G-8GW6WNVDCH 2301875706914928 Pet Disaster Preparedness: Hurricane Relief with Southern Paws Inc. - Animal Posse

Episode 58

Disaster Preparedness: A Conversation with Ashley Gardenier of Southern Paws Inc.

Published on: 6th March, 2026

"Be prepared" is a simple phrase, but for Ashley Gardenier of Southern Paws Inc., it’s a life-saving mission. From the devastating aftermath of Hurricanes including Helene, Michael, Laura, Ian and Ida to the unpredictable chaos of floods and fires, Ashley has seen it all. She joins the show to pull back the curtain on the high-stakes world of animal disaster relief, sharing what it really takes to protect the vulnerable when the unthinkable happens.

In this episode, we dive into the logistical hurdles of transporting pets out of harm's way, the emotional toll of rescue work, and the resilience of the communities she serves. Whether you’re a pet parent looking to build a "Go-Bag" or someone interested in the logistics of non-profit disaster response, this episode is packed with expert advice and moving stories from the frontline of the South's biggest storms.

Guest Resources: Southern Paws Inc.

Support Ashley’s mission and learn more about how they save lives across the South:

  1. Official Website: SouthernPawsInc.org

About Animal Posse 🐈 Welcome to Animal Posse! We share heartwarming stories and crucial insights to make a real difference for animals in need. As a project of the Unwanted Feline Organization, we are a community of animal lovers dedicated to rescue, advocacy, and education.

Like, Share, and Subscribe to save lives through community, one rescue at a time!

#DisasterPreparedness #SouthernPawsInc #HurricaneHelene #HurricaneRelief #PetSafety #AnimalRescue #EmergencyPrep #PetParents #RescueDogs

Transcript
Dixie:

Welcome to Animal Posse, the podcast dedicated to the

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people and rescues making a

difference in the lives of animals.

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Welcome back to Animal Posse.

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Today we are catching up with a

guest that we had on last year,

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Ashley, with Southern Paws.

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As we all know, when disaster strikes,

our four legged family members

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are often the most vulnerable.

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Ashley has been on the front lines of

animal rescue and pet safety for years

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ashley, it is so good to have you back.

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Thanks for joining us to help

our listeners get their go bags

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in order and we're gonna talk

about disaster preparedness.

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Ashley: Hello.

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How are you?

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Dixie: I'm good.

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I wanted to say thank you for coming

on the show last time and then reaching

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back out to me about coming on the

show again today so we can talk about

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animals in emergencies and disasters.

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Ashley: Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And people and rescues

and all of the things.

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Dixie: I looked on your website

for Southern Paw and it looks

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like you have extensive knowledge

of doing disaster response and

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disaster preparedness for pets.

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Ashley: It all started before

I actually did animal rescue.

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I used to do human rescue.

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I was in emergency services, and when I

started to get into animal rescue, , I

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didn't have time to do everything.

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So I had to pick and choose.

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And obviously as you can tell I chose

animal rescue mainly 'cause I just

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the real truth of the matter is I

just like animals better than people.

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So it came to a head in 2016

with the, there was severe

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flooding in Louisiana actually.

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And I think you're from

Louisiana, aren't you Dixie?

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Dixie: I am, yeah.

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I remember that.

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Yeah.

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That was up near like Gonzalez

towards the Baton Rouge area

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Ashley: Yeah.

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Livingston.

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Yep.

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Yeah.

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Yep.

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Livingston.

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So we had the 2016 floods.

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So my sister organization which is

technically Tylertown, Mississippi,

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but we work with a lot of people

in the Livingston area and, they

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were on their way back from a

transport and could barely get home.

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And I remember calling them and

being , Hey is everything okay?

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And she was , I need help.

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And I was like, okay.

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What do you need?

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And she was like, I need

boots on the ground.

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Can you get here?

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And I was like yeah.

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Okay.

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So we packed up a truck with a

ton of supplies and we just left.

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We just went down, we rented a van.

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I brought down an entire truck of

supplies and we got in and I got there

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and she said what do you wanna do?

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And I was like, I wanna

be out in the field.

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I said, it would be a waste

to put me in a kennel.

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And she said, okay.

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She said here's a grid.

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This is where I need you to go.

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These are where the calls are.

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Like, go out there.

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And it was like these two

passions of mine collided.

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And I loved it.

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And I've been obsessed

with doing it ever since.

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So it's cool 'cause I have

all these specialties, ? I

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have different certifications.

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So I'm a hazmat technician, I have

a Swift Water Rescue certification.

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I used to be an EMT, I let it lapse.

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But over the years, all of those

different certifications have really.

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Come together in doing this really

amazing search and rescue work which is

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helping animals, but it's also helping

people too in different disasters.

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Since 2016, I have worked almost

every storm that we've had in the

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United States except for California.

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Mainly I would say Texas

East is what I've done.

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We have, built this network.

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I've worked with other organizations

under them, but really for us

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specifically, our team is really made up.

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More like a coalition.

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We work with a lot of different rescues.

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We partner up and we all feel, we all work

on the same level, which is really nice.

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So nobody really works underneath

one another unless there's a an MOU

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involved, which is like a contract

with the county or the state or the

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town, whatever area you're working in.

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But I love a good collab within, every

single element of my life in my work.

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So this really gives us an opportunity.

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, Every rescuer that we work with, in

every organization we work with kind of

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brings something different to the table.

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And when we all work together, we

really come up with these really

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beautiful, amazing accomplishments,

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I worked the floods.

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I did Hurricane Harvey.

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I worked hurricane Michael.

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That was a really bad one.

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Hurricane Sally.

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Hurricane Laura.

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Hurricane Irene.

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Hurricane Ida.

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All the I's.

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I chased Dorian all the way to Florida

and then all the way up the East Coast.

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But I never actually worked it.

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And then we just did hurricane Helene.

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We actually did 17 days for

Helene, and it was crazy because

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we actually did human rescue.

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We didn't even end up doing animal rescue.

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We did more human rescue

during Helene than animal.

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And yeah it's become we can

do it on this large scale,

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? Where we go and we assist during

natural disasters or we can

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do it on a really small scale.

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An example of that would be, we

had this rescue up here Oscar, it's

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called One Step Closer Animal Rescue.

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And they just had a

fire that it was awful.

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They lost their entire kennel

and just had no idea what to do.

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It happened to be local to me

and I was able to run out and.

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I self deployed, which you're not supposed

to do, but considering their neighbors for

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me, they're about an hour from my home.

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I just showed up and was like,

hi, this is what I can do.

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And they were like, oh

my God, we need you.

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Please sit down.

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So we were able to really help

get them organized and implement

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some of our protocols there.

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We also are able to do it with

hoarding cases, that's a big one.

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I'm on the cart team which is a

animal response team for my county.

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We also have a couple other ones

in the area that I'm a part of.

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And one of my things there is I'm

usually their transport coordinator

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where, I'll figure out which animals

are gonna go where, how they're gonna

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get there how long they're gonna

stay there, and making sure all the

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paperwork and stuff is in place for that.

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But it, natural disasters happen.

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A bad day happens, a fire happens.

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These are all things that

are out of our control.

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And being able to have somebody who

can assist you through it, I think is

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really something that's super valuable.

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And that's what I love.

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That's what we do and

that's how I love to do it.

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Dixie: Yeah.

