NEW ORLEANS ANIMAL CRISIS - PLS. WRITE CONGRESS!!!

[shireen]

Note: Jane Garrison is one of the very few brave souls who has spent months in New Orleans trying to rescue abandoned pets. THIS CRISIS IS NOT OVER! Please ask Congress for help! The scope of this disaster is too large for a few volunteers to handle, and major animal welfare groups are not being helpful (but they're very good at fundraising!)

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How to help Jane Garrison.

Many of us have given more than we can afford to donate to animals. Many of us cannot travel to NO to help Jane. What is left to do? We can contact our elected officials. This crisis is too overwhelming -- we need to put some serious pressure on government to help people like Jane.

The sponsor of the amendment to HR 3858 (Pet Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2005), introduced on September 22 '05, is Tom Lantos. Primary co-sponsors are Shays, Oberstar, Young, and Frank. Since it was introduced, the list of co-sponsors has grown to 62 House members. Please start by writing/faxing/calling the sponsor and primary co-sponsors, then try to contact as many of the 62 co-sponsors, especially if they're your representatives.

Also, please write to Sen. John Ensign. His email webform is http://ensign.senate.gov/forms/email_form.cfm

PLEASE CROSS-POST this message as widely as possible to other groups. Our elected officials will respond if they start getting flooded with emails and phone calls from concerned citizens.

There are three things appended below.
1) a sample letter (please personalize your message so it does not look like a form letter)
2) a list of the sponsor and primary co-sponsors with contact information
3) a list of the 62 co-sponsors (you will need to look up their contact info on the www.house.gov)

_______________
SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear .....,

as a co-sponsor of the Pet Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2005, you may be interested to learn about the devastating consequences of leaving animals behind in a disaster area.

The disaster that struck New Orleans has exposed a lot of ugly facts about our society. One of those ugly facts is the treatment of our pets. The federal, state, and local governments have done little to help animals in the New Orleans area. The major animal rescue organizations are largely ignoring the current crisis. The work to save animal survivors in this largely deserted and devastated city is on the shoulders of a few people, all volunteers, who are struggling to fight a losing battle.

Appended below is a truly heart-breaking plea from one of the lead animal rescuers in New Orleans. Please read it -- it will give you a horrific glimpse into what is really happening to the remaining abandoned pets in New Orleans. Please help these animal rescuers get the government resources they need to save the innocent victims that our society has forgotten.

Thank you,
your name
& full contact information


From: Jane Garrison
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2005 20:46:27 -0500
To: Kinship Circle<[e-mail]>
Subject: New Orleans urgent update 11/7

11/7 Very depressing day...Today we found 3 dead cats at 3 separate houses. These were cats who had only died in the past few days. Two of the cats were found dead on their front porches next to empty food and water bowls. The other was found dead on the back porch of a house where again, no food/water was available.

Why did these animals die? Because we do not have enough people to feed them. This is not a normal city on a normal day where animals can search through trash for scraps. This is a city where the majority of the residents have not returned so no trash is being generated. This is a city where there are no puddles for them to drink out of because it has not rained in over a month. This is a city where there are no residents who will feed them because very few people are actually living in New Orleans.

This is a city in a crisis. These animals have nothing but us to help them. I hate to say it but the animal community is failing these animals. Today we only had 24 people to put out food and water stations in a city that has thousands of animals on the streets. It is a tragedy that these animals made it through the hurricane, made it through the flood, made it through another hurricane and are dying because they don't have enough food and water.

Please don't think that someone else will go and help...because they won't and they're not. Please get in your car, get on a plane and come to New Orleans to help put food and water out for these animals. We currently have over three thousand locations in our database where we know animals are hiding under porches and under houses. I am begging you to please help. We will provide you with the list of locations and all the dog and cat food you will need. Just come... All the instructions you need are on Animalrescueneworleans.com. PLEASE don't let anymore animals die...

Jane Garrison
_______________

SPONSOR AND PRIMARY CO-SPONSORS OF
Pet Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2005

Rep. Tom Lantos (CA, 12th Congressional District)
Sponsor, amendment to HR3858, Sept 22 '05
Co-chair, Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus
Website: http://lantos.house.gov/hor/ca12/home.htm
Email: (constituents only) http://lantos.house.gov/HoR/CA12/Contact+Tom/
Phone: [phone] (Washington DC)
Staff Contact for this issue: Guido Zucconi x53531
NOTE: PLEASE CALL HIS OFFICE.

