ASPCA will do 'pick-ups' of pets who need to go to their emergency 30-day holding shelter for people displaced by Sandy. The shelter itself is in Brooklyn and opened on Saturday. There seems to be a little over 150 spaces left in the 300 pet shelter; not sure what happens when it is filled up (have a few questions in with ASPCA, will keep you guys posted.) The direct link to the announcement is below:
Does anyone have any experiences to report in terms of how they have found the response of the various pet agencies to the needs of people with pets in the disaster areas? Good, bad, ugly? Gotta be honest, the stories I and some of my colleagues are hearing are running more bad than good.
Emergency pet shelter pick-up days, times locations:
On Monday, November 19, between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.:
Belle Harbor, Queens:
Waldbaum’s parking lot
112-15 Beach Channel Drive
On Tuesday, November 20, between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.:
Rockaway Park, Queens:
Rockapup
145 Beach 116th St
On Tuesday, November 20, between 8:00 A.M. and 5:00 P.M.:
Coney Island, Brooklyn:
Municipal Credit Union (MCU) parking lot
Surf Avenue and 19th Street
Staten Island (Wednesday, November 21, 8 a.m.–5 p.m.)
Father Capodanno Boulevard and Hunter Avenue in Midland Beach, Staten Island
Red Hook is supposed to have a pick-up spot this week as well; not listed on ASPCA site yet.
Posted by
Sunday, November 18, 2012
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Hurricane Help Starts To Arrive, But What Took So Long?
So a bit of good news to start the day--starting today (Saturday, November 17th), the ASPCA is letting people drop pets off at a 'pop up' shelter in Brooklyn. The shelter is only for people who were displaced by Hurricane Sandy and are now struggling to rebuild their homes and their lives. I have the info posted at the end of this entry. A safe place to put pets for these families has been particularly hard to find in the weeks following the storm.
And that is the question many are asking: what took so long for the major pet rescue organizations, the ASPCA, New York City Animal Care and Control, the Mayor's Alliance for New York City Animals, to get their act together? People who were desperately searching for their lost pets post-hurricane abound, frustrated by roadblocks in the form of hotlines that were perpetually busy or unanswered, or, perhaps worse, dispensing wrong information. The same was true for people looking for basic supplies like food and other necessities for their pets. If you didnt' have power, for example, you didn't have a computer or even a phone (batteries do need to be charged) and "looking on Facebook" or "on the Web" was not an option for you. Still isn't for far too many people. Amy Sacks of the New York Daily News touched on some of these problems in her column today, also posted at the end of this entry.
Speaking of getting acts together, I'm going to try to continue my boro-to-boro coverage and go out to Staten Island today to talk to people who are still dealing with the post-Sandy pet problem. Last weekend we went around with some great people from the Rockaways and I have the interview and some videos up on Pet Life Radio:
Shelter From the Storm--Hurricane Sandy Heroes
Sandy victims hunt for missing pets
Posted by
Diane West
And that is the question many are asking: what took so long for the major pet rescue organizations, the ASPCA, New York City Animal Care and Control, the Mayor's Alliance for New York City Animals, to get their act together? People who were desperately searching for their lost pets post-hurricane abound, frustrated by roadblocks in the form of hotlines that were perpetually busy or unanswered, or, perhaps worse, dispensing wrong information. The same was true for people looking for basic supplies like food and other necessities for their pets. If you didnt' have power, for example, you didn't have a computer or even a phone (batteries do need to be charged) and "looking on Facebook" or "on the Web" was not an option for you. Still isn't for far too many people. Amy Sacks of the New York Daily News touched on some of these problems in her column today, also posted at the end of this entry.
Speaking of getting acts together, I'm going to try to continue my boro-to-boro coverage and go out to Staten Island today to talk to people who are still dealing with the post-Sandy pet problem. Last weekend we went around with some great people from the Rockaways and I have the interview and some videos up on Pet Life Radio:
Shelter From the Storm--Hurricane Sandy Heroes
Info about the ASPCA facility in Brooklyn today:
ASPCA Opens Emergency Boarding Facility for Sandy Victims
If you or
someone you know was affected by Sandy and needs to temporarily house an animal
at our facility, please see the details below.
Where:
Pet parents in need can bring
their animals directly to the emergency boarding facility, located at 1508
Herkimer Street, Brooklyn, NY, 11233, as early as today. Map
When: Starting today, the facility will be open seven days
a week from 9:00 A.M. to 6:00 P.M., and will remain open for 30 days.
Standard
of care: Veterinarians and specially
trained staff will care for these pets and keep them healthy and happy, and pet
parents will be welcome to visit.
What
to bring: Pet parents are encouraged to
bring the following, along with their pets, to the emergency boarding facility:
one government-issued photo ID (i.e., driver’s license, passport, military ID,
or non-driver ID) and a proof of address (i.e. utility bill, driver’s license).
If possible, we encourage people to put ID tags on their pets and bring a
carrier or crate, vaccination records, and medications or supplies for pets
with special needs.
Sandy victims hunt for missing pets
Lack of a single
database frustrates hunt
Notable quote: “There’s no
one place you can look,” said George Jacimovic, a Rockaway resident who is
searching for his brindle-colored Boston terrier/Jack Russell mix.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/sandy-victims-hunt-missing-pets-article-1.1203559#ixzz2CVK8Rqpg
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/sandy-victims-hunt-missing-pets-article-1.1203559#ixzz2CVK8Rqpg
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
For Rockaway Pet Owners, The Trunk of a Car is A Connection to the World
I spent a very eye-opening day with Zina Skachinsky and Jeff Moratti of ARF-ARF Far Rockaway in the Far Rockaway section of Queens this past Saturday, November 10th.
