Once again, we are watching and waiting anxiously as a potentially dangerous hurricane moves towards the gulf coast. While many people have been evacuated from areas that are believed to be most vulnerable, it is impossible to predict exactly where Rita will make land. We hope our colleagues in areas under mandatory evacuation are in safe locations, and that those who are in areas anywhere near projected paths are ready to evacuate at a moment’s notice.

Erring on the side of caution, we are advising all rehabilitators who have not evacuated, or who have been forced to leave behind animals, to make known their physical locations. If you have not evacuated or are in contact with a rehabilitator who does not have computer access, please consider sending an email with the following information to the IWRC office (office@iwrc-online.org) with the subject line: Rita: Rehabilitator Location.

Include:

• Your name and center name
  
• Street address of your home or center; telephone numbers
  
• If you have evacuated, list the contact information for your current location (telephone, email, physical address)
  
• Name and contact information for your local police department and animal control office
  
• GPS coordinates if you have them
  
• Physical description of your location (nearest town, interstate exit, landmark, etc., and explicit directions to your location. Example: “14 Smith Street, 2 blocks north of intersection with Jones Street. Third house on south side, brick bi-level with green roof”.)
  
• Number and names of people at the location, as well as the number and types of animals
  

Should the need arise, we will immediately forward this information to the appropriate authorities and rescue teams.

We are continuing to post appeals for help, information on collection points, staging areas and reports related to hurricane Katrina on the IWRC site, and will begin to post the same information for hurricane Rita.

Please go to http://www.iwrc-online.org/news/Katrina/Katrina.cfm to familiarize yourself with the forms on the menu at the right side of the page.

If you require help with placement for your animals now, please fill in the “requests for help” form.
If you are in an area that will not be affected by the storm and can accept animals for placement, please fill in a ‘help available’ form.
If you can transport animals or supplies, please fill in a ‘help available’ form.

IWRC board members and volunteers are currently identifying centers and individuals that can accept animals from rehabilitators who are evacuating their centers or who cannot care for wildlife that may be impacted by the storm. We will post this information to the “Help Available” list. Arrangements for the first shelter were completed today.

Through The Conservation Trust and the Heard Museum, IWRC has established a temporary emergency shelter for raptors at the Heard Museum in McKinney, Texas. The Heard Museum can accommodate up to 175 birds of prey. If you are in need of emergency shelter for captive or wild birds of prey, please contact Lee Theisen-Watt at (972) 712-9606 or (972) 658-0213. We would like to express our gratitude to John Ernst, the museum’s director.

IWRC’s emergency response support is not limited to members; we are concerned for the safety of all rehabilitators and wildlife. It is crucial that we work together at this time, so if you are aware of an independent rehabilitator who may be in need of assistance, please encourage them use these services, or use them on her or his behalf.

We hope that each and every one of you weathers this storm without harm, and that the animals in your care may do the same.

Sincerely,

Jennifer Gursu, Executive Director
Elizabeth Penn Elliston, President

Phone: 408-271-2685
Fax: 408-271-9285