latest news
Friday, 11/25 1:00PM ET— UPDATE ON NEW ORLEANS RESCUE MISSIONI just returned from working with Jane Garrison and Animal Rescue New Orleans.
They have a makeshift facility staffed with a diverse group of volunteers
united by their love of animals...
Monday, 11/21 9:20PM ET— HUNDREDS OF PHOTOS COMING SOONHeidi has come back from New Orleans with many photos. We will be posting them as soon as she can upload them.
Saturday, 11/19 9:00AM ET— UPDATE ON THE LA/SPCAThe situation is dire in New Orleans and surrounding areas. The Louisiana Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (LA/SPCA) is killing rescued animals by lethal injection after five days—tags or no tags.
Friday, 11/18 2:30PM ET— THOUSANDS OF PETS STILL LOOSE IN NOLAHeidi Poor reports that as the city begins rebuilding, thousands of animals are still roaming the streets. Most of the unfortunate creatures still have owners looking for them...
Wednesday, 11/16 9:00PM ET— STARFISH BACK RESCUING IN NOLAWe are back in New Orleans rescuing animals. Heidi Poor, a core volunteer with Project Starfish, arrived in New Orleans last night to do what she can to help the thousands of animals still in dire need.
Friday, 11/04 10:00PM ET— NEW UPDATE ON BRUNO THE PIT BULLThis is the second update on Bruno, the emaciated pit bull who came in on the Vermont transport. We just heard from Mike, Bruno’s foster dad, and things are going a lot better.
Tuesday 11/3, 2005 7:00PM ET— SECOND PA TRANSPORT A SUCCESSThanks to the team effort of many wonderful people from around the country, for the second time in a month, Project Starfish transported Katrina animals to Butler, PA.
Thursday, 10/20 9:45PM ET— UPDATE ON TWO TRAUMATIZED PUPPIESTwo of the dogs we took from Broken Down Dogs Shelter in Alexandria, LA were severely traumatized and scared from the moment we picked them up.
Wednesday, 10/19 11:30PM ET— UPDATE ON BRUNO THE PIT BULLThose of you who looked at the
Vermont slide show saw Bruno, the emaciated tan and white pit bull that was close to death. We are happy to report that Mike, Bruno's foster dad, told us that Bruno is doing better.
Tuesday, 10/11, 2005 9:30PM ET— PENNSYLVANIA NOW HOME FOR 32 ANIMALSThe Pennsylvania transport hit the road on Thursday, Sept. 29th at 6:30 PM. We were heading to Broken Down Dogs in Alexandria, LA to load our horse trailer with dogs and cats and come back to PA.
Friday, 10/7 10:25PM ET— TRANSPORT UPDATEToday was an extremely busy day. Multiple transports from six different states are all happening this weekend.
Tuesday, 10/4, 10:45PM ET— LETTER TO EDITORA Letter to the Editor mentioning Project Starfish was published in the Asheville, NC Citizen-Times today about the animals of Hurricane Katrina.
Tuesday, 10/04 8:15PM ET— TRANSPORT BRINGS 32 ANIMALS TO PAOne of our Starfishers just returned from Alexandria, LA. She is tired and dazed, but otherwise elated that she and her crew of five were able to rescue 32 animals (12 dogs and 20 cats).
Tuesday, 10/4 7:25PM ET— TEXAS ANIMAL RESCUE UPDATEWe just heard from our professional animal rescue contacts on the ground in Texas. They are rescuing animals left stranded by Hurricane Rita.
Monday, 10/03 10:00PM ET— RESCUED AUSSIES COMING TO NEW ENGLANDToday we learned of an elderly couple and their Aussies that need our help. The Don't Be Cruel Sanctuary in Albany, LA is trying to place three beautiful, pure bred Australian Shepherds that can no longer be cared for by their owners.
Saturday, 10/01 9:00PM ET— MASS TRANSPORT ARRIVES IN LAThe two volunteers drove a polo horse trailer filled with supplies such as dog and cat food, kitty litter, food bowls, ... . These supplies were generously donated by the people of the North Shore area in Massachusetts.