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I know pets are very resilient

in the natural disasters.

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The way that I help when we have

natural disasters is I actually

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will set up lost and found pet

pages for the actual disaster.

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And there's a group of us that do that.

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We almost mobilize ourselves to do that.

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And it's really amazing

how resilient animals are.

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I'm not saying that they don't need

to be rescued because they do, there

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are situations, but I know a lot

of people give up hope easily with

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their animals, and a lot of 'em are

so resilient where you might not see

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'em and they'll end up showing up.

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Now, I know in Louisiana when

we had that flood in:

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was a very unexpected thing.

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We are used to floods here, but.

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That kind of flood was insane.

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Yeah.

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And the rate at which the water came

up and we are , honestly here, we're

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not used to that type of flooding.

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The type of flooding that we're

used to is, we'll hear, okay, we're

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gonna get a lot of rain and the

water comes up and we will flood.

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But it's usually slow.

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It's not really fast moving.

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It's same thing when we have

a hurricane and at least for a

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hurricane we have time to get out.

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But I know for the 2016 flood it came

up so fast that people were actually at

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work and their pets were in their houses.

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Yeah.

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And they couldn't get home.

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I'd like to hear you know more about that.

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What is the difference in approaches

that you take to a disaster like

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that versus a hurricane that

people can actually plan for.

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And then you also have to plan for

coming to be boots on the ground after

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the disaster because you've gotta know

what roads to take and things like that.

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Ashley: Yeah, so I think there's

a lot of elements to that, ? The

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first thing I would say is, it's

funny that's how you describe it.

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'cause there are a lot of the floods,

the situations that I've worked.

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We did the Kentucky floods and

then there was the crazy flooding

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in landslides during Helene.

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Every single one of these situations

were situations where they were like,

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either oh, we're used to it, and then

all of a sudden it's just the flash flood

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happens and it's just comes so fast.

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But we had flooding in Kentucky that

we worked at was really like that.

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And they have a lot of what

they call hollers up there.

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So it's all these houses in I don't

even know how to explain a holler.

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It was the first time I've ever

experienced that in the heart of Kentucky.

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But they're these little groves it's

literally the bottom of a mountain and

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there's a whole bunch of houses in there,?

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And honestly the best thing you can

do, and I tell everybody this, get out.

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If you even think there's

a question, just leave

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, if you get evacuation orders.

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Just leave.

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Okay.

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The worst thing that's gonna happen

is you're wasting money on a hotel

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room for a night or a day, or

you're staying at friends for a day.

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The worst case that happens

is your house is gone.

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So when you're looking at your pros and

cons I promise you your pros of leaving

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are a lot higher than your cons are.

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That's the first thing I say, because

90% of the victims that we meet in these

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situations, animals and humans are because

they were , oh, we thought we could stay.

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Like we've always stayed before.

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And it was never a big deal.

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And trust me when I tell you, we've

seen the awful disaster and the

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tragedies that go along with that,

the second one for you guys preparing

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when you have time ahead of time.

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Like I said, if you can leave, great.

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Leave ? If you can't leave, okay.

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First of all, don't ever

go into your attic,?

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This is a big one, and I know you

know this from Katrina, but you'd be

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amazed how many people still do that.

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They go into their attics and you never

wanna do that because in a situation

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where you have severe flash flooding

you're gonna drown in your attic.

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There's no way out.

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And we've seen that in, in multiple

scenarios and it's horrific.

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Number two is if that water

is rising, take what you can

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and just get to high land.

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We have a rule if it's wind

hunker down, if it's water run.

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And that's exactly what

it is, ? Because water.

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You are not gonna be able

to stay where you are.

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You're gonna have to get out.

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Another big one, always have

a go bag for your animals.

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This is a big one that I feel like

a lot of people don't have your go

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bag, especially during storm season

or if I know something's coming in,

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I have my dogs tags.

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I have at least a day

or two of their food.

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I have a week of their medication.

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I have their medical records.

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A lot of the states in the United States

have really been great recently about

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putting together these shelters that

are human animal shelters where people

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can stay with their pets, but you still

have to have their supplies, ? If your

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dog is in congenital heart failure, make

sure you have your meds, for at least

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a week or two until we can get more.

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Same thing with their food.

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A lot of dogs are on prescription diets

or they're on sensitive skin and stomach.

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I have a dog that has IBD,

if I give him something other

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than his food, he's gonna die.

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There's things that we can do as

humans to prepare ourselves, ? Make

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sure you have a leash, you have

a collar, you have that go bag.

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So if you need to go, you just up and go.

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You're not scrambling last minute.

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Another big one.

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, It's such a silly thing and it's

scary when you think about it.

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But one of the best things you guys can

do is take a sharpie marker and write

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your name and phone number on your dog.

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Coming from somebody who I

really love reunification.

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There's a lot of organizations

out there that aren't for that.

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I am all for reunification.

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And we actually work ahead of a storm

to try and empty shelters to be able

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to make space for those lost animals

so that people can find their pets.

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But.

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In that same sense okay, we get them back.

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Now nobody has the internet.

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Nobody really has phone.

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Nobody's seeing the lost pet pages.

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So how do you connect

with your animals now?

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And nobody knows where to go.

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People in the us in animal rescue, we

know, go to your local shelter, call

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the police department and find out where

their staging location is for animals.

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Find out.

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You can call the vet's offices,

they might say, Hey, there's a

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location here and a location there.

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Or maybe your animal control

is big enough, but I'll use

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the floods as an example.

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During the floods, we

were staged at Livingston,

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? And we had animals from four

or five different parishes.

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now you're dealing with people

lost their cars, i'll tell you

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what, what works really well is

if you've written your, name and

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number in Sharpie, on their belly.

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'Cause chances are eventually they're

gonna get to somebody, that's got a phone.

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Or most of us are gonna

take our phones with us.

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So if we at least have that number, we

can call and say, Hey, we have your dog.

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This is where he is.

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And then they can say,

oh, we don't have a car.

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And we can say, okay, no problem.

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We're gonna send a volunteer

to bring you your pet.

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And just being able to provide that.

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Now when it comes to us, ? Storm

season for me, the best way to

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describe it is storm chasing.

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I'm usually glued to my television

if there's a storm coming.

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Don't even talk to me the we are

watching the weather Channel 24 7.

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It's on in the background.

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I am already.

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Making plans three days in advance.

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I'm talking to people, I am

trying to figure out who can

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go how are we gonna get there?

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Do we need to rent vehicles?

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Because the last thing I wanna ever do

is take, my vehicle into a disaster area.

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I usually will get a rental vehicle.

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The enterprise people up

here know me real well.

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'cause usually I'm calling

them and I'm like, hi.

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And they're like, Ashley, it's

seven o'clock on a Friday.

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And I'm like, I know, but I

need a lifted pickup truck and

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I need it tomorrow morning.

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And they're like, we're not even open.

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And I'm like, can you just figure

this out, but I need it for this.

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And they know me so well at this point

that they're like yeah, we got you.

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We'll figure this out.

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So they've been really great.

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And it just at the end of

the day, ends up being.

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A lot of support from a lot of

different people coming together.

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We wanna be there as soon as

the storm leaves, and we like to

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be there for at least 72 hours.

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My rule of thumb is usually seven days.

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I try to go two days, travel,

five days on the ground.

