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By WAVENEY ANN MOORE, Times Staff WriterTwo friends join an effort to save Hurricane Katrina's other victims. This is one's 14th response to a disaster.
ST. PETERSBURG - While most aid groups concentrate on hurricane-battered humans in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, people like Raquel Aluisy and Jennifer Miler will focus on the animal victims of the disaster.
After departing Wednesday night, Aluisy called Friday from Alabama to say she and other Emergency Animal Rescue Service, or EARS, volunteers traveling in SUVs packed with supplies could not get into Louisiana.
"All the major animal disaster groups are staging out of Jackson, Miss. We're not going to risk our lives, not when people are shooting at helicopters and things," she said.
Miler remains in St. Petersburg on standby, ready to relieve Aluisy and other volunteers.
Both women have done this work before. Last year, during Hurricane Charley, they spent more than a week in Bartow helping to rescue and care for abandoned or lost pets.
The friends are volunteers with EARS, an organization that operates under the umbrella of United Animal Nations in California.
After Katrina struck, Aluisy, Southeast director for EARS, sent an urgent e-mail asking for donations of antibiotics, medicated shampoo, Polaroid cameras, film and other supplies. She also asked for money.
"We're going to need the cash donations," she said in a telephone interview before leaving for Louisiana. "We have to fly people in and buy things."
Aluisy, 38, a global account manager for MCI, uses vacation time to volunteer for the animal welfare organization.
"I've been involved since 1996. This will be my 14th disaster that I have responded to in the United States," she said.
Miler, 36, owner of Doggone Purrfect Pet Care in St. Petersburg and founder of Tampa Bay Professional Pet Sitters Network, is relatively new to the effort. She volunteered for the first time during Hurricane Charley.
"We had a triage unit set up over there where we took in 300 and something animals," said Miler, who is collecting donations at her home for the rescue mission.
Aluisy, the mother of a 6-year-old son, first got involved with the animal welfare group after reading a book about its work.
"I called EARS headquarters and took the training," she said. "A lot of us are trained in swift-water rescue."
Volunteers in the disaster area will rescue animals and set up a temporary shelter until owners can claim them. A major problem is that shelters generally do not accept pets, Aluisy said.
"I've been involved in our county to get a pet-friendly shelter," the Tampa resident said. "All the counties are working on it."
She said pet owners should plan ahead.
"Pets are not allowed in Red Cross shelters. There are hotels that accept pets. There's always people that stay home with their pets, which a lot of people did (during Hurricane Katrina)," she said.
Someone is staying with Aluisy's four dogs and two cats while she is away. She plans to remain in the disaster area for a week to 10 days, she said.
TO HELPGo to United Animal Nations' Web site, www.uan.org or call 1-800-440-3277. In St. Petersburg, e-mail Doggone Purrfect Pet Care at doggone.purrfect@prodigy.net or call 522-8506.