Animals find homes during evacuation

After evacuating to Jackson, Miss., prior to Hurricane Gustav, the folks at the Slidell Animal Control shelter came back with a few less animals than they had starting out.

That was a good thing.

Local residents in Jackson adopted two animals from the Slidell shelter. In addition, two out-of-state shelters that sent volunteers to assist with evacuations ended up taking some animals back with them. A group from Michigan took eight dogs back to foster, while a New York group took home a couple of puppies.

“They have really strict spay and neuter laws there, so they don’t have a lot of puppies for people to adopt,” said Animal Control Supervisor Damian Anti.

Anti stayed behind to keep an eye on the facility, while two kennel attendants and two shelter volunteers traveled with the animals to Jackson. The group moved out about 5 a.m. Sunday in advance of the storm.

Other than some minor roof damage to the kennels, the facility remained intact. Once the storm passed, Anti traveled to Jackson late Wednesday to assist in the animals’ return.

While the whole process is quite demanding on both animals and staff, Anti said he was pleased with the operation and praised both his staff as well as the team in Jackson, whom he described as “incredibly helpful.” Now the task that lies ahead is restocking the shelter’s supply of dog and cat food, towels, pet shampoo and so on.

Anti is hoping local residents will soon step forward with donations.

“We sent up an awful lot of food, because we just weren’t sure how long we would be there,” he said. “We left a lot there too, because the Jackson shelter took in animals from four or five other areas, and they didn’t bring as much.”

While Anti and his staff keep an eye on Hurricane Ike, they are looking forward to breaking ground on a new facility across Terrace Avenue from their current location. The building will be elevated at least 6 feet off the ground, and while animals will still be evacuated in the event of a major storm, the equipment used at the shelter will be much safer. It is expected to be complete by the end of 2009.

In the meantime, while Anti is pleased about the number of vehicles he saw leaving with pets and pet carriers, he is concerned about the number of pet owners who tried to leave their pets behind as they evacuated.

“People should have learned after Katrina,” he said. “A pet is like a permanent 2-year-old, and if you wouldn’t leave a child behind, you shouldn’t leave a pet.”