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By the end of that time, usually the

national organizations have gotten in and

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they're then able to kinda set up MOUs and

they are able to really provide much more.

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Than we can.

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Our goal is to be there , as things

are just happening so that we can

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do the emergency setup until the

cavalry can come, if that makes sense.

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'Cause it sometimes it'll take them

a little bit longer to mobilize.

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Or if they have especially those spur

of the moment things a lot of the

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national organizations get MOUs, I keep

talking about this, they're , these

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contracts that they have that allow

you to work in different areas.

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And those contracts by the time, like

OEM, office of Emergency Management

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and everybody gets done with the

human rescue, all of a sudden it

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then pivots and they're like, okay,

now we can also focus on animals.

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And that's around the time that the more

national organization comes in, your

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A-S-P-C-A, your best friends, your aha,

all these different amazing national

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organizations that come at that point.

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But we like to try and do that

in between time and to hold

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everybody over before that happens.

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Dixie: The MOUI was

gonna ask you about that.

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That's just basically a

contract for you to go in or

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Ashley: Yeah.

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So it's a contract for you to go into

and you can have a standing contract,

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like a standing MOE with different areas.

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I know some of the national

organizations have standing MOUs

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with different organizations.

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And usually what it is office

of Emergency Management will

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usually have a list of approved

organizations that they'll bring in.

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And that's what that MOU is.

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It pretty much gives you the

ability to operate in in whatever

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area it is that you're working in.

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And that can come from

multiple different places.

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So for instance, during Hurricane Ida,

I was working under A DRC and animal

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Disaster Relief Coalition, and they

had an MOU alongside Terrebonne Parish.

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So we had permission to

operate and work in Terrebonne

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Parish during the Livingston.

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Floods we had, or the Louisiana floods

of:

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HSL who had an MOU for that area

for that parish or whatever it was.

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I know during Harvey we had one,

we were working under somebody,

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I don't even remember who.

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But typically we do in it is we usually

are teamed up because we do a coalition.

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And if that county says Hey, you

have to have an MOU to work here,

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we can't work in that county.

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So if we can't, if assuming we

don't have the MOU or we're not

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teamed up with somebody who has the

MOU, ? That can get a little sticky.

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And it's like the, I'm

not gonna lie to you.

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There are certain places in

Louisiana that we won't work.

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I will not work west of the Lafayette

line if you a state or straight line

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of Louisiana, because the certain

national organizations in that

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area, or even state organizations

have made it so difficult to work.

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We've been threatened.

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People have come out and been

, we're gonna have you arrested.

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There's some crazy stuff

that goes on out there.

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So after Hurricane Laura.

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We won't even work in that area.

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And I understand the MOUs, , I respect

and love working under an MOU when we

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can, we don't work somewhere if we don't

have, if we're told to leave and we're

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told we don't have permission to be

somewhere we leave, we don't do that.

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There is a problem in the field

with what we call cowboys,?

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And they're organizations that

are not necessarily trained

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in disaster relief officially.

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And they come in gun slinging not with

physical guns, but they'll come in and

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they take a whole bunch of animals.

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They don't categorize them, they don't

document where they got them from.

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They don't bring them to the appropriate

staging locations for people to find them.

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And then those animals get moved out of

state, or they get moved out of, the area

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and then people can't find their pets,

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? Or they're messing up the current

operations that are there.

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And this has been a big problem for

many years with many organizations.

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And it is important that wherever you

are, if you're on one of these teams and

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you haven't physically been invited in,

that really should be your first step.

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So anytime we have a storm, we'll

stage outside the storm and then

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we'll call ahead of the storm and say

Hey, it looks like it's gonna hit.

374

:

Say, I don't know Charleston

say it's gonna hit Charleston.

375

:

We'll be calling everybody

in Charleston going Hey.

376

:

Do you guys have somebody?

377

:

Are you we'll call emergency

management and say, Hey, do you

378

:

have something lined up for your

your animals in this situation?

379

:

And sometimes they're like, Hey, listen,

we don't care about animals right now.

380

:

We care about people.

381

:

And I'm like, okay, that's great, but

then that's gonna come in a day or two.

382

:

And then at that point we, we do a lot of

scrambling and a lot of conversations to

383

:

get people to say, Hey, yay, we need you.

384

:

Or, yay, we don't.

385

:

Or we go in and we just team up with

whatever their animal control is.

386

:

We just go in, we go to the animal

shelters and we say, are you guys good?

387

:

And sometimes everybody's

yeah, we're good.

388

:

But we heard that, two

counties over got slammed.

389

:

You guys might want to go over there.

390

:

And then we'll go over there and

we'll talk to their animal control.

391

:

We'll say, Hey, are you guys good?

392

:

Do you need anything?

393

:

And sometimes they're like,

oh my God, please help us.

394

:

And sometimes they're like no,

we're good, but this one needs it,

395

:

? So it's hard because those first

couple of days you're doing a lot

396

:

of ping ponging, ? Trying to figure

out where the actual need is.

397

:

And you go in and you do

recon to figure it out.

398

:

But you have some states Florida.

399

:

Florida has disaster relief.

400

:

So down pat they don't even need us.

401

:

We say all the time, we're not going

to Florida unless we get invited in.

402

:

But then we turn around and we look

at Hurricane Helene in the Carolinas.

403

:

They had no infrastructure

for disaster relief.

404

:

Where we were in, in Western

North Carolina, they had no idea.

405

:

So we worked there for days.

406

:

I didn't even see national

organizations out there.

407

:

Every storm I think is different

and every disaster is different.

408

:

And I think like there are certain

places like Louisiana is real strict.

409

:

Like you have to have an MOU if you're

gonna go to Louisiana, ? Or you have to

410

:

be working under an organization there.

411

:

So like we might work under, say.

412

:

Livington Parish, or we might

work under dog friends or we might

413

:

work under Louisiana Humane, say

Louisiana, like whoever is working

414

:

there, we may work under them.

415

:

But like I said, there's other

areas where it's not like that.

416

:

, It all depends on who and where.

417

:

I love working with some of these

national organizations, they don't

418

:

necessarily always love working with

smaller organizations that are your

419

:

newer organizations that are not

big enough to really sustain MOUs.

420

:

'Cause when you go and you

get your MOU, you have.

421

:

All of this that you can offer them.

422

:

For me, I'm like, listen, I can offer

you strategy, I can offer you field

423

:

work, I can offer you organization,

I can offer you setting up tip

424

:

lines and hotlines and email chains

and all these different things.

425

:

I can offer you a star link, ? I

can offer you donations, but

426

:

my team is relatively small.

427

:

These national organizations are huge.

428

:

So what typically happens is we go down

and find out , okay, who needs help?

429

:

And then if it's something that we

think we can't handle because it is too

430

:

small, then I'll reach out to some of my

contacts at the national organizations

431

:

and say okay, hey guys, we're gonna need

way more that I can offer these people.

432

:

Can you come in?

433

:

And then depending on whether

they see the need is there

434

:

or not, then they'll come in.

435

:

So that's been how we've operated

in the last, however many years.

436

:

But most of the time when

we do go, we've been.

437

:

Talking to somebody whose boots

on the grounds there that's

438

:

Hey, this is where we are.

439

:

This is where we need you.

440

:

This is how you get here.

441

:

That kind of thing.

442

:

Dixie: Yeah.

