unprecedented opportunity to advance the goals of humane work in the region.
One of the tangible gains from the spaying and neutering initiative, HSUS officials predict, will be an overall improvement in the health of companion animals in the region, where heartworm and other avoidable diseases have traditionally been common. "The HSUS is committed to encouraging individuals and families to provide regular veterinary care to their animals," says Andrew Rowan, HSUS executive vice president for operations. "The most important predictor that companion animals will stay in a home and not be abandoned is that the members of the household take their animals to a veterinarian at least once a year. Encouraging people to have more contact with veterinarians has the added benefits of producing care-givers who are more knowledgeable and animals with better health and welfare."
