Sheldon Z. Yessenow, left, and Amy Breton examine a cat rescued from Katrina floodwaters. (John J. Crookes photo)

Daily News Tribune
Published: 9/20/05
By: Carrie Simmons / Daily News Staff

WALTHAM, Mass. - A local veterinary technician spent the last two weeks caring for some of the thousands of four-legged friends left homeless by Hurricane Katrina.

Amy Breton was deployed on Aug. 30, the day after Hurricane Katrina made landfall on the Gulf Coast, with Veterinary Medical Assistant Team 1, one of four teams of veterinarians, veterinary technicians, scientists, epidemiologists and toxicologists under the direction of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

Her team worked 15-hour days to support local vets in caring for the animal survivors of Katrina that were separated from their owners and suffering from dehydration and minor injuries. Breton said the reunions of owners and their pets kept them going.

"When you have nothing and you find your dog or cat, it is the greatest thing in the world," said Breton, a vet tech for Veterinary Emergency and Specialty Center of New England (VESCONE) on Bear Hill Road.

The Tewksbury resident was stationed in various parts of Louisiana including the Louisiana State University Emergency Animal Shelter in Baton Rouge. That shelter housed more than 1,000 pets as of Sept. 14, most brought in by their owners to be boarded until they could find housing that would allow animals.

Breton also ran a triage center at the New Orleans Airport, providing veterinary medical care as well as food and water for pets of New Orleans residents being evacuated from the city. The team worked diligently to decontaminate the animals before they left the city.

At the Lamar-Dixon Equine Exhibition Center in Gonzales, Louisiana, more than 2,000 animals were brought in by animal rescue workers including dogs, cats, horses, ducks, pigeons and even mice.

"You name it, they found them,"said Breton.

Over the course of two weeks, relief workers saw a few dogs that were emaciated or suffering from heat stroke, Breton said, but the team was pleasantly surprised to find the majority of animals were only mildly dehydrated and a little stressed.

"It all depended on the individual animal," said Breton, who also served at Ground Zero after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, caring for more than 900 search and rescue dogs that received daily exams after working at the site.

"We had dogs that came in that could have cared less that there was a disaster," she said.

Her two-week mission in Louisiana ended last Tuesday but Breton plans to continue with her team, which has grown from 15 members prior to Sept. 11. to 60 and now has a waiting list.

VESCONE vet technician and nursing supervisor Jamie Coughlin waited for almost a year but is currently training to serve with VMAT-1.

Veterinarian Amy Shroff, co-owner of VESCONE, is still waiting to be accepted.

"I've volunteered but no one has called yet," she said.