443

:

See, I was wondering how that works

because me being from Louisiana,

444

:

I know how strict Louisiana is.

445

:

I know if you evacuate for

a hurricane, you can't even

446

:

get back in most of the time.

447

:

And especially if it's a bad hurricane.

448

:

If it's a bad hurricane and you

evacuate, you might be out of town

449

:

for two weeks, until they clear the

roads and let us in and and they will

450

:

check to make sure where are you going.

451

:

They only allow certain people in, so

that's why I was wondering about that.

452

:

Now, do you have an have to have

any kind of special certifications

453

:

to work with any of these people?

454

:

Ashley: Yeah, so we typically have,

my whole team is FEMA certified.

455

:

So there's a whole bunch of certifications

that you should get through FEMA if

456

:

you're looking to do disaster relief work.

457

:

They have a whole animal

disaster certification thing.

458

:

And so we require everybody on

our team , especially if they're

459

:

gonna go do field work, they have

to have those certifications.

460

:

And then honestly, the more certifications

you have, the better usually we're

461

:

teamed up with somebody who has access.

462

:

So when we worked in Terrebonne,

they had access to everything.

463

:

So all we had to do was say

like, this is who we're with.

464

:

Each storm is different,

each area is different.

465

:

Sometimes it's the credentialing

is , you have to have, there's

466

:

not an everywhere certification.

467

:

I wish there was 'cause it

would make things a lot easier.

468

:

But I could tell you guys

this is a great story.

469

:

So when I was, we were

working in Terrebonne Parish

470

:

with their animal control.

471

:

And the animal staff there, there

were, these ladies were phenomenal and.

472

:

I like to go with people in my pickup

truck when I do this because as we're

473

:

doing calls, I like to bring food

out with me and give food out to

474

:

the community, ? Hey, you guys, you

have no electric, you have no power.

475

:

You don't nothing's open.

476

:

Do you need dog food?

477

:

Everybody's walking around with hot

meals, but nobody's thinking oh, hey, what

478

:

about food for my dog, food for my cat.

479

:

People run low on that stuff.

480

:

So I always like to do that.

481

:

So all week I kept saying, 'cause they

were in these, the animal control trucks

482

:

and there's no room for stuff like that.

483

:

So I kept saying let me take my truck.

484

:

Let me take my truck.

485

:

Let me take my truck.

486

:

So finally one of the head girls from

animal control says to me, all right,

487

:

listen, there's one lady, , she found

this dog, she's gonna foster the dog.

488

:

I have all the information, but she

needs a crate and she needs dog food.

489

:

Can you bring it?

490

:

And the whole reason they kept saying

to me like, you cannot just go off in

491

:

your pickup truck and do this because

you're gonna get stopped by police.

492

:

They're gonna ask you a million

questions this way you're with the

493

:

vehicles that are the animal control

vehicles, and all these things.

494

:

But obviously we didn't have any

insurance to be able to drive the

495

:

animal control vehicles and stuff.

496

:

So we were paired up with the ACOs

and the animal control officers.

497

:

, She's just go.

498

:

All you have to do is give them

food, give them this, so it's just

499

:

me and I have no idea this area.

500

:

I don't know anything about this area.

501

:

All I know is I am in the bayou..

502

:

Yeah.

503

:

You are in Cajun country.

504

:

Oh yeah.

505

:

Straight up.

506

:

Straight up Cajun country.

507

:

It was great.

508

:

So I get in the, I get in

the car and, I'm all excited.

509

:

I'm gonna go do this call, whatever I'm

gonna be so helpful and I am listening

510

:

to my music and I pull into this it's

not even a trailer park, it's a camper

511

:

park is the best way to describe it.

512

:

And I pull in and there's this girl,

and I see her and she's raking her dirt.

513

:

There's no grass.

514

:

So she's just raking dirt.

515

:

And I'm like, okay.

516

:

So I pull in and as I pull

in, there's this weird noise.

517

:

And I had heard it and I

was like, what was that?

518

:

Because again, I'm in a rented

truck, so I'm like, I don't

519

:

even know what that noise was.

520

:

I was like, what was that?

521

:

And so I turn the car off and I go

to step outta the car and come face

522

:

to face with two police officers.

523

:

, and I realized in that moment

that the weird noise I had heard

524

:

was the whoop of a cop car.

525

:

They had followed me all the way

down into this driveway and they're

526

:

like, what are you doing here?

527

:

And I'm like, oh, hi.

528

:

My name's Ashley.

529

:

I'm from, Southern Paw.

530

:

, I am doing disaster relief for working

with, Terrebonne Parish Animal Control.

531

:

And I'm telling I this whole story,

? And literally all that's in my car

532

:

right now in the bed or two massive

bags of dog food and a huge crate.

533

:

He looks at me and he is

you have Jersey plates?

534

:

And I was like yeah, I know.

535

:

That's where I'm from.

536

:

We're just here helping after the storm.

537

:

And he is okay, can I see

your license and registration?

538

:

And I'm like sure, no problem.

539

:

So I pull out the license and registration

and I'm so flustered because, like,

540

:

when you get pulled over by the

cops, you're automatically flustered.

541

:

But I didn't even have that

split second moment of oh

542

:

crap, I'm getting pulled over.

543

:

And the lights are flashing

and now the cop is at my door.

544

:

I had none of that, literally

face-to-face license or registration.

545

:

I'm like, oh God.

546

:

So I'm super flustered.

547

:

And so I give him my license

and he looks at me and he is

548

:

huh, and what are you here for?

549

:

And I tell him again, and I'm like,

yeah, see, there's a dog food.

550

:

And this lady, you would think she would

be like, oh yeah, she's here to deliver.

551

:

No, this lady's still out

there just raking her dirt.

552

:

So I'm sitting there and he

looks at me and he is you Yeah.

553

:

But like you're from New Jersey?

554

:

And I'm like yeah.

555

:

Yep.

556

:

. We've established this.

557

:

Yep.

558

:

I am.

559

:

I'm from New Jersey.

560

:

Yep.

561

:

I'm here.

562

:

Just helping.

563

:

So he asked me like three more questions.

564

:

And literally at this point, I'm

showing him the bag of dog food.

565

:

I'm like, what is this?

566

:

And he looks at me one more time and

he is but you're from New Jersey.

567

:

And I was like yes, I am from New Jersey.

568

:

He lets me go.

569

:

I give the lady my stuff, I go back to

the animal control and Leanne's there

570

:

and I walk in and I'm like, I get it.

571

:

And she was like, what?

572

:

And I was like, you are never gonna

believe what just happened to me.

573

:

So I tell her this whole crazy

story and she goes, oh, they

574

:

thought you were selling drugs.

575

:

She was like, oh yeah.

576

:

She's people come in there all the

time from outta the area to buy drugs.

577

:

. Dixie: See now.

578

:

Being from Louisiana, I

totally understand this.

579

:

Because there are small towns

in Louisiana, and when you

580

:

get into that small town, it's

like you check everything.

581

:

Make sure you go on a speed

limit, putting your blinkers on,

582

:

make sure your lights are on.

583

:

It's just how it is

especially the small towns.

584

:

Ashley: Oh man, I gotta tell you,

there were some crazy things.

585

:

My chihuahua came out of that storm.

586

:

My personal chihuahua, I joke all

the time and say I trauma bonded him.