Saturday, 10/01 10:30PM ET— PROJECT STARFISH FUNDS HEARTWORM TREATMENTSMore than half of the dogs that we are rescuing in Louisiana and Mississippi are infected with heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis). Heartworm is a very serious parasitic infection that will kill its host unless treated.
Saturday, 10/01 9:30PM ET— BOGALUSA MEETS HER NEW DADMany of you fell in love with Bogalusa (a.k.a. Bogie). She is a real sweetie, but also a real handful! Cynthia has placed her with one of her closest friends who lives nearby.
Saturday, 10/1 8:45PM ET— PA GROUP TRANSPORTS 32 ANIMALSThe crew spent a few hours testing the dogs for heartworm (they can only bring heartworm negative dogs into PA) and ended up leaving with 12 dogs and 20 cats. Each one of the animals has a pre-screened adoptive home waiting in PA.
Friday, 9/30 11:30PM ET— RESCUE EFFORTS IN TEXASHuff and his crew are now based Beaumont, TX and today they rescued 80 animals.
Friday, 9/30 10:15PM ET— RESCUED DOG...This poor girl was fenced in a yard with two male pit bulls, one of which was vicious due to abuse...
Friday, 9/30 1:25PM ET— HSUS STILL TURNING REIGNS OVER TO LASPCAthe shelter at Lamar Dixon still has a close date of Oct 15. Please urge people to go get their animals asap. If not, they may end up being sent out of state in a foster situation with rescue groups and it will be a much bigger endeavor to retrieve their pets.
Thursday, 9/29 5:30PM ET— APPEAL TO STARFISHERS IN MASSUnfortunately, I don’t have any updates to report regarding when Katrina animals will be arriving in Massachusetts. I have been calling around and it seems that the shelters in our area are receiving a ton of calls about Katrina pets.
Thursday, 9/29/05 5:00PM ET— UPDATE- NOT SUCH GOOD NEWSAs of this morning, according to the coordinator for volunteers deployment to the Gulf Coast for the Humane Society of the US, the HSUS is still fighting the LA veterinarian's mandate to halt rescue activities as of 9/30.
Thursday, 9/29 3:30PM ET— STARFISHERS ADOPT TWO DOGS FROM NHWe are happy to announce that five out of the seven “Katrina” dogs we featured on our site from the New Hampshire Humane Society have found homes.
Wednesday, 9/28 11:20PM ET— UNITED ANIMAL NATIONS PRESS RELEASEToday United Animal Nations (UAN) praised U.S. Senator John Ensign (R-Nevada) for his plans to assess the pet rescue and relief efforts taking place in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
Wednesday, 9/28 12:05AM ET— WE SPOKE WITH HSUS CEOLaura called Wayne Pacelle,CEO of HSUS today. She asked him to if they'd considered getting keys from families to their homes to make home rescues easier.
Wednesday, 9/28 12:01AM ET— A SUCCESSSpaymart, located in NO and Picayune was in desperate need for cat food for their shelter animals and to feed their feral cat populations around the city.
Tuesday, 9/27 11:35PM ET— ASPCA REQUESTThe emergency shelter in St. Bernard Parish in New Orleans is in urgent need of shelter staff, rescue teams and dedicated hard workers.
Tuesday, 9/27 9:00PM— HAPPY ENDING UPDATEI just received a picture that made my day (or week, or month, or even year!)
Tuesday, 9/27 8:20PM— GENERAL UPDATEThe crew in this transport will then spend several days at the shelter helping in much the way that Cynthia, Karin, and Heidi did before. We also have two volunteers heading to Lamar-Dixon on Sunday, so this means we will be getting more updates!
Monday, 9/26 9:45PM— UPDATE FROM MASSACHUSETTSWe have heard that Massachusetts will soon be in a position to take animals (but no word on when they will arrive).
Monday, 9/26 9:30PM ET— UPDATE FROM LOUISIANAWe have heard from our contacts on the ground in Louisiana that there are two areas that need help immediately.
Monday, 9/26, 2:00PM ET— UPDATE FROM NEW HAMPSHIREProject Starfish is going to sponsor
two of the dogs from St. Charles Parish in New Orleans that are now
living at CAHS.