Rep. Christopher Shays (CT, 4th Congressional District)
Co-chair, Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus
Co-sponsor, amendment to HR3858, Sept 22 '05
Website: http://www.house.gov/shays/
Email: http://www.house.gov/shays/contact/index.htm
Phone: [phone] (Washington DC)
Fax: [phone]
Staff Contact for this issue: Kristy Crooks x55541

Congressman Don Young (AK, Congressman At Large)
Co-sponsor, amendment to HR3858, Sept 22 '05
Website: http://donyoung.house.gov/
Email: http://donyoung.house.gov/opinions.htm
Phone: [phone] (Washington DC)
Fax: [phone]

Congressman James Oberstar (MN, 8th Congressional District)
Co-sponsor, amendment to HR3858, Sept 22 '05
Website: http://www.oberstar.house.gov/
Email: Constituents only, http://wwwc.house.gov/oberstar/zipauth.htm
Phone: [phone] (Washington DC)
Fax: [phone]

Congressman Barney Frank (MA, 4th Congressional District)
Co-sponsor, amendment to HR3858, Sept 22 '05
Website: http://www.house.gov/frank/
Email: Constituents only, http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: [phone] (Washington DC)
NOTE: PLEASE CALL HIS OFFICE.

Congressman Raul M. Grijalva (AZ - 7th Congressional District)
Co-sponsor, amendment to HR3858, Sept 22 '05
Member, Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus
Website: http://www.house.gov/grijalva/
Email: http://www.house.gov/grijalva/contact.html
Phone: [phone] (Washington DC)
Fax: [phone]

Congressman Earl Blumenauer (OR-3rd Congressional District)
Co-sponsor, amendment to HR3858, Sept 22 '05
Member, Congressional Friends of Animals Caucus
Website: http://blumenauer.house.gov/
Email: http://blumenauer.house.gov/about/Contact.shtml
Phone: [phone] (Washington DC)
Fax: [phone]

_______________

HR 3858 amendment, Pet Evacuation and Transportation Standards Act of 2005
(links to legislation at Rep. Lantos' website, http://lantos.house.gov/hor/ca12/home.htm ).

List of 62 CO-SPONSORS

Rep Abercrombie, Neil
Rep Andrews, Robert E.
Rep Berkley, Shelley
Rep Bishop, Timothy H.
Rep Blumenauer, Earl
Rep Capps, Lois
Rep Case, Ed
Rep Cleaver, Emanuel
Rep Davis, Jo Ann
Rep Davis, Susan A.
Rep DeLauro, Rosa L.
Rep Engel, Eliot L.
Rep Evans, Lane
Rep Farr, Sam
Rep Filner, Bob
Rep Frank, Barney
Rep Goode, Virgil H., Jr.
Rep Gordon, Bart
Rep Grijalva, Raul M.
Rep Hinchey, Maurice D.
Rep Holt, Rush D.
Rep Inslee, Jay
Rep Johnson, Eddie Bernice
Rep Kaptur, Marcy
Rep Kildee, Dale E.
Rep Kilpatrick, Carolyn C.
Rep King, Peter T.
Rep Kline, John
Rep Lee, Barbara
Rep Lewis, John
Rep Lowey, Nita M.
Rep Lynch, Stephen F.
Rep Matheson, Jim
Rep McCollum, Betty
Rep McIntyre, Mike
Rep McNulty, Michael R.
Rep Menendez, Robert
Rep Miller, George
Rep Moran, James P.
Rep Nadler, Jerrold
Rep Napolitano, Grace F.
Rep Oberstar, James L.
Rep Olver, John W.
Rep Pastor, Ed
Rep Payne, Donald M.
Rep Schakowsky, Janice D.
Rep Schwarz, John J.H. "Joe"
Rep Shays, Christopher
Rep Sherman, Brad
Rep Snyder, Vic
Rep Spratt, John M., Jr.
Rep Tanner, John S.
Rep Thompson, Mike
Rep Tierney, John F.
Rep Udall, Mark
Rep Van Hollen, Chris
Rep Watson, Diane E.
Rep Waxman, Henry A.
Rep Wexler, Robert
Rep Wolf, Frank R.
Rep Wu, David
Rep Young, Don


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[roguevalley]

1. I've written some and will call others. I also voted fot this greatest

page for this thread. God bless the little ones. I can hardly breathe, this is so vile.

[Angry Girl]

2. Kick and recommend please!

Will post the site http://www.Animalrescueneworleans.com on my webpage.

[tatertop]

3. heart breaking

[flvegan]

4. Thank you for posting. Recommend #5 here.

[shireen]

5. thank you so much everyone

this is such a horrible horrible tragedy.
That entire city -- people and animals -- needs all the love and support we can give them.

[leftchick]

6. the suffering is unimaginable.

It is heartbreaking to think of how these poor babies have suffered and died. :cry:

[egadsbrain]

7. Will get to work on it...

My rep isn't a sponsor so I'll be dogging her too. Kicked and recommended!

[faithnotgreed]

8. kick

[faithnotgreed]

9. and again

[RazzleDazzle]

10. I don't have enough posts to recommend a thread

but I guess I can kick it.

Wish I could go.

[LeftyMom]

11. k&r

:kick:

[Lorien]

12. Kick

:kick:

[Hissyspit]

13. kick

[freeplessinseattle]

14. kick for the poor the poor furry babies

my heart breaks for them

[faithnotgreed]

15. and another