587

:

The day after the hurricane, we were

driving through trying to figure out

588

:

who had the MOU in the area to try

and link up with them and, my partner

589

:

saw this this little chihuahua and

sitting on this stairway to nowhere,

590

:

? Like literally, there was a trailer

there at some point, but now it's

591

:

in pieces somewhere else, and

it's just this stairway to nowhere

592

:

and there's this little dog.

593

:

He was three pounds and

I thought he was a cat.

594

:

And he popped his head up and

his ears popped out and we went,

595

:

oh my God, he's a chihuahua.

596

:

And so we ended up taking him with

us and we reported him as loss.

597

:

We did all the right steps,

nobody ever claimed him.

598

:

He was three pounds.

599

:

But he was this little three

pound chihuahua at six months old

600

:

outrode, a cat five hurricane under

a set of stairs in a trailer park.

601

:

He came from outta that storm.

602

:

And then we also had one of my other

favorite stories that we ran into.

603

:

So Leanne calls us out to another area.

604

:

, It was a neighborhood.

605

:

And we get out there , I pull into this

area and they said, there are two dogs.

606

:

. I wanna say it was like two large German

shepherds, that were supposedly in

607

:

a pen in the backyard of a property.

608

:

We were tasked out to go make sure

they were okay, that they had food and

609

:

water, this, that, and the other thing.

610

:

Obviously if they're not, or if

they're sick or if they need something,

611

:

bring 'em into animal control.

612

:

And I'm like, okay, fine.

613

:

So me and one of the animal control

officers that was from Lafayette, or maybe

614

:

Baton Rouge, he was down substituting

his name was Demetrius and he was so much

615

:

fun to ride with him and I had a blast.

616

:

And we get out here and we're expecting

to find two I don't remember what it

617

:

was, but it was something ridiculous.

618

:

I roll up and, Demetrius

is just go check it.

619

:

I'm like, I'm sure it's fine.

620

:

I'm like, somebody's

probably feeding them.

621

:

So I go out and I get there and

there's a poodle in this cage.

622

:

And I'm like, what the,

I'm like, wait a second.

623

:

So I go back and I'm like, are you

sure we're in like the right place?

624

:

. He's yeah he's like, why, what?

625

:

What's out there?

626

:

And I, so I tell him,

and he is wait a second.

627

:

He is that doesn't sound right.

628

:

So we call Leanne over at

dispatch, and I'm like, Leanne.

629

:

I'm like, are you sure that

these, she's yeah, I just talked

630

:

to, the owner of the property.

631

:

He said they're out there and he can't get

back to them, and blah, blah, blah, blah,

632

:

blah, and this, that, and the other thing.

633

:

And I'm like, Leanne there's no lab in

here and there's definitely whatever.

634

:

I was like, that's not what's here.

635

:

And she's what do you mean?

636

:

And I'm like.

637

:

There's a dachshund and

a poodle in this cage.

638

:

I'm like, so then this guy comes

up and he, and this family member

639

:

comes up and she sees this,

and she's comes up real quick.

640

:

What are you guys doing?

641

:

And we're like hey, we're

here with animal control.

642

:

We just got called out to check

on, let's say a German shepherd.

643

:

I got called out for a German

Shepherd that's supposed to be in

644

:

the pen back here just to, to check

on him and make sure he is okay.

645

:

She goes, oh yeah, he's fine.

646

:

And I said no there's no

German Shepherd back here.

647

:

She's what do you mean?

648

:

So I called Leanne and , we had a real

sugar rule, Leanne was like, listen,

649

:

unless it's sick or broken or needs

immediate medical do not bring it back.

650

:

We don't have anywhere to put it.

651

:

So I called Leanne and I'm.

652

:

Hey.

653

:

, I know we're supposed to

have a German Shepherd.

654

:

She's yeah.

655

:

I'm like, yeah we don't.

656

:

She's what do you mean?

657

:

I'm like, I don't know who put these

dogs here, but these are not his dogs.

658

:

And this is not a German Shepherd.

659

:

And we just talked to the owner and

these dogs don't belong to them,

660

:

so I have no idea how they ended

up in the pen in his backyard.

661

:

I said, but they're sick, and

I'm gonna have to bring 'em in.

662

:

And she's are you kidding me?

663

:

So now we bring these dogs in, and

by the way, there's this cat it was a

664

:

little Calico coming up and brushing on.

665

:

And I was like, Dmitri.

666

:

Put him in the truck..

667

:

So we put her in the

truck and bring her back.

668

:

But yeah, it was one of those things

where we were so tired and I was like

669

:

none of this is making sense at all.

670

:

You wanna be teamed up with somebody

because of stuff like those situations,

671

:

? You wanna be dispatched, you wanna have

some sort of an organization to it.

672

:

We do a lot of dropping food.

673

:

That's another thing.

674

:

And then what we'll do is we'll

collect those addresses and then

675

:

give them to whoever the animal

control is that's in charge.

676

:

So they can do sheltering in

place and stuff like that.

677

:

But yeah, there's been some great stories

awful disasters that we've worked and

678

:

some really sad moments and really

just devastating, heartbreaking stuff.

679

:

But it's the people that make it,

we meet new people, we work with all

680

:

kinds of people from all walks of

life, and it's just, it's really cool.

681

:

Dixie: Did you ever find

out about the two dogs?

682

:

Ashley: I never found out

who owned those two dogs.

683

:

Nope.

684

:

That's crazy.

685

:

I don't know what happened to

the German Shepherd that was

686

:

supposed to be there either.

687

:

No idea.

688

:

Dixie: I wanted to backtrack a little

bit when you were talking to about

689

:

the Go bag because there is a tip

that I wanna give everybody as well.

690

:

Yeah.

691

:

You were talking about make

sure you have all your paperwork

692

:

and , photos of your animals.

693

:

What I started doing since Katrina,

'cause I did go through Katrina.

694

:

And even people who evacuated

our phone lines were down.

695

:

We had no access to our phones.

696

:

But one thing that I always tell people

to do is get all your important documents

697

:

and email them to yourself because

698

:

If your phones go down, you

can't access your phone.

699

:

You can go to a library and access

your email through a computer.

700

:

Ashley: Yeah.

701

:

Yeah.

702

:

That's smart.

703

:

Really smart.

704

:

Yeah.

705

:

Yeah.

706

:

I do that with my certification, so I have

a booklet of all of my certifications.

707

:

'cause that's obviously the first

thing that emergency management

708

:

wants to know when I talk to them.

709

:

And.

710

:

They had all said one of the things

is I put it all in a Google drive.

711

:

'cause I'm like, at least

this way I have access to it.

712

:

I can find it.

713

:

It's accessible, all those things.

714

:

Dixie: You mentioned that you did

this fire two at one step closer.

715

:

So you went over the go bags

for disaster preparedness.

716

:

So what would you tell people to do for

something that's unexpected like that?

717

:

Like a fire, because that's

one of my biggest fears too,

718

:

especially with animals.

719

:

Ashley: One of the best things that

we have are those little stickers that

720

:

they put in the windows for the firemen.

721

:

It's a sticker and it says please find

my animals, so that the fire departments

722

:

know that hey, there's animals in the

building and please try and find them.

723

:

A fire is nasty I did

a hoarding case fire.

724

:

56 cats and the house went up in flames.

