Bill Gentry knew he’d be helping rescue dogs, cats, horses, and some cattle as the coordinator for volunteer animal rescue in Mississippi following Hurricane Katrina. He also wound up helping rescue donkeys, rabbits, iguanas, chickens, geese and ducks as well. But alligators?

“I’m not sure where the two alligators came from,” said Gentry, a veteran of numerous disaster management relief efforts and the director of the community preparedness and disaster management program in the department of health policy and administration at UNC’s School of Public Health, “but we’re pretty sure they weren’t pets.”

Gentry led a 12-person team from North Carolina in coordinating the delivery of supplies, medicine and veterinary care to Mississippi animal shelters and clinics impacted by the storm. The team also managed delivery of the donated goods that arrived from around the country, including dog and cat food, bales of hay and even fencing.

“People have been overwhelmingly generous,” said Gentry, a former state emergency management official. “We had palette upon palette of donated supplies.”

Gentry and his team were called to Mississippi as part of a cooperative effort among states to assist each other with disaster relief. Called SART (State Animal Response Team), the group consists of animal experts, including veterinarians, and typically provides relief for 10 to 14 days. North Carolina has been a national leader in animal rescue disaster management, thanks in large part to Gentry’s training programs.

But it’s never easy.

“We were fortunate that volunteers from other neighboring states came in before us and helped out,” said Gentry, “but there was still plenty of work for us to do.”

Gentry said the biggest challenge was exhaustion. Many of the animal rescue volunteers worked non-stop.

Nearly 1,000 animals were rescued and placed in temporary shelters, where they stayed until they were recovered by owners or placed for adoption. The SART team also helped veterinary clinics impacted by the storm reestablish their practices.

“Some the clinics were completely devastated,” Gentry explained, “and so a temporary facility had to be set up for them. In other cases, the structure itself wasn’t damaged, but the practice was disrupted because customers had fled before the storm. The aftereffects of the storm are just enormous.”

Gentry said it’s personally satisfying to assist in the animal rescue side of disaster management, in part, because of the immediate impact.

“It’s very rewarding to see people reunited with their animals,” said Gentry. “There’s an immediate return on the work that you’re doing that is often unique in disaster situations.”

The work can also get personal in ways a veteran disaster management professional doesn’t anticipate. During Hurricane Dennis, Gentry befriended a 2 ½-year-old Dalmatian and later brought it home for adoption.

But even volunteers like Gentry have their limits.

“Before I left for Mississippi, my wife said, “Honey, be safe and come home soon. But don’t bring back anymore animals, please.”

 

 

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