How To Help My Ferals During Hurricane Irma

lavishsqualor

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I live in Orlando and take care of several feral colonies. I've been through hurricanes before but nothing as bad as Irma. The latest predictions have it coming straight through Orlando.

I'm at a loss as to how to help my ferals. Any ideas?
 
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kittychick

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I remember reading some of these when the Sandy hit the boardwalk cat colonies in New Jersey (I think that's where they were?)....some of these links might help:

How to Protect Community Cats from Disasters : The Humane Society of the United States

This article on Alley Cat Allies page (www.alleycatallies.org) talks about feral cats and disasters. It also gives you the opportunity to connect with other feral caretakers in your area (look at the link towards the top of all of the copy - like second paragraph, entitled "Prepare" - - - If you click on "Feral Friends Network" if will connect you to people who are very willing to help out other feral caretakers - hopefully you can perhaps pool your resources. . The link to the general "prepare" page is:

Be Prepared for Disasters

Another good resource is Animal Alliance of New York City ( Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals ) -- - they helped alot of community cats and their caregivers through Hurricane Sandy - - - so this has alot of good advice (it's also a good resource about community cats anyway!). And I've actually called there before when I was desperate on an issue and they were VERY happy to offer all the advice they could!

Disaster Preparedness for Community Cats

I haven't read through this at all - - but it's specific to Irma and might be of help:

Hurricane Preparation Tips for Pet Owners, Cat Caregivers in Path of Irma

Keep us posted on how the kitties (AND you!) weather the storm -- - I can guarantee lots of us will be thinking about you.
 
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lavishsqualor

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I'm so upset. I just heard through a reliable source that a lot of the kill shelters in Florida, including the one in Orlando, are euthanizing all pets in preparation for the hurricane. It's just unimaginable to me! There is an organization called Wings of Rescue that is flying a lot of these animals out. Here's their homepage but if you are on Facebook, which I am not, you should check out their page there too. I'm sitting here with tears in my eyes thinking about this. I just can't believe it.
 
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lavishsqualor

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I just can't imagine killing all those animals! And yes, I think Wings of Rescue is right up there with St. Jude Children's Hospital. I donate to them monthly. You're also right about cats being treated worse than dogs. Ferals and strays are treated like vermin and it INFURIATES me.
 

surya

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They did the same thing in Houston. Kill one to move another one in, how does that make sense?
 
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lavishsqualor

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I have no words for how upsetting this is to me. I know the Natzi Germany metaphor is so overused but I swear to God that's what it reminds me of: Let's gas the Jews that we have in the camps so we can make room for more.

It's complete and utterly inhumane.
 

PushPurrCatPaws

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Wings of Rescue is integral in helping fund air travel for shelter pets to be flown to other available shelters and groups nation-wide. And the local shelters across the country who are able to receive animals from Texas and Florida, and other places, to make room for temporary shelter for the pets affected by the hurricane(s) (until they can be later reunited with their owners) are awesome too. If you are at all able to adopt any animal(s) from any shelters for a new forever home, it will help the chain of rescuing animals everywhere in times of crisis like this!
 

ginny

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Well, first of all THANK YOU for helping these kitties! They are so lucky to have you! I'm worried for them too in this storm, and it makes me FURIOUS what the kill shelters plan to do! Their lives matter too!

I had just come across a thread a while ago about how a lady dealt with her cats who liked to hide under the crawl space of her house, and with Harvey coming up she felt she they might drown if she didn't do something to provide them a way of escape. What she did was get some plastic bins that the kitties could use as little boats to stay dry in. But how would you get the ferals to use that sort of thing? Luckily hers did and they survived the storm. I'm really at a loss what else to suggest. We're going to have to brainstorm, surely there is some help we can give these kitties!
 

artiemom

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Wings of Rescue had been moving cats out of Houston, to San Diego, to make room for all the homeless animals in Texas. I know they are NO Kill..The animals they were moving were the ones already in the rescues..

I am sure they are doing the same thing down in Florida... but how much can they do with limited resources..

Jackson Galaxy supports Wings of Rescue.. they do work with the Humane Society of the United States.. different from the ASPCA.. these people had boots down in Houston and worked with Wings of Rescue...

I do know that the MSPCA (Massachusetts version) has accepted animals from Texas.. so they are going all over the country.

I think everyone learned a horrible lesson after Katrina, regarding the pets.. notice how many people evacuated Houston, carrying their pets out with them, when they were rescued.

Also, the Governor of Florida is telling people to take their pets with them to shelters and asking all the hotels to honor the pets of the fleeing people...
 

surya

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The only thing I can think of to keep them safe is a shelter. You could put something inside the shelter for them to climb up on. And that is probably not possible. Unless there is a kindly person nearby the colony who has a shed or something.
 

Sarthur2

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Sadly, I heard on the local news that 20 dogs were euthanized earlier this week at a shelter in Florida to make room for more that are being dropped off due to Irma coming.

It made me feel sick. :(
 

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Wow- that makes me mad too that they are killing animals to make room for more!! I don't have a feral colony but do own a formerly feral cat that is now 18yrs old. Remember they have street smarts that the average housecat does not have. I live in Northern NH and mine was about a year old or a little less when I noticed him in the yard hopping around trying to catch field mice in the snow-took awhile before he would come near me. He was living on top of the shed attached to the house under the eaves where the furnace is. Not too stupid- warmth /shelter/height and protection from ground and sky predators. Good thing about cats-they can climb and jump and feed themselves if need be. Now he is a big old house cat that prefers to be in unless he goes out with me- again he knows his limitation as an old cat.
I know this isn't helping with your predicament much except to let you remember what survivors they can be.
Thoughts and prayers for everyone and their animals in Fla.
 

kittychick

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Just so maybe we can breathe a tad easier -- -this idea made me sick (as it is all of us) so I looked and looked for articles/news stories that supported the idea that animals in shelters were being euthanized to make room for others in either the areas effected by Harvey or in areas soon to be hit by Irma. Please know I'm NOT in the slightest saying that it isn't or couldn't be happening (since I never cease to be amazed by the lack of compassion on so many people's parts - - particularly for cats) and/or that anyone's making anything up in the slightest. But I couldn't find anything on the internet after over a half hour searching that reported anything like that. I did find a few articles from trusted organizations like the ASPCA that they were aware of that rumor (their word, not mine) circulating - but that they weren't doing it. Instead they were begging people to fly animals out and/or temporarily foster. Even some places who are higher kill seemed to be doing things they'd never done before to get animals out of harm's way (see link below)....like this:

Hurricane Irma prompts pet evacuations, short-term adoptions

or this...

Another wave of Harvey pets to arrive in Seattle this week

Again - PLEASE know I'm not calling anyone on this thread misinformed, etc. - - I was so sick when I saw it I just had to do a bit of digging (my husband says it's from working at shelters off and on my whole life that I already have such lack of faith in humanity!). At least these articles might make you feel a tad better about what was happening (at least to the majority of animals in shelters!). They did me!
 

surya

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It is possible that it was a rumor, but I would not be surprised at all if it is true. The kill rate at the SPCA and the Human Society in Houston are horrible. Support no-kill shelters and rescues.

No Kill Houston
 
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