725

:

Luckily the fire was really

contained to the upper levels

726

:

of the house and the cats hid.

727

:

And I think there was

only two that they lost.

728

:

And then there was three that

had pretty substantial burns.

729

:

But.

730

:

Fire is so difficult.

731

:

One of the best things, and I think this

goes for humans too, ? Especially if you

732

:

have children, plan your escape route.

733

:

Yes.

734

:

Everybody's gonna argue with

me and say oh in a fire you

735

:

never, everything goes sideways.

736

:

But my big argument here is if

you've done it multiple times.

737

:

It becomes real second nature to you.

738

:

And you can be very calm in the situation,

739

:

? So for us, in my household, we keep

our crates in a central location,

740

:

? And if I have to get out, this is

the door we're gonna go out of.

741

:

And we'll even set up simulations in

my house especially if you have kids,

742

:

this is a great one to do with kids.

743

:

There's a fire in this room.

744

:

What do we do?

745

:

And help let the kids help you

work it out, ? So that if God

746

:

forbid something like this ever

happens, you can just grab and go.

747

:

Now obviously a fire is something that.

748

:

I hate fire.

749

:

I'd rather have a flood

any day of the week.

750

:

Fire is just, it's so

destructive, it's so fast.

751

:

And all of the planning, I feel like

with a fire really doesn't go great.

752

:

A big one.

753

:

Microchipping your pets is huge.

754

:

Not only microchipping them, but making

sure that you're registering them.

755

:

That's another one.

756

:

A lot of people I would say

five outta 10 microchips that

757

:

we find are not registered.

758

:

So make sure your pets are microchipped.

759

:

Make sure that they always have

collars on, that have tags on them.

760

:

They don't have to be super tight.

761

:

They can be loose.

762

:

They don't have to be super big.

763

:

But a lot of people that I know

don't have collars on their

764

:

dogs, and I'm like, you're crazy.

765

:

My dogs always have tags on them.

766

:

The easier you can make it, the better.

767

:

Knowing and being prepared.

768

:

My crates for my dogs are

in a shed on my property.

769

:

God forbid, my house burnt

down, the shed's over there.

770

:

The other thing is keep your

animals up to date on vaccinations,

771

:

? Nobody ever thinks about this.

772

:

We really live in a culture of not me.

773

:

It's not gonna happen to me.

774

:

And then it does, and you're

unprepared, ? I say to people all

775

:

the time, 'cause they're like, oh,

my, my dog doesn't leave the house

776

:

so we don't vaccinate him anymore.

777

:

And I'm like, yeah, but

what if you had a fire?

778

:

What if there was a flood?

779

:

What if there was an emergency?

780

:

What if we had a hurricane and

you had to go to a shelter?

781

:

Your animal needs to be

up to date on vaccines.

782

:

So that's another one.

783

:

That's how you protect your animals

in one of these crazy situations.

784

:

And it's something

nobody ever thinks about.

785

:

'cause they're like, oh, it's a house cat.

786

:

Yeah, what happens during a disaster?

787

:

I didn't work the California fires, but

my friend Nikki with paws of War did.

788

:

And one of the big things was they were

not allowing families back into the

789

:

area to go get their animals because

it was still such a volatile area.

790

:

So animals were stuck in their house,

just like you were saying, days

791

:

and days with no food and water.

792

:

So , what she was doing was she would

have them send a picture of their license.

793

:

They had to fill out a form with a

legal signature stating that they had

794

:

the ability to go to this property

and get the animals, and then they

795

:

were bringing them out of the danger

zone and giving them to the owners.

796

:

If you were in, I don't know, New York

and on vacation, and you have a wildfire

797

:

in California and everybody evacuates.

798

:

How do you get your dogs?

799

:

You don't, those dogs are now going

to probably go to a shelter and if

800

:

they're not vaccinated, they're gonna

get whatever is in that shelter.

801

:

And now we're looking at a disaster,

which means you're gonna have 10 times

802

:

the normal amount of animals that are

coming in, which means you've got all

803

:

these different petri dishes happening,

which means chances are they're gonna

804

:

be upper respiratory infections, you're

gonna have kennel cough, you're gonna

805

:

have, all these different things.

806

:

So having your animals be vaccinated

is really important for their

807

:

protection in those situations.

808

:

Dixie: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

809

:

And I've never thought about that either.

810

:

I vaccinate, so I'm not worried

about that for my own pets.

811

:

But there are a lot of people, like you

said, that'll say, , my animal doesn't

812

:

go outside and so I don't vaccinate.

813

:

And, but that makes

perfect sense actually.

814

:

Ashley: Yeah.

815

:

And we see a lot of that so with our

adoption process, I'm super strict

816

:

about vetting, with our approvals

and with the approval process.

817

:

For me, vetting is just so important.

818

:

Keeping your dogs up to date on vaccines.

819

:

People criticize me and say I over

vaccinate and things like that.

820

:

But you know what I've

seen we see the worst.

821

:

So it's important.

822

:

The other thing I would say too is if

you're somebody that's listening that's

823

:

part of a shelter or an organization.

824

:

This can happen to you.

825

:

Okay.

826

:

We just had a situation where in Newark

which is one of our inner city shelters

827

:

here the snow collapsed a portion of

their kennel, ? So what do you do?

828

:

Where do we put the animals?

829

:

Where do we go?

830

:

Like, how does it happen?

831

:

We have this Oscar fire,

832

:

? They had 40 animals.

833

:

They lost six dogs in the fire.

834

:

It was awful and heartbreaking.

835

:

But at the end of the day these heroes

were running into burning buildings,

836

:

pulling animals out, and they were able to

say, , I wanna say 37 was what they saved.

837

:

I wanna say I don't quote

me on these numbers.

838

:

I could be wrong, but , by the time I

got to them, they're sitting there on

839

:

pen and paper trying to figure out.

840

:

Where are the animals?

841

:

Who was the animals?

842

:

How many do we have?

843

:

There was no accountability.

844

:

This was an organization

that was very old school.

845

:

A lot of their documentation was

not kept in shelter software.

846

:

So accountability for

them was a huge challenge.

847

:

So it wasn't even a matter

of just figuring out.

848

:

Who went where?

849

:

It was, how many animals are

actually missing, ? It wasn't

850

:

until we had those final counts,

851

:

by the end of that night, we knew there

were five that were at unaccounted for.

852

:

We didn't know if they had perished

in the fire or if they were lost.

853

:

There were two that ended up being lost.

854

:

We actually brought in Buddha Dog

Rescue and Recovery, who's phenomenal.

855

:

They trap lost dogs, and the

dogs actually showed up the next

856

:

morning at the property next door.

857

:

So that was a big one.

858

:

But if you are one of these smaller,

rural shelters where you're not

859

:

really technologically savvy.

860

:

You do a lot of your stuff on Excel,

I'm not saying that's a bad thing,

861

:

but , if you have a catastrophe.

862

:

You need a way to track your animals.

863

:

So at least make sure

your stuff is in a cloud.

864

:

Make sure that if you don't have one, but

you can afford it to do shelter software.

865

:

There's a couple of shelter softwares out

there that are really on the inexpensive

866

:

side as well as ones that are almost free.

867

:

There's a lot of companies so

definitely do that because if

868

:

you ever do have a disaster, the

accountability is a massive problem.

