EHS Joins Coalition of Local Humane Societies for Support of Hurricane Katrina Animals

Last week the local humane societies of San Diego County hosted a meeting to determine how to actively support the effort to find homes for the animals affected by Hurricane Katrina. We learned late in the week that there is a local effort to bring animals into San Diego who needed a partner to help with the care and adoption piece of the project.  Each group pledged room at their shelters, and help to triage and transport animals from the San Diego Airport. We have defined a protocol for triage that includes placing a photo of each animal on Petfinder.com to allow reunification of family pets, if possible. We have also agreed to use an addendum to our usual adoption agreement that allows these pets to be placed with their previous owner, should they be located by Dec 31, 2005, even if adopted locally before that.

The San Diego Humane Society had also joined a similar coalition with groups in Los Angeles, and is planning to accept 20 dogs in the next day that are coming through Los Angeles.

Local groups involved: Escondido Humane Society, North County Humane Society, Rancho Coastal Humane Society, San Diego Humane Society, San Diego County Department of Animal Services, El Cajon Animal Control, Chula Vista Animal Control