Those Who Help and Those Who Steal

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

Article Printed From: AnimalHelp.Com





Hurricane Katrina Brought Out the Best and Worst of People

So many wonderful people came to help the animals. There was the Humane
Society of the United States, American Humane Association, American
Society for the Protection of Animals, United Animal Nations, Code-3,
Connecticut Humane Association, the American Veterinary Medical
Association's VMAT teams
and so many more who worked to rescue, save, and care for thousands of
animals. But we saw the worst of people and organizations also. Some
animals were stolen, often times these were the pit bulls and other
purebred "valuable" animals. People would register as volunteers, then as
they took a dog for a walk, they never came back. The tragedy here is
that those animals
will never have a chance to be reunited with their families.

One such organization was 911 Parrot Alert
ttp://www.911parrotalert.com/>
www.911parrotalert.com . This group, a for profit organization, is
based in Baton Rouge, LA and showed up at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center where
many birds were being held, birds that had been rescued from flooded
homes in New Orleans. At Lamar, where the veterinary care was headed up
by VMAT, and the sheltering was headed up by HSUS, the standard
procedures were to hold all
animals either there or in other approved facilities for up to 30 days
to allow enough time for displaced pet owners to return and claim their
pets before the animals are placed for adoption.

911 Parrot Alert showed up one day. It would be only fair to say this
woman was a nut. I don't know how else to explain it. She came barging
in to the exotics ward telling the VMAT members and the exotic handlers
that she was "taking all the parrots home with her". She was educated
on the fact that these animals needed to stay where they were until the
waiting period was up, because finding their owners was the main goal.
She placed her name and
address on most of the parrot cages as willing to adopt if not claimed.
Almost a week later she returned with a friend. They had pilfered HSUS
t-shirts somewhere, even though they had no affiliation with HSUS at
all. The volunteer who was in charge of husbandry for all the birds and
exotics was immediately alarmed. She grabbed Suzanne, a VMAT veterinary
technician,
who then asked for help from other VMAT members, including Jodi Beck
Witte,
VMAT veterinary technician and AnimalHelp.Com employee.

Once again Suzanne and Jodi went over the rules with this lady, telling
her point blank that none of these birds were leaving the property and
finding their families was the ultimate goal. The woman grew hostile
saying she could care for the birds better then they were getting here.
Jodi explained that the warm weather and high humidity was actually very
optimal for the birds, and they were all doing great, with top of the
line pelleted food and fresh fruit and veggies daily which were donated
by the head volunteer bird
caregiver. The 911 Parrot Alert woman then picked up her cell phone and
said that we should call 911 because she WAS taking the birds and there
was nothing we could do to stop her. Jodi then held up her FEMA badge
and said, "Please feel free to call 911, you will not be stealing any of
these birds." Finally after much debate with the woman she left.
Without any of the birds.

Shortly there after, the team found out she had driven straight over to
the LSU Livestock Pavilion, another large shelter run by HSUS
containing all owned animals, still wearing her HSUS shirt. She entered the
building and told the LSU veterinarian in charge of exotics that she was
supposed to pick up all the parrots for transfer. The veterinarian
released all the birds to her without question. VMAT member Suzanne apprised
HSUS on the situation
that took place at LSU and the police were contacted. The Lamar Dixon
volunteer who had been caring for all the birds went to the lady's house
to visit her and found over 300 Hurricane Katrina birds in cages and
crates all over her house, the kitchen, living room...every room she
could find space to set them. Many of her own birds - breeders - were in
and among the birds found at her home. 911 Parrot Alert had stolen the
birds from shelters, impersonating HSUS personnel. It was obvious from
eye witness reports, that this woman had stolen the birds under the
guise of being a "rescue" when in fact she is a breeder. She did not care
if the birds were to find their rightful owners. She wanted them in her
possession and would do anything to get them. It is our belief that she
was stealing those birds who would be of most value.

Online 911 Parrot Alert is asking for donations via their website
<http://www.911parrotalert.com/> www.911parrotalert.com and even
websites such as The Greater Chicago Cage Bird Club http://www.gccbc.org/
www.gccbc.org is supporting donations to 911 Parrot Alert. They do have
the statement that "Donations to this activity are not currently tax
deductible" but they do not mention that the birds are stolen when they
say "Donation
can be sent to the above addres to help Donna as she takes in birds
from the hurricane".

Anyone donating to the animal effort in response to Hurricane Katrina
is urged to find out more about the animal organization BEFORE donating.
Some of the legitimate organizations we have found that are TRULY
helping animals after Hurricane Katrina are: AVMF <http://www.avmf.org/>
www.avmf.org ,
HSUS <http://www.hsus.org/> www.hsus.org , AHA
<http://www.americanhumane.org/> www.americanhumane.org , and Kinship
Circle
<http://www.kinshipcircle.org/> www.kinshipcircle.org . Organizations
such
as 911 Parrot Alert are NOT legitimate and are not working for the
greater
good of the animals impacted by Hurricane Katraina.

[superconnected]

1. What a heartless witch.

I hope the owners find their birds. And I hope that greedy thief goes to jail for a long time.