Muttshack Katrina Animal Rescue Save 70 Animals From Certain Death

Home » animals » Muttshack Katrina Animal Rescue Save 70 Animals From Certain Death

Muttshack Katrina Animal Rescue Save 70 Animals From Certain Death

Filed under: Animals

By: Eric Falkow

Muttshack Katrina Animal Rescue Said "Save - Don't Euthanase" And Rescued 70 Animals

Distemper is a highly infectious virus disease occurring in certain animals mainly dogs and cats, and characterized by loss of appetite, discharge from the eyes and nose and often paralysis and death. With all the toxins and unsanitary conditions left in the wake of Katrina and Rita along the Gulf Coast, it was not then surprising that with desperate shortages of personnel and medical supplies that a few dogs suffering from distemper caused the threat of a massive outbreak where hundreds of sheltered animals were put at risk. Muttshack Katrina Animal Rescue realized that in order to save the healthy ones, the sick ones would have to be destroyed unless an alternative was found.

As a pre-emptive strike, the Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control (a governmental agency under the Tangipahoa Parish Council in Hammond) decided to shut down their facility to avoid possible disaster.

"We put out an urgent call for vaccines and sterilizing material," said Amanda St. John, the founder of MuttShack Animal Rescue. "Dr.Ed Wakem from Fort Dodge and Dr.Amy Tripp generously donated canine and feline vaccine, Nolvasan solution and 'scrub' which was shipped out to Tangipahoa Parish Animal Control without delay. We have had the most wonderful responses to our pleas for help and people like these two doctors are always so willing to stand up and be counted. Without them, at least 70 animals would have had to be destroyed if they were infected and that's not counting the others that would have been infected by the spread of this deadly animal disease" she added.

The Tangipahoa Shelter was closed for two weeks while it was fogged, power washed and every endangered animal was vaccinated and boostered. The shelter received both official and unofficial commendations for taking immediate and tough action to save the lives of the animals at the shelter and to diffuse any spread of the disease into the community.

The dedicated volunteers of MuttShack Animal Rescue urge pet owners, particularly those from the Gulf Coast area to get their pets vaccinated as soon as possible to prevent an epidemic of this disease from taking hold of animals that have had to deal with enough trauma to last many lifetimes.

Internet Marketing and PR