With still no heat or electricity in their own apartment, Zina and Jeff have been spending their post-Sandy weekends walking up and down seven flights of stairs from their apartment loaded down with donated pet goods. The goods are then loaded into the trunk of a borrowed car (theirs was claimed by the Hurricane), and carefully drive through the unlighted, still-demolished streets of Far Rockaway. With gasoline running low and cell phones burning through battery power fast than the next charging outlet can be located, this dynamic duo is an example of the many 'guerilla Samaritans' who have taken their good works to the streets to reach out to pet owners in need.
Please listen to an audio tour of my day with Zina and Jeff. If you are so moved, please share it with your friends far and wide. I have asked my producer at Pet Life Radio to let me produce a number of these (boro-by-boro). If you know of someone who is an unsung hero like Zina or Jeff let me know.
Shelter from the Storm -- Angels in the Rockaways Helping Pets and People Weather the Storm
http://petliferadio.com/cityep43.html
I also have a number of videos coming. One of them that really brings home the saddness one feels after seeing places near and dear to them destroyed is of Zina visiting the dog park she and her group fought hard to build.
Dog Park Destroyed by Hurricane Sandy
Posted by
Diane West
With still no heat or electricity in their own apartment, Zina and Jeff have been spending their post-Sandy weekends walking up and down seven flights of stairs from their apartment loaded down with donated pet goods. The goods are then loaded into the trunk of a borrowed car (theirs was claimed by the Hurricane), and carefully drive through the unlighted, still-demolished streets of Far Rockaway. With gasoline running low and cell phones burning through battery power fast than the next charging outlet can be located, this dynamic duo is an example of the many 'guerilla Samaritans' who have taken their good works to the streets to reach out to pet owners in need.
Please listen to an audio tour of my day with Zina and Jeff. If you are so moved, please share it with your friends far and wide. I have asked my producer at Pet Life Radio to let me produce a number of these (boro-by-boro). If you know of someone who is an unsung hero like Zina or Jeff let me know.
Shelter from the Storm -- Angels in the Rockaways Helping Pets and People Weather the Storm
http://petliferadio.com/cityep43.html
I also have a number of videos coming. One of them that really brings home the saddness one feels after seeing places near and dear to them destroyed is of Zina visiting the dog park she and her group fought hard to build.
Dog Park Destroyed by Hurricane Sandy
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Walking For His Dog In the Rockaways, A Man Comes Home Empty-Handed
Without warning, the driver of the Q53 began to turn the bus around.
Posted by
Diane West
"What are you doing, man?" one older gentleman called out, a sentiment reiterated in other, more colorful ways by our fellow riders. "Just keep going! Straight up!"
But with the rain pelting the windows and the wind rattling past, the driver decided, rightly or wrongly, that discretion would be the better part of valor. Especially when your foe is a temperamental winter storm right on the heels of what was being called one of the worst hurricanes to hit the East coast. Ever.
The bus struggled and groaned as it tried to turn around in an empty McDonald's parking lot off of Beach Channel Drive and 91st Street. Angry passengers clamored to be let off. The driver obliged. Not knowing exactly where I was, but knowing I did not want to go back and start my long journey over again, I got off too.
The rain from the looming Nor'easter began to change into hail. No matter, I had come this far. A little rain, hail or wind wouldn't stop me. Besides, for many people this was a twice-a-day ordeal to commute to their jobs into Manhattan. If they could suck it up every single day then surely I could suck it up for one.
"Excuse me," I said to a man who was walking in the opposite direction as me. "Do you know how to get to Beach 116th Street?" He had a well-worn black parka and a neat white beard.
"Why do you need to go there?" he said. "It's far."
The hail began to hit us like fistfuls of pebbles.
"I am trying to see what kind of help is being offered to the animals as part of the Hurricane Sandy relief effort," I said. "I heard there is a FEMA center near there, or at least a place where people could pick up food and other supplies for their animals from animal rescue groups.
"Well, you're in the same dilemma as I am, then."
He told me he was just getting back from a futile trip to 116th Street, the same place I wanted to go. His journey had begun several hours before, from what was left of his home on Beach 67th Street. I quickly did the math in my head. That's a 100 block journey round-trip, the equivalent of roughly five miles. On foot. In a storm. In the cold. He wasn't a young man.
Waiting for him at the remains of his home, he explained, was his elderly German Shepherd. "It is barely habitable," he said. "But we have nowhere else to go. I can put up with the cold and the wet and the filth for a while, but I don't want her to get sick. So I went to see if there was an organization who could take her while I get the house back together for us."
"What happened?" I asked.
"I walked to the Waldbaum's parking lot over here," he said, pointing to the direction he had come from. "FEMA already left."
"FEMA left? In the middle of a storm?"
"That's what people who were still there told me," he said. "They told me they might come back later. Then they told me to try going to another place on 116th Street. But nobody was there, either."
He looked tired. Not in an "I'm-about-to-give-up' way. Not yet, anyway. More like confusion and disappointment over why promised help was not there to greet him after his long journey to find it.
I handed him one of my now water-logged cards with the name of my magazine on it. I asked him if I could walk with him back to his home to take some pictures and talk to him some more, so that I could show others what the people and pets of the Rockaways were dealing with.
"Why would you want to walk with me?" he said, suspicion rising in his voice.
It was then that my eyes noticed the spray-painted words on the boarded-up McDonald's behind us.
Trust me, save your energy!! Someone beat U here already. U can't rob an empty store!
And there I stood, with a black 'Warriors' hoodie and dark sunglasses, asking if I could follow this already weary stranger to his storm-ravaged home.
I thanked him for the directions.
He continued on his way.
And I continued on mine.
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