GALVESTON — Minnie was waiting on the front porch of her owner’s apartment Thursday morning when her rescuers arrived.
The 15-year-old cat, which rode out Hurricane Ike by herself, had spent the past 13 days waiting for someone to come.
She was hungry and thirsty, but was definitely going to survive, her rescuers said.
“I’m so grateful she’s alive,” said Deborah Snyder, Minnie’s owner. “That kitty is the most important thing to me.”
A Long, Lonely Wait
On Sept. 11, as the storm was bearing down on the island, Snyder packed her bags and pulled out the cat carrier.
Minnie, who hates being caged, climbed up the chimney and refused to come out. Snyder said she tried for two hours to coax her pet down from her hiding place. She left reluctantly, setting out several bowls of food and water.
Snyder spent the next 10 days in Austin. She kept calling the animal rescue hotline, but she couldn’t get any information about Minnie.
Frantic for news, Snyder finally called the Galveston Police Department on Wednesday night. Officers put her in touch with Caroline Dorsett, executive director of the Galveston Island Humane Society, who sent out the rescue team first thing Thursday morning.
“I was just frantic,” