more on TV coverage of Katrina animal tragedies and rescues

After a week of almost no coverage of the animal issue, this week the news shows are getting on it. Brian Williams has announced that NBC nightly news will cover the issue tonight, Thursday September 8. He mentioned that the network had been flooded with requests for animal coverage. Thank you to all who wrote.

Wayne Pacelle, president of the Humane Society of the United States, is scheduled to appear on CNN's Larry King Live tonight, Thursday September 8. (9pm Eastern.)
He was on Wolf Blitzer's "The Situation Room" on Wednesday, September 7.
Pacelle said, "People treat their dogs and cats like family members. And if you say you must evacuate, and you must leave your pet, as if you're just saying you must leave your television set, people who have this emotional connection are going to say you're nuts. So I think the issue for us is trying to convey that whether you agree or disagree, it is the reality. People are bonded to their animals and they are not going to discard them."

Brian Todd commented, "Now that means, according to Wayne Pacelle, that many people have placed themselves in danger as a result. If there is not a better response planned soon for gathering pets, he says, more people will die."

Jack Cafferty, a reporter who has often made animal friendly comments, said "Yes, you know, there's a reason for those bonds between people and their pets being as strong as they are. The reason is that most pets are probably more dependable and reliable than a lot of people are. I mean, I've got a house full of pets, and I'd be hard pressed to leave any of them behind."

The Situation Room takes feedback at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?65
Please thank them for having for their sensitive coverage of the issue.

Inside Edition had a report on the nonhuman victims of Katrina, on Wednesday, September 7, described on its website as follows:
"Back in the hurricane zone, the priority has been saving human live, but also stranded by the storm, countless dogs, cats and other animals. Inside Edition set out to find just what's happened to so many pets lost and abandoned in the chaos of the hurricane region."
Activist Cheryl Kuscera saw the report and tells me it was moving.
http://www.insideedition.com/
Inside Edition asks for viewer comments at iemail [at] kingworld.com
Please thank them for the story and ask for more on the animal issue.

Anderson Cooper, consistent with his past coverage of tragedies such as the Tsunami, and dogs left behind by the military heading to Iraq, has devoted good chunks of his show this week to the animal issue. We learned from him the astounding story of a woman who is legally blind, but whose dog, Abu, who she says is her service dog, was refused rescue. So for ten days she has stayed put. We saw police officers who said that she had to come with them but the dog would have to stay behind "temporarily." But the woman, Ms Connie, says, "No, dear. No, dear. I’m sorry. I’m not a being hard case. But I can’t see. My dog goes where I go.... I don’t trust very much law officials ..."
Then we learn that finally, the police rescue boats are relaxing their no dog policies. The rescue boats leaving now are full of animals, since most of the people still in the city were there because they would not leave without them. After ten days, with Anderson Cooper filming, the police decide to let blind Ms Connie take her service dog Abu.

Reporter Adaora Udoji, also on Cooper's show, followed a volunteer animal rescue team from San Diego going to addresses where people had reported leaving their animals. She reports, "On New Orleans’ waterlogged streets, you can hear the dogs for miles. They are trapped on boats, roofs, porches surrounded by blackened, putrid water."

Anderson Cooper takes comments at http://www.cnn.com/feedback/forms/form5.html?10
Please thank him for the coverage. Public awareness of these issues will be important if we hope for change in the future.

Oprah's second Katrina special included another touching animal story, this time about a human hero. Matthew McConaughey arrived at a hospital where an anesthesiologist, Dr. James Riopell had been living in his office since the storm hit, with over fifty dogs and cats he had promised to do his very best to keep safe when their humans were forced to evacuate. (Oprah said he had been there with no food or water but he and the animals seemed exhausted but in good health so they must have had some nourishment.) McConaughey and Oprah's team loaded the animals onto boats and then helicopters. Riopell told McConaughey, "I'm tired. I wasn't sure I could go much longer. I'm mighty
glad to get out." And he said, "Every one of these dogs is highly loved, I can promise you that." There was a lovely shot of McConaughey on a helicopter surrounded by dogs he was petting, and shots of reunions of people with the animals who had been in Riopell's care.

If you haven't thanked Oprah for her wonderful coverage, please do. It will encourage similar coverage and also encourage good feeling between her show and the animal advocacy community, so that she may be more attuned to animal issues in the future. Oprah takes comments at http://www.oprah.com/email/tows/email_tows_main.jhtml

ABC's Good Morning America covered the reunion between a couple and their animals, who had left their dogs with Dr Riopell. That show will have a special "town hall meeting" on Friday and invites viewers to participate with: "Do you want answers about the government's relief effort or want to know what you can do to help the victims? Send your toughest questions to 'Good Morning America.' We'll give you straight answers on Friday's show." Many questions about the shortsighted way the relief effort dealt, or didn't deal, with animals, will mean that issue is covered. You can submit your question at:
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1107020&page=1

The Thursday, September 8, Los Angeles Times (pg A15) has a strong story on the issue headed "Katrina's Aftermath;
Time Is Running Out for Stranded Pets; Thousands of dogs, cats and other animals left behind by hurricane evacuees are slowly dying as rescuers struggle to save them." It tells us of the animals: "They sit forlornly on the rooftops of flooded homes, slowly starving to death as rescuers in boats ignore them, looking for people instead. Some have even tried swimming to boats, only to be rebuffed. Many other pets didn't make it, and their bodies now lie in pools of scummy water or by the side of highways. Even those lucky animals whose owners refused to part with them, come hell or high water, have been suffering right alongside their masters."
Wayne Pacelle is quoted. He says there may be 50,000 pets in New Orleans homes. HSUS has received 2,000 calls and emails from people who left their pets and pleading for HSUS to rescue them.
And the article follows animal advocate Jane Garrison (an elephant specialist who worked for years with PETA) who is going house to house rescuing animals. You can read the article on line at http://tinyurl.com/anlb5.
The Los Angeles Times takes letters at letters [at] latimes.com

The New York Times story on the issue, "Shelters for Pets Fill With Furry Survivors" (Pg 23) also quotes Garrison. We read,
"Jane Garrison, who is working with a Humane Society rescue team in New Orleans, said her best rescue was on Wednesday, when she heard a dog's cries and looked up to see a Labrador mix marooned on the second-story awning of a house that was completely crumbled.
'We went up by ladder and threw a leash around her neck,' Ms. Garrison said. 'She jumped down into my partner's arms and immediately started licking her.''' The article ends with this lovely line, "In the meantime, accounts trickle in of how pets and their owners escaped the wrath of the storm. A woman who came to claim her chow told Ms. Mercer, 'We swam out together, and she didn't give up on me, and I'm not giving up on her.''' You'll find the New York Times story on line at http://tinyurl.com/awp7s
The New York Times takes letters at letters [at] nytimes.com

Since every paper has coverage of Hurricane Katrina, please consider a letter to your local paper discussing how the official attitude to animals has devastated people. Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor.


(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)