More Rescue Help Needed For LA and TX!

The need for volunteers for continued animal care goes on at the Lamar-Dixon Center in Gonzales -- where many animals rescued from the floodwaters of New Orleans are being held -- and at the Parker Coliseum at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, where animals are being housed who belong to evacuees staying at Red Cross shelters in our area.

Help Needed Now For Southwest Louisiana and Southwest Texas!

A new need for experienced animal control officers and animal rescue workers is arising in the path of Hurricane Rita as it roars into the Texas-Louisiana coastline. We expect urban animal-rescue problems ranging from Galveston, TX to Lake Charles, LA and some points further east. Storm surge floodwaters may penetrate as far as 50 miles inland. After Rita, we also expect a greater need for livestock rescue workers, due to the large rural areas expected to be involved in the storm surge.

David Marcantel, the Director of Calcasieu Parish Animal Services, gratefully welcomes any and all experienced animal rescue workers to help in the rescue and recovery efforts in Lake Charles, LA after the storm has passed. As of 3pm Friday September 23 the shelter has been evacuated, and if the shelter is not destroyed, they may be reached at the number below when phone service is reinstated:

337-439-8879

Mr. Marcantel assures all volunteer rescue workers that there will be no red tape from outside agencies for experienced and willing volunteers who wish to assist with animal rescue efforts in the city of Lake Charles in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana. If you want to help, come on down.

If you want to assist in rescue efforts in the Lake Charles area, contact the Louisiana Animal Control Association at:

225-772-3394

and you will be placed in a list to be activated for service as soon as possible after Hurricane Rita passes.

Veterinarians and vet techs, as well as experienced animal caregivers, are needed for the ongoing animal care operations at the LSU Parker Coliseum in Baton Rouge and also at the Lamar-Dixon Center in Gonzales.

People evacuating with their pets from the southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana coastal areas who are staying at Red Cross Shelters in the Baton Rouge area may register their animals at the LSU Parker Coliseum, where they may be kept until September 30th. Volunteers with both professional and amateur animal care experience are welcome and appreciated at the LSU shelter.

For questions about sheltering personal pet(s) during Hurricane Rita, call:
225-578-6111 or 888-773-6489

If you have any questions about animals already rescued from rooftops and residences in the New Orleans and Metairie areas (Hurricane Katrina) please contact the Lamar-Dixon Center in Gonzales at:

225-647-0712

or

301-258-0242

Our deespest thanks to everyone who has contacted us wishing to volunteer for animal rescue and animal care work. We are still trying to return calls to some of the thousands of calls we have received here at LACA, and we still need volunteers to respond to this new and terrible storm.

Thanks to all volunteers and potential volunteers for your commitment -- and for your patience -- as we try to return calls and cut through beauracracy in order to rescue as many animals as possible from the horrific conditions brought on by this unprecedented disaster.

We have been overwhelmed trying to keep up with requests for help after Hurricane Katrina. Rita will present a new set of challenges. This website will be updated as frequently as possible as the situation progresses.

Dez Crawford
LACA President