Day Seven -- Lots of local vets, shelters, and officials are helping!
By Rich Crook, Best Friends Rapid Response Manager
With the exception of the triaging of the animals, there are enough local vets on board to handle incoming animals, which I feel after yesterday's assessment, will be minimal.
What has made a huge difference in this operation verses Katrina is that people were never actually kept from returning to their homes to care for their animals and belongings (huge).
The animal situation is mixed. The animals we are seeing moving about look to be in pretty good shape. However, there are many dead animals (part of the original Government assessment of 10,000 feared dead).
This has turned to ground ops, doing food drops and directly handing food to animal owners, rescuing any sick and/or injured, bringing them in to local vets (already lined up). Utilizing local groups and volunteers.
I have a big meeting set up shortly (at the Campus) with no less than five local groups present, with local officials, to present the next few days' operational plan.
Photo: Best Friends Network / Red Cross official, Rich Crook plan next steps