AUGUSTA – As the human crisis in the Gulf Coast continues to unfold, more and more attention is being paid to the victims’ abandoned pets – pets that were left behind when evacuees were forced into shelters and pets that were injured or fled when Hurricane Katrina hit.

Maine’s state veterinarians, Drs. Don Hoenig and Chip Ridky, both volunteered their services and are awaiting word that they are needed. Ridky’s Maine Army National Guard unit was activated, so he has headed to the gulf in that capacity, but Hoenig is still in Maine.

Meanwhile, the state’s SMART – State of Maine Animal Rescue Team – is standing by. Director Elizabeth Stone said SMART would act as a communications center for Maine’s veterinarians and other animal advocates, should the call for help from MEMA or FEMA come.

“But realistically, we would expect that all affected animals would be housed and treated locally, if possible,” she said.

“Right now, there are no requests for vets or animal health assistants,” Hoenig said this week, “but we expect that as the water recedes, that will change. I think there is going to be a need for a long, long time.”

Penguins have been rescued from the Audubon Zoo, sea turtles that were once zoo exhibits have been released into the Gulf of Mexico, and a horse hot line for ranchers and equine owners seeking help has been set up.

But it is the thousands of abandoned, hungry, ill and terrified household pets that Louisiana veterinarians are trying to address that has Hoenig concerned.

“Many people that didn’t leave their homes when the evacuation was ordered, refused because they wouldn’t leave their pets behind,” Hoenig said. Those pets that were abandoned are drinking infected water, he said, and television news coverage shows terrified animals hiding in trees and taking shelter on freeways.

It has been reported that dozens of humane organizations have been frantically trying to collect the loose animals while police have been shooting those they deemed too aggressive.

The pet death toll is mounting as dogs and cats have been found drowned at breeding kennels and shelters. A four-person team from the Missouri Humane Society on Tuesday helped a breeder of miniature pinschers in Pascagoula, Miss., to excavate 80 dogs from beneath mud and fallen trees, but 60 more perished in their flooded cages.

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, shelters in the affected area reported losses of 50 percent to 70 percent. Large-animal deaths had yet to be assessed as rescue teams penetrated deeper into devastated rural regions. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reported hundreds of veterinary hospitals destroyed by the hurricane and many others damaged beyond repair.

The AVMA has a number of Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams that are activated in disaster situations, such as the teams sent in after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, and four of those teams are at the Gulf Coast, Hoenig said.