Monday, 9/26, 12:20PM ET— UPDATE FROM LAURA IN CALIFORNIAA cat rescue group in New Orleans that urgently needs help is holding 200-300 cats in two locations, one New Orleans and one in Picayune, MS...
Monday, 9/26 11:15AM— PROJECT STARFISH FORUM LAUNCHEDWe strongly encourage you to join our forum since it is only as a community that we
will attack all of these issues head on.
Sunday, 9/25, 11:25PM ET— CONVOY UPDATEIf you are a vet tech (or vet) and can join our convoy, they would be really grateful your help...If you live in or near Columbus, Cincinnati, Louisville, Nashville, Memphis, or Jackson, they can pick you up and drop you off.
Sunday, 9/25 7:20PM ET— KATRINA CATS AND DOGS AVAILABLE IN MOTwo of the dogs featured in our slide shows are now at HSMO. The HSMO has taken about 150 animals from Lamar-Dixon to their shelter.
Sunday, 9/25, 5:30PM ET— UPDATE FROM NEW ORLEANSTeams were out early this morning rescuing animals in the city. In fact, a few teams were already out yesterday afternoon. The shelter at Lamar-Dixon is gearing back up and is taking in animals again.
Sunday, 9/25, 12:25M ET— PS TO SPONSOR SIX RESCUED DOGS ...These six dogs are in pretty bad shape. For example, a lab has chemical burns from the sludge. Each needs medical care and Project Starfish is happy to announce
that it will be sponsoring the vet bills for these dogs...
Saturday, 9/24, 9:00PM ET— UPDATE FROM LOUISIANA:Cynthia has now also left Lamar-Dixon. Last night, she
tried to get back into the facility, but since she didn't
know the "secret password" they didn't let her in.
Friday, 9/23, 8:30PM ET— UPDATE FROM LAMAR-DIXONLaura checked in and she has left Lamar-Dixon. She had been
planning to stay longer, but was ordered to leave by FEMA.
Only a small number of volunteers were allowed to stay
Friday, 9/23, 7:30PM ET— UPDATE FROM MASSACHUSETTSThe Commonwealth of Massachusetts has issued an emergency order:
"as of this date, and until further notice, no dogs or cats will be permitted entry...
Friday, 9/23, 10:45AM ET— UPDATE FROM LAMAR-DIXONCynthia and Laura both recently called in with reports on what is going on at Lamar-Dixon.
Friday, 9/23, 10:30AM ET— UPDATE FROM WASHINGTON DCCongressmen Christopher Shays (R-Connecticut), and Barney Frank (D-Massachusetts) are co-sponsoring a bill that would require pets to be included in evacuations.
Thursday, 9/22, 10:10PM ET— UPDATE FROM LAMAR-DIXONLaura, our volunteer from California, called in with a report of what is going on at the Lamar Dixon Expo Center.
Thursday, 9/22, 2:45PM ET— UPDATE FROM NEW ORLEANSAccording to Cynthia, rescue workers were let out into the
city today but they had to be out by noon. Cynthia and her
friends from HSMO rescued a few cats and one large
pig.
Thursday, 9/22, 2:45PM ET— ANOTHER ARTICLE: We were written up in the New London Day, Connecticut.
Wednesday, 9/21, 12:30PM ET— UPDATE FROM LAMAR-DIXONCynthia just reported that Mayor Ray Nagin of New Orleans is not allowing any animal rescue groups into New Orleans today due to Hurricane Rita.
Tuesday, 9/20, 9:20PM ET— UPDATE ON FOSTER/ADOPTIONI wanted to give you an update on the fostering/adoption process. I know the wait for an animal has been frustrating and I wanted to give you the latest information we have.
Tuesday, 9/20, 8:30PM ET— UPDATE FROM MASSACHUSETTSEarlier today I spoke to Carter Luke, Executive Vice
President at the MSPCA-Angell in Boston. Luke is
managing the entire logistical operation for bringing
these animals to Massachusetts
Tuesday, 9/20, 2005— IMPORTANT MESSAGESince we launched our website on Sept 4, we have been amazed at the outpouring of support. These past few weeks have been the most inspiring time of our lives. We don't want this to stop. We want to continue being a source of information, on-the-ground rescue, and a voice for animals. We want to fight for spay and neuter efforts, low-cost vaccines, and stiffer penalties for animal cruelty. We want to stop kill shelters and fight for legislation requiring mandatory evacuation of animals in disaster areas…
Tuesday, 9/20, 3:25PM ET— RESCUED!In a followup to the update this morning about the woman who
called us with her address, there is good news and bad news.
