Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Hurricane Charley Pet Relief Efforts

New news and updates for you all....

From The Humane Society of the United States:

HSUS Responds to Hurricane Charley

At 3:45 p.m. on Friday afternoon, Hurricane Charley slammed into the Florida coast. By the time the sun rose the next morning, the storm had left a trail of destruction and displaced thousands of people. Many were able to take their pets with them when they evacuated. Sadly, many others left their pets behind.

Within hours, The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) sprang into action. We sent our Disaster Animal Rescue Team (DART) into the affected areas, where they quickly assessed the damage and began coordinating a response with local and state agencies.

By Sunday night, our team of nearly 30 trained volunteers had begun setting up an emergency HSUS animal relief center in Punta Gorda, one of the hardest hit areas. Even as you read this, the facility is taking in rescued, displaced, and injured animals; reuniting lost pets with their families; and caring for animals until they can be transferred to local animal shelters.

HSUS-affiliated DART teams are also active in Charlotte, DeSoto, Polk, Hardee, Sarasota, and Manatee counties.

We anticipate a long recovery period from this storm. The Humane Society of the United States will be on the scene as long as we are needed. But you can help, too. Please support our response by making a special donation today. Your gift will help us meet the needs of animals by supporting the work of our disaster response teams--for Hurricane Charley and for future natural disasters.

Please click on the link below to donate. Thank you for caring and making a difference in the lives of animals affected by this crisis.

To make a donation, go to the HSUS website by clicking here.

Another update from Pets & Animals in Distress:

911 Urgent Bulletin from Pets & Animals in Distress

Re: Hurricane Charley Pet Food Disaster Relief!

Pets & Animals in Distress would like to first take the time thank everyone again, that helped make the 2004 Feed-A-Pet Drive possible by getting the much needed donated food from Meow Mix Corporation transported down to South Florida that has been distributed to several cat rescue organization that is now helping to feed thousands of hungry and homeless cats throughout Florida. We again thank everyone that took the time to care, contribute and help in our time of need to make this happen.

We are now contacting you again in this back to back urgent emergency request to help with financial aid to support our Hurricane Charley Pet Food Relief effort to deliver several thousands pounds of dog and cat food to Porta Gorda and Port Charlotte to our Florida west coast neighbors. As you all are aware and have been watching the news, last Friday the 13th Hurricane Charley hit the lower west coast of Florida that has caused a major extensive damage that has left a path of destruction and devastated the lives of people in several counties. Many of our west coast Florida neighbors have been left homeless in the aftermath that has also affected the lives of many pet owners and animal shelters that were in the path of this storm that now need our immediate help for the many homeless and hungry animals in the aftermath of the storm.

We are very great full for the Meow Mix food donation as it came at the perfect time and has given us the opportunity to share a substantial amount of the Meow Mix cat food along with various name brand Dog food (Donated by Mr. Feinberg from the Petsupermarket Corporation in Florida) that our organization has now allocated a substantial amount of this food to be delivered to several disaster relief pick up points areas to help the many victims and shelters feed many hungry pets that are in need of food.

Pets & Animals in Distress has been on the phone with several emergency agencies in Charlotte County (Punta Gorda & Port Charlotte) area which has been the most devastated county to coordinate and offer our organizations assistance by sending several thousand pounds of dog and cat pet food to those communities that have been hardest hit and need our help.

Pets & Animals in Distress is coordinating to have several Trucks from Palm Beach and Broward Counties on the (east coast) of Florida pick up all the designated dog and cat food and have it transported to our fellow Florida neighbors on the west coast 4 hours away, in the (Punta Gorda & Port Charlotte) area. Pets & Animals in Distress will drop off the pet food to the Suncoast Humane Society shelter that is the central location for pet food distribution located at 6781 San Casa Drive, in Englewood in Charlotte County and several other designated emergency relief centers who will be authorized to be in charge to distribute and give away the pet food to many of the Hurricane Charley victims and any animal shelters that were caught in the ground zero area and have lost everything, and are in critical need of dog and cat food to help feed the many hungry and homeless pets & animals in distress in those critical areas.

We have also heard that many people's pets have also been separated from their pet owners from the aftermath of the Hurricane from having their homes totally destroyed. And may be lost and wondering the streets that are scared with no food or water that many emergency rescue and animal volunteers are still searching for to find and re-locate to their owners.

If you would like to help in this time of need and make a online- donation to go to the Hurricane Charley Pet Food Relief Fund to get this much needed dog & cat food picked up and delivered to those devastated areas, your generous support is greatly appreciated again to help our organization provide the pet food relief to those affected areas in the aftermath of Hurricane Charley. Time and Money is of the essence for our relief effort.

To Make a donation please go to: http://en.groundspring.org/en/go?j=6244511&u=48618

Or to send donation by mail to:

Pets & Animals in Distress C/O Hurricane Charley Relief Fund 1511 east Commercial Blvd PMB #129 Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33334 United States

Through all of our combined efforts, we can help make a BIG difference in this unfortunate disaster to deliver this pet food and turn this unfortunate tragedy into a triumph victory for the many animals. Thank you again for your continuous and ongoing support you have given to help feed the animals in this unfortunate back to back time of need.

We will keep you updated of our progress. Please be patient as we are a all volunteer organization working our best to get back to answer your e-mails as soon as possible in this unfortunate time of emergency crisis.

Thank you and please say a prayer to everyone that has been tragically affected from Hurricane Charley. God Bless!

Sincerely,

Brenda Beck, President http://en.groundspring.org/en/go?j=6244511&u=48619

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