“Oh my goodness, how could anything have survived this?” CAYO SANTIAGO, Puerto Rico––Hurricane Irma mostly missed the renowned Cayo Santiago rhesus macaque colony, on an island just east of the Puerto Rican mainland, but Hurricane Maria hit it head-on, at full Category 5 strength. The thousand-odd macaques on Cayo Santiago are ninth generation descendants from […]
Hurricane Maria: first reports about animal aid from Puerto Rico
Destroyed communication infrastructure left rescuers incommunicado SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico––“Brutal winds left streets in the historic Old Town of the Puerto Rican capital, San Juan, strewn with rubble––collapsed balconies, fallen lamp posts, and dead birds, reported Dave Graham and Robin Respaut of Reuters the morning after Hurricane Maria ripped across the length of Puerto […]
Hurricane Harvey hits hunters & fishers harder than wildlife
Shrimp, sea turtles, “sport fish,” teal & doves all get a break HOUSTON, Texas––As hard as Hurricane Harvey hit humans, pets, livestock, and some of the most vulnerable wildlife along the Gulf Coast of Texas and adjacent part of Louisiana, especially big birds who could not escape from the wind, early damage assessments indicate that […]
Hurricane Irma: how many dogs were abandoned?
More than 70% of the shelters serving Florida closed Hurricane Irma forced more than 70% of the humane society and animal control shelters serving Florida to either close for at least one day when they normally would have been open, but just over half––55%––were open again within 72 hours, according to two ANIMALS 24-7 surveys […]
Hurricane Irma: survival stories from 27 zoos & sanctuaries
No losses of zoo & sanctuary animals reported! (See also Hurricane Irma: first reports on animals in the Caribbean islands, Hurricane Irma: Hemingway cats & dolphin rescuer Rick Trout rode it out in the Keys , and Hurricane Irma: how wildlife endured) Current USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service licensing data indicates that at least 217 […]
Hurricane Irma: how wildlife endured
Any animals who could escape or hide did (See also Hurricane Irma: first reports on animals in the Caribbean islands, Hurricane Irma: Hemingway cats & dolphin rescuer Rick Trout rode it out in the Keys , and Hurricane Irma: survival stories from 24 zoos & sanctuaries .) Devastating as Hurricane Irma was to Caribbean habitat from Barbuda to the […]
Hurricane Irma: Hemingway cats & dolphin rescuer Rick Trout rode it out in the Keys
Hemingway house cats supplied the grace, staff the courage (See also Hurricane Irma: first reports on animals in the Caribbean islands.) KEY WEST, TAVERNIER––Having famously remarked that “Courage is grace under pressure,” and almost as famously doted upon the six-toed cat Snowflake, also called Snowball, who roamed his Key West home during his years there, […]
Hurricane Irma: first reports on animals in the Caribbean islands
Isolated facilities without electricity struggle to get information out ANTIGUA & BARBUDA, ST. CROIX, VIEQUES, SAN JUAN, CIENFUEGOS––The first animal care facilities and storm shelters housing animals to post updates in the wake of Hurricane Irma reported that they had come through with few casualties and relatively minor damage. But those suffering the most […]
Do Hurricane Harvey animals need “Best Friends” like these?
Pit bull advocates defame the Houston SPCA & Beaumont animal rescue center BEAUMONT, Texas––The foulest murky depths in Beaumont, Texas a week after Hurricane Harvey were not those left by the storm itself, but rather by an ad hoc coalition of pit bull advocates whetting old grudges against the Houston SPCA, possible dog thieves […]
Hurricane Harvey: how horses, cattle, lab & zoo animals fared
Many still need help HOUSTON, Texas––How have horses, cattle, and animals kept in laboratories and zoos fared through Hurricane Harvey and aftermath? Soggy doggies and cats took the media spotlight during the first week of the Harvey crisis, but animals of every species shared the impact of the record deluge. (See also Hurricane Harvey: who is […]