Some of our supporters have asked what is to be done from a distance to help the animals (human and nonhuman) who are desperate and displaced in the wake of the gulf coast hurricane.

The local SPCA in New Orleans has had to shut down and move to temporary digs. They can use your help; give through a simple form here.

Fosters and volunteers are still needed; you can offer your assistance to Best Friends Animal Society which is offering daily news and reports, plus updates on how you can help the rescue effort at their web site.

Update, 19 Oct 2005: Best Friends is currently accepting on-site help, as well as disposable lasagne tins (4-5 gallon) for watering the thousands of animals currently living in the streets of New Orleans.

Contributions to the Humane Society of Louisiana can be made online at www.HumaneLA.org Their Federal Tax ID number is 58-1795272.

Helping the homeless people will be a big part of getting the nonhuman animals sorted out, so you may wish to send money to the American Friends Service Committee here, via the secure donation form. This group is recommended as it has a local office, which helps your money go quickly to those in need, without high overhead.

KellyUSA is providing babysitting for displaced people at a Texas church. Please write donations out to “Maranatha Bible Church” (with “The Good Samaritan Ministry” in the Memo section). The address is 7855 E. Loop 1604 N., Converse, TX 78109. Phone 210-821-LOVE (5683), Fax 210-826-1224, e-mail maranatha@stic.net. Money will go directly to helping these children.
[Note: Please be patient with e-mails. As the folks at Maranatha have been out and about helping all week, their email may have begun bouncing and you might get a failure notice. The street address is correct.]

A Final Note: The Importance of Giving Locally

A note of thanks to the national animal advocacy groups who are kindly asking that money be sent directly to local groups, and giving instructions to make it simple to do so. Other advocacy groups who are encourging people to donate locally are:

Alley Cat Allies
Allied Effort to Save Other Primates (AESOP Project)
International Primate Protection League
Responsible Policies for Animals, Inc.

We believe that large, national groups should do the same, and not divert funds away from local rescue efforts. There are national groups with extremely large ratios of overhead and fundraising versus actual program percentages (see www.GuideStar.org). If this is one of the biggest disasters in memory, then now’s the time to put those bank accounts to use. In other words, time for large, national groups not to fundraise for hurricane expenses, but simply to donate rescue teams outright.

Thank you for your interest in helping others during this critical time,

From all of us at Friends of Animals.