They got to the address and went into the attic to find two of
the dogs dead but one still alive.
Tuesday, 9/20, 1:30PM ET— DOGS IN I.C.U.She went into the Animal I.C.U. area of Lamar-Dixon and couldn't
believe what she saw. About 40 animals who were in such sad shape
that she started crying. Dogs who couldn't move anything but their
eyes, little puppies with blue slippers on because of damage to their
feet, bald dogs without fur, etc.
Tuesday, 9/20, 11:35AM ET— UPDATE FROM CYNTHIAShe told me about a pit bull they just rescued that is in the
van with them now. He was in an alley and they thought he was
dead at first because the flies were eating him, but he moved
his eyes and looked at them...
Tuesday, 9/20, 11:15AM ET— RESCUE ATTEMPT Last night at almost midnight, we received a call from a woman
in tears who could not get in touch with anyone to go try and rescue
her dogs. We took her address and she told us they were left
in the attic above the garage.
Monday, 9/19, 10:40PM ET— ANOTHER PERSPECTIVEI just had the opportunity to speak with Julia Cumes, a
photo journalist who was out with the rescue team on the
water today. She arrived yesterday at the Expo Center and
described her first 24 hours. Here are the highlights of
our conversation.
Monday, 9/19, 9:00PM ET— UPDATE FROM CYNTHIACynthia spent the day in a Tyvek Suit decontaminating animals
at the staging area in New Orleans. This is the temporary station
they set up for rescuers to bring the animals to after they are
removed from streets and empty houses.
Monday, 9/19, 4:50PM ET— UPDATE FROM NEW ORLEANSThe first rescue that Cynthia described took place in a house
that had been flooded for quite some time. In this house were
two small and terrified dogs. They were filthy and huddled on
an upturned mattress.
Sunday, September 18, 11:45AM ET— UPDATE FROM NEW ORLEANSOn their way into New Orleans, Cynthia and her crew already had
successful rescue. They were sitting in a traffic jam on
I-10 and Cynthia saw what she thought was a pair of ears
sticking up from the embankment on the other side of
the highway.
Sunday, 9/18, 10:45AM ET— WRITEUPWe were written up in the Boston Sunday Globe (North Shore Edition, where Cynthia lives) today.
Saturday, 9/17, 7:40PM ET— UPDATE FROM CYNTHIAMany dogs scatter when they try to rescue them. They can basically run
in any direction since the city is so empty. They run down the
highway, down streets, or wherever. The rescuers will leave a lot of
food and big gallon containers of water everywhere so the animals can
eat and drink after the rescuers leave.
Friday, 9/16, 10:30PM ET— A "STARFISH" WAS SAVED TODAYwe sent an
urgent appeal to our list of people in NC waiting for a Katrina pet.
Many have offered help and today a wonderful person saved K-7 # 1139
URGENT from a certain death.
Wednesday 11/16, 2005 10:00PM ET— PETFINDER.COM POLICYA few people have asked us about how Project Starfish attempts to reunite animals with their owners. We wanted to explain how we work, especially regarding posting dogs on Petfinder.com.
It is important to understand the scope of our work. Project Starfish facilitates the transport of animals, but we do not house any animals. Instead, we work with approved humane societies, shelters, and rescue groups across the US who house, vet, and foster out the animals.
Tuesday 11/3, 2005 7:30PM ET— AN IMPORTANT LETTER FROM OUR FOUNDERSYou may be wondering why the updates on ProjectSarfish.org have slowed down lately. It may look like we have not been working hard, but nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, we have been working so hard that we have not had time to keep you updated. We know that is not a good thing and want to improve.
Wednesday, 11/16 9:00PM ET— PROJECT STARFISH BACK RESCUING IN NOLAWe are back in New Orleans rescuing animals. Heidi Poor, a core volunteer with Project Starfish, arrived in New Orleans last night to do what she can to help the thousands of animals still in dire need.