BART in Houston

Feeding time!!

After driving all night, the Code 3 team arrived at the Houston SPCA and hit the ground running. We were tasked with the management of field operations. Our first task was to turn the parking lot of the Houston SPCA into a Base Camp of operations for the other organizations and volunteers to operate from.

Teams from:
Code 3 Associates, Longmont, CO
The Humane Society of Missouri, St Louis, MO
Denver Dumb Friends League, Denver, CO
Humane Society of the Pike’s Peak Region, Pikes Peak, CO
SPCA of Texas, Dallas, TX
Humane Society of Boulder Valley, Boulder, CO
Larimer Humane Society, Fort Collins, CO
Louisiana SPCA, New Orleans, LA
SPCA of Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA

56 volunteers have arrived or are arriving today to assist Houston SPCA in their effort to support their own shelter staff, support for the wildlife shelter which is part of HSPCA, assist Galveston Island with establishing an Emergency Shelter, assessment of the animal needs and Search & Rescue Efforts.

3 Search & Rescue teams made up of members from the Houston SPCA field services and Code 3 Associates responded to calls for 46 animals.

All team members are taking turns helping with the more than 300 Baby Squirrles that are being cared.

8 AM September 13, 2008

This morning Code 3 Associates, Inc deployed a 7 member Water Rescue Team along with BART (Big Animal Rescue Truck) from Longmont, CO to Houston TX to assist in the aftermath of Hurricane Ike.

The team was deployed at the request of Houston SPCA and Harris County to assist with Search and Rescue operations in the communities hardest hit by Hurricane Ike.

3 AM September 14, 2008

The team continues to travel through the night taking turns driving and sleeping as best we can to arrive in Houston by Sunday morning. Come day break the team will be part of the historic effort to assist stranded Humans and their companion animals, live stock, exotic animals and wildlife.

I will post updates and pictures as I can
Kay Mayfield
Director of Emergency Services
Code 3 Associates, Inc

Saturday June 14, 2008
Code 3 was deployed to assist in the Iowa Communities affected by the recent flooding. The team headed to one of the hardest hit communities first, Cedar Rapids, to join our long time partners The Humane Society of Missouri in their efforts to make a difference for the animals. Code 3 and HSMO were also being joined by HSUS.

When we arrived the effected areas of Cedar Rapids were under approximately 10 feet of water. It was time for the teams to break out the water rescue gear and boats. The people affected were able to call into a phone bank and request rescue for pets left behind.

Regional Team Lead Eric Thompson and Team member Cathy Hammack from the Kansas City, KS area were the first Code 3 team to arrive. They went right to work and spent the day in the affected area with the HSMO team responding to rescue requests.

Kay Mayfield and Mike West (Goose) arrived late afternoon

Sunday June 15, 2008
Code 3, HSMO and HSUS teams gathered in the staging area to receive rescue assignments. Each 2 person team was accompanied by a local fire fighter who knew the area and could help guide us.

The teams worked through the requests in hand with more coming in. The teams worked water operations hard all day to pull as many animals as we could get to. With night coming on we pulled out boats for the day.

Code 3’s Jim Boller and team member Jason Painter arrived from a training class in VA to join the effort.

Monday June 16, 2008
HSMO Teams left to go back to MO due to reports of flooding in their own state.

The day brought a large drop in the water levels, enabling most of the teams to drive into the affected areas to perform rescues. With one team (Jim & Jason) going out on the remaining water to recover the animals there, the rest of the teams went to work slogging through ankle to knee high water, mud and slime to get to our rescues.

Code 3 team members Eric & Goose braved a High Rise in the flood water and dark, climbing to the 19th floor to rescue a cat.

Tuesday June 17, 2008
All of the teams spent the day driving or walking into the affected area. By the end of the day we had completed all of the out standing rescue requests.

Code 3 was demobilized from Cedar Rapids and redeployed to Iowa City.

The numbers of Animals rescued from Cedar Rapids is
Dogs 19
Cats 299
Birds 8
Lizards 1
Other 7

Total 334 Animals

Wednesday June 18, 2008
Code 3 teams arrived at the Emergency Shelter set up at the Johnson County Fair Grounds where the Iowa City Animal Care & Adoption Center had evacuated their animals to and were housing other animals affected by the flood waters. The teams were responding to a request for water rescue team assistance from the State Department of Agriculture and Misha Goodman, Director of Animal Services in Iowa City.

After unloading boats and equipment Jim and Goose responded to several calls in the Johnson county area while Kay and Jason responded to calls in Coralville city.

The two teams were able to rescue
Cats 10
Birds 2
Bearded Dragon 1
Rabbit 1
White Tree Frog 1
Several Fish Tanks 50 (Inc. a catfish and several sharks)

Total 65 Animals

The teams were able to clear all outstanding calls.