869

:

If you can't figure out how many animals

you have, you don't know what you

870

:

lost, ? So that's a big portion of it.

871

:

Have a emergency response plan.

872

:

If, God forbid, something happened

and we had to evacuate this shelter.

873

:

What is my plan, ? , Where

are we taking the dogs?

874

:

What organizations are taking the dogs?

875

:

Who do we work with that can place dogs?

876

:

We're lucky here where we have our

cart team, which is it's pretty much a

877

:

certified animal response team, ? We're

all, we went through a certification

878

:

class and we have this, so we're

really lucky that we have that here.

879

:

So if, God forbid I ever had an

emergency and we needed to empty out

880

:

a shelter or whatever, I could call

animal control and my contacts over

881

:

there which also is the head of my cart

team and say Hey Carol we need help.

882

:

Same thing if you have a farm.

883

:

These wild fires are crazy.

884

:

Okay.

885

:

If you have a farm, you

need an escape plan.

886

:

Okay?

887

:

You need a plan if there is a

flood, ? And don't give me this

888

:

oh, that doesn't happen here.

889

:

'cause it does.

890

:

And there's always that small chance.

891

:

So it doesn't hinder you at all to

have some sort of a plan in place.

892

:

So the more prepared you

can be, utilize that plan.

893

:

My animals are gonna go where,

what is the plan for this?

894

:

How do I do this?

895

:

, Where do I escape to if this there's all

these different things that we can do

896

:

to prepare ourselves for these things,

but you just don't wanna get caught in

897

:

that emergency and not have that plan

because that is when things get bad,

898

:

? And then, and that's where we

come in and I can say that night

899

:

I sat down and I literally looked

at Cassie and I said, Cassie.

900

:

Who, she's the director over there.

901

:

And I said, Hey, or the president.

902

:

And I said, Hey, like, how

many animals do you have?

903

:

And she was like, I don't know.

904

:

And I was like, okay, take a breath.

905

:

And again, they're all panicking,

emotions are high, so , I'm able to

906

:

come in with a level head and say

okay, do you have a shelter software?

907

:

No.

908

:

How do you track your animals?

909

:

We use Excel.

910

:

Okay.

911

:

Is there a cloud?

912

:

No.

913

:

Okay.

914

:

Is there a hard drive?

915

:

Yes.

916

:

Okay.

917

:

Were you able to get Yes.

918

:

We brought the, somebody

brought the hard drive here.

919

:

Okay, great.

920

:

Pull the hard drive up there.

921

:

Boom.

922

:

That's done.

923

:

Okay, great.

924

:

I have my laptop.

925

:

I'm starting to Google Drive.

926

:

All right.

927

:

Who, which dogs went to Happy Hounds?

928

:

Which dogs went to, Newton Vet,

which dogs went to Southern Paws?

929

:

Which dogs went here?

930

:

And then you start to get organized,

but if you don't have somebody

931

:

coming in with that level head

and then acknowledgement and.

932

:

I almost didn't go.

933

:

This property the Oscar property

is a little over an hour from us.

934

:

And I had to go to the facility to get my

van, which is a half hour from me before

935

:

I rode up there, because I was like if

they're gonna need us to move animals,

936

:

I don't wanna go up without the van.

937

:

So I immediately ran to my facility.

938

:

I threw a whole bunch of stuff

in the truck that was emergency,

939

:

like things that they might need.

940

:

And then I started going up with

the van and I had four people

941

:

that called me and said, don't go.

942

:

They're putting out on the internet

that they don't need any more help.

943

:

Please don't go.

944

:

It's a mob scene.

945

:

Nobody wants you there.

946

:

And everybody kept saying that to me.

947

:

Even the head, even my chief

of my cart team was like,

948

:

Ashley, we don't self deploy.

949

:

And I was like, Carol,

I'm not going as cart.

950

:

I'm going to Southern Paws.

951

:

I'll see you later.

952

:

Worst case scenario, they don't need me.

953

:

I'm 15 minutes from there.

954

:

I've been in the car now

for almost two hours.

955

:

I'm like, I'm gonna at least

give them my card because if

956

:

they don't need me tonight.

957

:

Over the next couple of days,

they are going to need me.

958

:

I have a very certain set of

skills that are not, yes, they

959

:

don't need average person's help.

960

:

And that's I think, one of the things

that gets lost in the sauce, ? In this

961

:

scenario, this is what I'm good at, this

is one of the things that I specialize in.

962

:

So I can come in and

help you get organized.

963

:

I can help you navigate the outpouring

of support that's gonna come in.

964

:

I can help you with phone lines and emails

and all these different things, but.

965

:

I even doubted myself.

966

:

I was like, maybe I shouldn't go.

967

:

And I was like, you know what

I've almost driven two hours.

968

:

Just go give 'em your card.

969

:

And when I walked in, I was

like, Hey, listen, I'm not

970

:

here to move dogs, take dogs.

971

:

I don't wanna do this.

972

:

These are the things I can help you with.

973

:

If you want me to leave, I can leave and

I'll just give you my card and then if

974

:

you need anything, please just reach out.

975

:

And they were like no, please stay.

976

:

And I ended up working with them

for a week to get them organized.

977

:

It was huge.

978

:

It was great.

979

:

It was a wonderful success.

980

:

They actually raised over $600,000

that from a GoFundMe that my

981

:

social media person put together.

982

:

Oh my God.

983

:

Yeah, you have to go online

and you have to look it out.

984

:

It's called Oscar Animal Rescue.

985

:

It's located in Andover, New Jersey.

986

:

They're resilient and they're beautiful

and they're wonderful, and they now

987

:

officially are getting shelter software.

988

:

We laugh about this and we do and I

say this, don't criticize them because

989

:

you have no idea how many shelters

I've worked in , all over this country

990

:

and people are back in the times

991

:

there are a lot of them, especially in

these more rural areas that are not.

992

:

Technologically up with the times.

993

:

And I was one of them.

994

:

, My team had to pull me kicking

and screaming into this century.

995

:

I was very much a paper and

pencil kind of person, and

996

:

they were like, this is insane.

997

:

We gotta get you digital.

998

:

So I know what they were going

through, but we've developed

999

:

some really great friendships.

:

00:46:31,969 --> 00:46:36,789

I had them at my rescue this last weekend

because we had a transport and they came

:

00:46:36,789 --> 00:46:38,829

in to see what our protocols looked like.

:

00:46:39,189 --> 00:46:41,879

And then, we also teamed up with them.

:

00:46:42,049 --> 00:46:45,339

They're really giving us a whole

bunch of stuff for a tricky tray

:

00:46:45,339 --> 00:46:47,109

event that we're doing in June.

:

00:46:47,479 --> 00:46:48,199

And it was really cute.

:

00:46:48,199 --> 00:46:51,349

Cassie actually said to me today,

she's you supported us so much.

:

00:46:51,659 --> 00:46:52,469

'Cause I was like, stop.

:

00:46:52,469 --> 00:46:53,369

I was like, this is too much.

:

00:46:53,369 --> 00:46:54,749

You don't need to give us all this stuff.

:

00:46:54,749 --> 00:46:55,259

Stop it.

:

00:46:55,739 --> 00:46:57,119

And she was like, no.

:

00:46:57,119 --> 00:47:00,269

She's you supported us so much

through this such a difficult time.

