In response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, Kinship Circle and Animal Rescue Foundation of Mobile, AL united as Grassroots Effort For Animals Of The Storm to send volunteers and supplies to nearly 80 relief missions in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas. Initially, we moved rescue missions into overlooked areas of Mississippi — Pascagoula, Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Pearlington, Long Beach, Waveland… Grassroots Effort distributed supplies from a storehouse in Mobile. Our inventory included items such as:
* Truckloads of hay, cages and live traps
* 20,000+ pounds of animal food, 20+ pallets of water
* 1,000 pounds of kitty litter, 500 crates
* $5,000 worth of vaccines, $10,000 in veterinary supplies
* More than 5,000 bowls, leashes, collars, and toys...etc.

When Katrina hit Plaquemines Parish, south of New Orleans, homes and trees collided with highways and beaches. Two protective levees crumbled. Oil tanks exploded, spilling millions of gallons of black crude. But life persevered. Hundreds of dogs and cats swarmed National Guardsmen for food and water. Bewildered horses and cows floated in watery fields.

Kinship Circle’s Brenda Shoss contacted the New Mexico National Guard to gain access into “no-go” Plaquemines. Soon a rescue team — led by Indiana volunteers Cris Stevens (a firefighter), Sarah Stevens and Terri Kelley — passed checkpoints with clearance from Colonel Dick Almeter. We were the first out-of-state rescue effort in ravaged Plaquemines.

October 2005 to February 2006: As one of the founding coordinators of Animal Rescue New Orleans (ARNO), Kinship Circle directed Food/Water Assignments. We worked with ground coordinators to dispense food and water at 2,800 stations across 650 sq. miles of Orleans, Plaquemines, and St. Bernard Parishes. Kinship Circle also co-managed volunteers, sending people to early-ARNO’s compound for: Food/water teams, animal caregiving, trap/rescue, admin, reunions, transport...

We later worked with Louisiana State Senator Clo Fontenot’s office, crafting letter campaigns and press materials to help pass Louisiana’s Pet Evacuation Bill. On June 27, 2006 Governor Kathleen Blanco signed SB-607 into law. Cathy Wells, Sen. Fontenot’s aide who drafted SB-607, wrote: “We all know if it weren’t for Kinship Circle, this bill would not have had the success it did…” We're honored to have stood alongside other groups and individuals to pass this groundbreaking legislation.

Katrina-related animal aid carried into 2006, 2007 and 2008. In February 2007 a Kinship Circle team returned to New Orleans to set-up 220 food/water stations in sparsely repopulated Ninth Ward, Lakeview, and Plaquemines Parish. We brought supplies and money to local animal rescuers and transported 14 Katrina cats to St. Louis, Missouri for foster and adoption…

Today, Kinship Circle Animal Disaster Aid continues as a network of independent volunteers. Animal disaster news is circulated via our email list.

When Iowa floods saturated nearly 80% of the state in June 2008, the Iowa Department of Agriculture’s Veterinary Response Coordinator enlisted Kinship Circle to staff staging areas at Johnson County Fairgrounds in Iowa City and Lee County Fairgrounds in Donnellson, Iowa. By 6/14/08 we were in daily conference calls with the state EOC (Emergency Operations Center). We contacted Best Friends Rapid Response Team and asked officials to form an agreement with them (MOU) for water rescue in Louisa, Des Moines, Lee, Johnson or Linn counties.... Over June and July, our volunteers traveled to Iowa for emergency pet sheltering, transport and rescue operations.

In the meantime, PIGS were adrift from flooded factory farms, some still encased in crates. While 40,000 were pre-evacuated, an estimated 4,000 (or more) pigs died. Some who’d scrambled atop levees were shot dead by officials concerned they’d ruin sandbags. Many more drowned. Kinship Circle contacted Farm Sanctuary’s Emergency Rescue Team. KC volunteers Cheri Deatsch, Bob Rude, David Halperin and Craig Hill assisted Farm Sanctuary in early pig rescues. Eventually “Operation Pig” grew so large, a coalition of Farm Sanctuary, International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), American Humane Association (AHA), and Animal Rescue League of Boston recovered pigs from levee systems and treated many for severe sunburn, dehydration, etc. at a triage site in Iowa.