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Vet school lends a hand in Hurricane Katrina aftermath
Dec. 6, 2005
Several School of Veterinary Medicine staff members volunteered their time for Hurricane Katrina relief.
Sandra Colrud, a veterinary technician with the School of Veterinary Medicine’s Critical Care Unit, used vacation time to volunteer for the animal rescue efforts in the hurricane’s aftermath. She and two other veterinary technicians from the school, Robin Sereno and Tracie Melahn, were dispatched to St. Bernard’s Parish, about two miles from the New Orleans French Quarter.
Tracey Hageny, a veterinary medical student, arranged the timing of her trip so that she wouldn’t miss any exams. She helped at an animal shelter in Hattiesburg, Miss.
Joe Foerner, an adjunct large animal surgeon at the school, drove to Louisiana five days after Hurricane Katrina with 22,000 pounds of supplies loaded into two horse trailers. He was responding to a colleague who informed him the hurricane left him with no equipment and many animals.
The veterinary medical school volunteers worked for organizations that were overseeing the animal rescue efforts, including by the Humane Society of the United States, Rural Area Veterinary Services and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
They brought back tales of roaming animals fighting each other for food. Temporary shelters, supplemented by donated pet crates, served as holding pens. Volunteers scoured damaged homes and attempted to capture the frightened, disoriented animals they found.
And the need continues. Animal rescue groups continue their work in the area. And many animals still need homes because their former owners are no longer able to care for them. Hageny and Sereno relocated some of the animals to Madison.
View a listing of other relief initiatives by members of the campus community.