Always search the whole house!

My most memorable rescue from my first tour was with partner, Lynda Marple. We had paired up together for a few days, with many uneventful hours. In September we were working from lists off of the internet, and other sources where people had requested we go to there home and rescue their pet. With the lack of volunteers, the lists were often updated weeks later, making the address redundant. Often we would approach houses where it was clear that someone had already entered, and often bluntly clear that many animal rescue groups had been their previously, for in September we were spray painting the houses with the date, and the action taken. F/W meant Food and Water were left. Rescued or P/U meant Pulled out. We would also mark the house, SPCA, or HSUS. Of course different rescue groups had different methods. Unfortunately I also saw some "rescuers" write judgemental messages on peoples houses when they found the animals confined and dead. Not all rescuers were patient and understanding, but also the stress of the things we saw, wore on people and pushed people over the edge making them irritable, sensitive, and out of normal character. But I digress.

Lynda and I approached the house. The description said we were looking for a cat in this house. We check around the house for an open door, or window. Nothing. We picked the best place to enter, the front porch glass door. Glass can be easily repaired, but we also sometimes had to break the wood that held the glass panes also. Crawling though the door into the mud filled room, it was clear that a cat would not be interested in hanging around down there. We immediately went to the second floor to begin our search. Cats like to hide under bed, in closets, under and in any little hole that they can find. We began looking around. Nothing in the bedroom. Where could it be? No one had yet entered this house, and there were no open windows. the odds were that the cat was here somewhere. Then in the hallway over some clothes a little head popped up. I put on my gloves. (Cat bites can put you into the hospital.) We opened a cat of cat food, and called out to him. This cat was not interested. Scared he ran to a corner. Blankets in had we approached. He darted. We did not want him to dart down stairs, into the mud covered furniture and possible out into the unknown world. Before we could even toss a blanket over him, he darted into a hole in the wall where a pipe came out. How in the world were we going to get in there. Lynda ran out to get the flashlight. I watched the hole, so he wouldn't come out. I discussed with Lynda how we were going to break through the wall. Then we looked around the room more, and noticed a little door on the wall at the other end. It was closet filled with all those boxes and miscellaneous stuff you throw into an attic. It was getting hot. My shirt was covered in sweat. It must have been 100 degrees up there. The weather was unseasonable hot this time of year.

The closet cubby hole went all the way through to where the cat ducked in. Hopefully he did not have a way out of here. I made my way through. I crawled in further. I didn't see him. I didn't see a way he could have gotten out, but you never know. There may have been a way. Then I saw him. He had ducked under the some board that made a temporary floor over the beams. I gathered my blanket and approached again. He moved. Finally I was on the board over top of him. I could move some of the boards away. Then I placed the blanket over the board where he was and grabbed him though the blanket. It was a struggle, but I had him. I secured my grip further and yelled out to Lynda that I had him. By this time she had run back down for a cat carrier! We were both dripping sweat. It had taken us over half an hour to catch this fellow but is was well worth it. As we were loading the cat into the car a neighbor called out to us.

In September is was very rare to see any residents. They really weren't allowed back in, but some had friends here or there, or snuck in somehow. The gentleman asked if we had gotten the turtles. "Turtles?" Apparently he knew that his neighbor had turtles. We all went back into the house. The neighbor called his best friend who was the brother of the woman who lived her. As we explored the first floor of the house the neighbor told him what we saw. We had to push our way into the back bedroom, for the couch and other furniture had floated against the door. Inside we saw a number of aquariums. Unfortunately the water level in the first floor was about 5 feet. The aquariums had been tipped over. Well all except one. We peered inside. An hairy eight legged beast stared back at us. Well I had never rescued a tarantula before! How to we take him? The aquarium was small enough to pick up, but wait the brother was telling us to go into the front bedroom.
Again we had to push in. Inside we saw five aquariums. Two had been overturned by the flood water, but clearly had been occupied by some reptile. Was it slithering around her somewhere? The first aquarium on the left contained three boas. The one next to held a big lizard, that I later learned was a Savannah Monitor. The one across the room contained a albino python. Ok, the tarantula aquarium we could fit in the car, but the other aquariums were around six feet long. We needed help. Time to call the Jersey Boys.



The Jersey boys were a team of animal control officers from New Jersey, headed up by a gentleman named Willie. I had their phone number and gave them a call. We would meet them back at the Triage center and lead them out here. We loaded up the tarantula and headed out. When we returned from the triage with the Jersey boys who then made it look easy. I gathered some pillow cases for them to put the snakes in. As soon as they opened the lid to the boas cage they were poised heads at the edge, anxiously waiting for the first chance at some food. Instead they were captured and on there way to the Lamar Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales, LA, along with their housemates, a lizard, python, tarantula, and one cat! Unfortunately I don't think the turtles made it. We had the owners name and brothers contact information. Rarely did we get this lucky. I later heard the owner and his extended reptile family were reunited about a week after the rescue.

This day I learned you never know what you are going to find, and you should always check the entire house!