Thursday June 19, 2008
The teams assisted the staff of the Iowa City Animal Care & Adoption Center in removing some important paperwork and equipment from inside the center which was still surrounded by about 2 feet of water.

The team also received some much needed down time to catch up on general equipment repairs and laundry.

As no more rescue requests were received the teams were demobilized and redeployed 80 miles south to Donnellson, IA for the following morning.

Friday June 20 & Saturday June 21, 2008
The Code 3 teams were deployed to assist Lee County in assessing the needs of the communities along both the Mississippi River and the Des Moines River. After checking in at the staging area that was being set up at the Lee County Fair Grounds in Donnellson the teams got to work checking on not only the 6 communities where flooding was reported but the whole length of both rivers within the county.

After two days of checking with City officials, Fire Departments, Police, Sheriff’s and National Guard and physically running the roads along the rivers we only found a few areas with minor flooding and none of the communities needing any assistance. The rivers crested between Friday and Saturday and were receding so on Saturday afternoon after reporting our findings to the EOC we were demobilized to return back to Longmont the following day.

The State of Iowa and the State Department of Agriculture thanked Code 3 for our team’s assistance to their communities and their animals in their time of need.

We would like to thank our Volunteers and Donors, who make it possible for Code 3 to do what we do best!

May 5, 2008
Our Executive Director Jim Boller (of Houston Animal Cops fame) will be among others featured in a couple of Animal Planet Specials about Cats – Large and Small.

Animal Planet used the backdrop of a unique Wildlife Sanctuary founded by Pat Craig. The Wildlife Sanctuary in Kennesburg, CO is a 160 acre home, refuge and a loving safe place for the more than 155 lions, tigers, bears, jaguars, leopards, mountain lion, lynx, bobcats and servals that currently reside there.

The Sanctuary also promotes public education – about the serious crisis of Captive Wildlife in America through presentations and educational modules.

If you would like to learn more about The Wildlife Sanctuary you can visit their web site at: www.wildanimalsanctuary.org

Saturday May 3, 2008

The Code 3 Team along with BART spent a beautiful day in Denver’s Washington Park attending the Denver Dumb Friends League’s Furry Scurry which is an annual fundraiser for DDFL.

The Furry Scurry attracted about 10,000 people and 5,000+ animals to run, jog or walk around the park to raise donations for DDFL to promote owner commitment to their pets. Part of that commitment is including pets in your disaster planning process. The Code 3 team spent the day giving tours of BART and talking to participants about disaster planning for their animals.

Everything Pets; Cincinnati, Ohio
April 11 – 13, 2008

BART and the Code 3 Team attended the “Everything Pets Expo” at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati, Ohio this weekend. We had thousands of people tour BART and talk to the team about what Code 3 does to help the animals during disasters. The team also talked to attendees about disaster planning for their own animals giving out hundreds of Disaster Kit lists for Dogs, Cats, Equine, Avian and Reptile.

Thursday April 3, 2008

The Code 3 team was getting ready to set up at the Indianapolis State Fair Ground for the Hoosier Horse Fair & Expo when we received a call from The Humane Society of Missouri to redeploy to Sikeston, MO to assist with flooding and possible flooding issues.

The Code 3 team left Indianapolis and traveled to Sikeston to meet up with Brian Williams from HSMO at the Regional EOC. After checking in we bunked down for the night while remaining on call for emergency assistance.

Friday April 4, 2008

The Code 3 team met up with the team from Humane Society of Missouri and established a base camp. The teams split up to do assessments of areas of concern.

The Caruthersville area had moderate flooding with some areas the Caruthersville Humane Society could not access with out 4 wheel drives.

The teams remained on stand by for possible levee failure in Butler County.

Saturday April 5, 2008

The teams deployed to Caruthersville to assist with accessing areas with our 4 wheel drives. They talked with residents about possible problems with continued flooding and livestock in flooded pastures. The teams assisted with getting several horses back into their pastures.

Sunday April 6, 2008

The Code 3 team and The Humane Society of Missouri demobilized.

The Code 3 team will be leaving to attend Everything Pets in Ohio.

The team has a busy April planned visiting Indiana, Ohio and Alabama to meet local emergency management and help educate the public on disaster planning.

BART @ Hoosier Horse Fair & Expo
Apr 4 – 6 2008, Indianapolis, IN

For more information see the web site www.indianahorsecouncil.org

BART @ Everything Pets
Apr 11 – 13 2008, Cincinnati, OH

Everything Pets Expo at the Duke Energy Center in Cincinnati, OH
For more information please see the web site www.everythingpets.org

BART @ Alabama Animal Control Association Conference
Apr 15 – 17 2008, Hover, AL

BART will be at the Alabama Animal Control Conference Jim Boller will be speaking at the conference
Come and see the Code 3 team and BART if you are in the area of any of these events.

