e Red Cross. In some places, it's difficult to even establish communication with the victims, and when the animal rescuers went in, they were stunned to find that the humans there are in such deplorable conditions, they are begging for blankets that have been donated for animals. I contacted this woman today, and she has given me permission to send the info below to you...

Written by Jeannette Ferro

"All the news is about New Orleans. I have a love/hate relation with New Orleans. I grew up there. I'm almost 60 now. But New Orleans, with all it's destruction, actually faired better than most communities. Granted, New Orleans was heavier populated, but we can't overlook the many other areas simply because no one has heard of them and because they're not tourist attractions. The other people count, too.

As a nurse and an animal rescuer, having cared for and knowing so many of these people and animals, I have been trying to do everything I can for both humans and nonhumans since Katrina hit. I will live with stories that will haunt me until the day I die. One of the most recent that has come to my attention is also one of the worst.

The coastal areas of Louisiana, in Vermilion Parish, are/were inhabited with generations of Acadian/Cajun people. This is where the dying language of Cajun French is spoken. The majority of the population are animal and crop farmers. Being closer to the Gulf, the tides and storm surges completely wiped out most of everything that was there. Crops were destroyed. Large herds of cattle, horses, pigs, and every other living animal known to those areas were either swept out into the Gulf, or were left stranded on tiny islands of slightly higher ground. The very most southern part, below HWY 82, looks like it was never inhabited by any living beings. Wells that provided water are now ruined from the salty Gulf and ocean waters. The land is a white/grayish color, completely dead, and rendered totally useless by the salt water. Animals who weren't washed out into the Gulf, and who have tried to survive on the remaining salt saturated water and grass, have either died from dehydration from the salt or are now very sick. These people are begging for the basic needs for themselves, but are also desperately asking for the basic needs to try and keep their animals alive as well.

Many of the people who lived in the area would not leave their family homesteads, homesteads that have been passed down from several generations before them. They wouldn't leave their animals or their crops as these were their only means of survival, because of the love of their animals (not all are raised to be slaughtered), and because their homes represent generations of their families and culture.

Two days ago, I heard about an animal rescuer in one such little town called Abbeville. Near Abbeville is another small, and just as unknown town called Erath. I'm told there is an estimated 3,000 people there, many now living in tents, without power and water, and who have not had any relief from FEMA and little to none from the Red Cross. The news that upset me so badly, coming from a fellow animal rescuer, is the fact that many of these people are actually coming to this animal rescuer asking for water and blankets that have been donated for the animals. As an avid animal lover and nurse, I can't begin to explain to you how upsetting this is to me. What kind of society lets it's own people go without the most basic needs to cause them to have to beg for water and blankets that were donated for animals?!?

The animal rescuer I learned about normally aids smaller domestic animals, but she's now forced to do what she can to provide water and blankets for humans, as well as hay and feed for all kinds of livestock. Fencing, like everything else, is now gone and badly needed. Vaccinations and medications are badly needed. I would bet that the majority of the people who might read this have never heard of any of this or even know there are places like Abbeville and Erath, Louisiana. I live in Louisiana and I've never seen or heard about any of this on our local news. How can that be? How can the governments and the news forget or overlook thousands of US citizens living in total despair?!?

I just saw on the news that the big CEO of Pfister pharmaceutical company donated millions in dollars and medications to earthquake victims in another country, and was quoted as saying something to the effect that it was an opportunity for him to give back to those who had nothing. Hello! What about thousands of Americans from Texas to Alabama who now have nothing?!?

Thousands of families who are trying their best to get back on their feet and rebuild or go on with their lives elsewhere are in limbo thanks to the federal government. FEMA is out of money until the federal government refills their bank account so FEMA can pay the millions of people who have paid for flood insurance protection for years. The federal government is holding up funding FEMA because they are to involved in arguing on the rights to drill for damnable oil in the protected Arctic Wildlife Refuge in Alaska and won't pass the budget bill without the provision allowing them those drilling rights. That should tell you a LOT about the priorities and the alliances of our federal government! Where is the aid from these rich and powerful oil companies that we recently heard about making record breaking third quarter profits for 2005, and that are responsible for destroying the marshes and wetlands that used to protect all of our Gulf coast states? Those marshes and wetlands, had they not been destroyed by oil drilling, would have prevented most of the destruction and would have saved many of the thousands of lives taken by hurricanes Katrina and Rita and hurricanes yet to come.

Americans have been hit and hit as hard as any people could be hit by the worst disaster in the history of our nation, and federal aid is no where to be found. Just as bad, there is no public outcry because there has been no news coverage about these people.

How can this happen in the largest, richest, most powerful country..... or was.....in the world?

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