:

00:47:00,319 --> 00:47:01,579

Let us help you now.

:

00:47:01,639 --> 00:47:02,899

I can help you with this.

:

00:47:03,259 --> 00:47:06,979

And so it's really beautiful,

these relationships we build too.

:

00:47:07,059 --> 00:47:11,729

But yeah, I would absolutely say that

having a plan is half the battle.

:

00:47:12,179 --> 00:47:16,889

Even if everything goes sideways, at

least you have that plan to bring it back

:

00:47:16,889 --> 00:47:20,529

to, you might lose out on a couple of

steps, but the that saying the best laid

:

00:47:20,529 --> 00:47:24,369

plans, but you might lose out on some

of it, but it's a way to keep yourself

:

00:47:24,369 --> 00:47:26,489

calm when everything is going haywire.

:

00:47:27,959 --> 00:47:28,979

Dixie: Yeah, absolutely.

:

00:47:28,979 --> 00:47:29,969

I couldn't agree more.

:

00:47:31,169 --> 00:47:32,129

. Ashley: It's springtime.

:

00:47:32,129 --> 00:47:33,869

We're going into disaster season.

:

00:47:33,999 --> 00:47:34,279

Dixie: Yeah.

:

00:47:34,364 --> 00:47:36,074

Hurricane season fun,

:

00:47:36,124 --> 00:47:36,994

? Ashley: So fun.

:

00:47:37,214 --> 00:47:38,684

We got off real easy.

:

00:47:38,684 --> 00:47:41,934

Last year I didn't have to

deploy out at all last year.

:

00:47:41,934 --> 00:47:45,204

So I'm a little scared about this year

because usually if there's a year that

:

00:47:45,204 --> 00:47:49,194

I don't have to deploy out, it means

the following year is gonna be bad.

:

00:47:49,384 --> 00:47:51,514

This last year we didn't

really go anywhere.

:

00:47:51,564 --> 00:47:55,074

I don't have the appropriate

certifications to do fire work.

:

00:47:55,264 --> 00:47:59,524

And honestly, fires for

me are really awful.

:

00:47:59,714 --> 00:48:01,544

For some reason I don't

like to work fires.

:

00:48:01,824 --> 00:48:06,134

So it was really nice to be

able to, support paws of war in

:

00:48:06,134 --> 00:48:07,304

what they were doing out there.

:

00:48:07,304 --> 00:48:07,724

But.

:

00:48:08,144 --> 00:48:10,174

Yeah, , that was the only

thing that we had last year.

:

00:48:10,174 --> 00:48:11,044

It was awful.

:

00:48:11,044 --> 00:48:14,254

I'm just a little nervous about

this year because this last

:

00:48:14,284 --> 00:48:15,814

hurricane season was quiet.

:

00:48:17,044 --> 00:48:17,194

Dixie: Yeah.

:

00:48:17,194 --> 00:48:23,194

I know we had some, but it hit areas

that were very low populated areas.

:

00:48:24,064 --> 00:48:24,514

Ashley: Yeah.

:

00:48:24,724 --> 00:48:25,024

Yeah.

:

00:48:25,024 --> 00:48:29,044

So we had those weird curves, ? On

the East Coast, everything would come

:

00:48:29,044 --> 00:48:32,164

in like it was gonna hit, and then it

would immediately bounce back out to

:

00:48:32,164 --> 00:48:34,024

sea and then just end up in nowhere.

:

00:48:35,189 --> 00:48:38,549

Dixie: Fingers crossed we

don't have a busy season, so

:

00:48:38,759 --> 00:48:40,109

Ashley: No, I hope we don't.

:

00:48:40,109 --> 00:48:40,949

I really don't.

:

00:48:41,039 --> 00:48:45,179

But yeah, and if anybody out there

listening to this podcast wants help on

:

00:48:45,179 --> 00:48:50,279

this or needs help coming up with a plan

or wants to talk or, needs some direction

:

00:48:50,339 --> 00:48:54,329

or wants to make friends, so that next

hurricane you have a team that you can

:

00:48:54,329 --> 00:48:57,879

call that will come in and help you,

if you need it, please don't hesitate.

:

00:48:57,879 --> 00:48:58,989

It's Southern paws Inc.

:

00:48:58,989 --> 00:49:01,149

You can go right on our website,

which is southernpawsinc.org.

:

00:49:02,229 --> 00:49:05,469

Send us an email just put

attention, Ashley on it.

:

00:49:05,499 --> 00:49:12,299

Or you could put attention, disaster

preparedness team, and that way,

:

00:49:12,299 --> 00:49:13,829

let's build some more relationships.

:

00:49:13,829 --> 00:49:16,289

So if you guys do need us,

you have relationships already

:

00:49:16,289 --> 00:49:17,699

established for us to come out.

:

00:49:18,569 --> 00:49:21,209

Dixie: Yeah, and I'll drop that

in the show notes too, so that way

:

00:49:21,209 --> 00:49:22,919

people can access your page too.

:

00:49:24,104 --> 00:49:24,824

Ashley: Awesome.

:

00:49:24,824 --> 00:49:25,274

Awesome.

:

00:49:25,274 --> 00:49:26,504

Dixie, thanks so much.

:

00:49:26,504 --> 00:49:27,854

I love coming on this show.

:

00:49:27,854 --> 00:49:29,114

I love talking to you.

:

00:49:29,304 --> 00:49:29,724

Dixie: Good.

:

00:49:29,724 --> 00:49:31,074

I'll have you back another time.

:

00:49:31,824 --> 00:49:34,374

And hopefully I won't be seeing

you for hurricane season,

:

00:49:34,424 --> 00:49:34,934

Ashley: No.

:

00:49:35,119 --> 00:49:35,409

Nope.

:

00:49:35,409 --> 00:49:36,049

Hopefully not.

:

00:49:36,629 --> 00:49:37,409

So nope.

:

00:49:37,829 --> 00:49:38,669

Any other time.

:

00:49:39,069 --> 00:49:40,539

Dixie: That's it for today's episode.

:

00:49:40,539 --> 00:49:44,439

I wanna thank everybody for

listening and supporting us.

:

00:49:44,529 --> 00:49:48,639

If you wanna take that an extra

step, consider becoming a member.

:

00:49:48,879 --> 00:49:53,079

We just added this to our

website, animalposse.com,

:

00:49:53,319 --> 00:49:55,389

scroll down, look for the support tab.

:

00:49:55,439 --> 00:50:01,769

Our membership program is going to

help us directly support animals

:

00:50:01,799 --> 00:50:08,999

in need, whether that be through

vaccinations, food or spay neuter efforts.

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About the Podcast

Animal Posse
A look inside the world of animal rescue
Dive deep into the world of animal rescue with heartwarming stories, expert interviews, and behind-the-scenes insights. From heartwarming adoptions to daring rescues, we'll explore the incredible bond between humans and animals.
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About your host

Profile picture for DIXIE LOUVIERE

DIXIE LOUVIERE

My love for animals has driven me to dedicate the last 20 years to rescue. In 2024, we established a 501c3 nonprofit Unwanted Feline Organization Inc. and are thrilled to be building a cat sanctuary in Washington Parish, Louisiana, where we can offer a haven for cats in need. I thought it would be great for the rescue to have a podcast so Animal Posse was started with the hope of bringing rescues together, getting them more exposure, and finding more animals
homes.