Watch for updates and pictures from these events.

Tuesday 3-25-08 - As we kept a cautious eye on the river and the flooding situation the Code 3 team was joined by Brian Williams from the Humane Society of Missouri. The team continued to assist the Caruthersville Humane Society staff with the care of the animals being brought in.

The teams rescued another 16 dogs and 22 cats for the day and realizing that we were very quickly filling up the small shelter again we requested another transport of animals to HSMO for the next day.

Wednesday, 3-26-08 - Wednesday was a busy day and it started with filling the transport van that HSMO sent down. We were able to send 39 dogs and 18 cats for a total of 57 animals in a special transport van run by HSMO staff member Patience Scanlon.
We were lucky to be joined by another HSMO investigator Kyle Held. Brian and Kyle both joined the field teams to bring in another 17 dogs and 4 cats bringing the total for the disaster to a total number of 122 animals rescued.

The wildlife was continuing to be pushed into the city in large numbers and the teams assisted with several situations where the wildlife was in trouble.

Thursday, 3-27-08 - We continued to have the assistance of Brian and Kyle from HSMO and the teams continued to watch the rising river and bring in animals being affected by it. The river was due to crest Thursday evening reaching 41.0 FT which while above flood stage would be below the 42 ft that would severely flood the city and surrounding area.

The teams brought in another 13 dogs and 15 cats for the day. Looking forward to the river cresting during the night and the immediate threat being over the Code 3 team and the HSMO team realized that they had yet again all but filled the small Caruthersville shelter. One more transport was arranged for Friday before the two teams pulled out.

Friday, 3–28-08 - The river crested during the night at 41.0 ft and was receding but the teams were still busy while preparing for demobilization. The field teams brought in another 31 dogs and 14 cats finishing all the outstanding calls bringing to total for the disaster to 170 animals rescued.

The last job that he teams assisted with was loading the transports bound for the Humane Society of Missouri with 48 dogs and 9 cats. Bringing the total transported to HSMO for adoption to a total of 162 animals.

The Code 3 team ceased operation in Caruthersville at 2pm and was on the road by 5 pm.

Thursday, March 20, 2008 - We received a call from the Humane Society of Missouri that assistance was needed in the very south eastern part of the state. The Caruthersville Humane Society a small community facility that normally held about 25 animals had doubled that do to flooding from the Mississippi River starting there. Kay flew into Denver with an hours notice, Kurt drove in to Longmont with just about the same notice, meeting with Jim and Goose by 5 PM. With the advance team assembled we jumped into BART and a second truck and started the long drive. We drove through the night stopping for just 3 hours of sleep arriving in Caruthersville Missouri late Friday.

Saturday, 3-22-08 - The team was met by a local Code 3 volunteer Brett Huff and set up base camp at the Caruthersville Humane parking lot, unloading the small truck, horse trailer, boats and other equipment from BART. We met with the wonderful ladies who run the facility, City and County emergency managers, Caruthersville Chief of Police and the levy authority. The river was at 37.1 feet and we were told that we did not have anything to worry about until the river reached 42.0 feet. Our first assignment was to do an assessment of the animals and flooding situation in Pemiscot County. The team broke in to two groups with one going to the northern part of the county and one south meeting in the middle. They discovered that there were already areas beginning to flood and animal issues starting. Cattle are allowed to graze on the levees and those herds were identified incase they needed to be moved or fed in place. Populations of companion animals were also identified incase we needed to evacuate them.

Easter Sunday, 3-23-08 - We continued our assessments with one team going north to Mississippi and New Madrid counties. The other team went to an area flooding to evacuate what animals they could. The team brought in 9 dogs released by owner in flooded area. 7 dogs had to be trapped and Jim and Brett crawled under a house to bring 2 more out. We needed to open space at the Caruthersville shelter for the animals being evacuated and requested assistance from The Humane Society of Missouri. They sent their transport trailer and transport van to take 37 dogs and 11 cats that were already up for adoption to their facility in St. Louis for adoption. This freed up a large part of the shelter for the influx evacuees.

Monday, 3-24-08 - Keeping a wary eye on the river which as of today has reached 41.9 feet the teams have brought in an additional 30 dogs and 4 cats. Bringing the number of animals rescued to 67. The flood water has pushed many animals including wildlife into the city where they are not normally found. The team received a call about a deer down in someone’s back yard. They investigated the call and found a young deer that was wet and tired from braving the withers of the rising Mississippi just needed to warn and rest in the sun. They advised the concerned citizens that the best thing to do was just leave her alone. Going back several hours later they spotted her about a ½ mile down the levy doing just fine. As we go into Tuesday we will continue to assist the community where we can and keep that wary eye to the river which is expected to crest by Thursday at 44.0 ft.

Stay tuned for more updates!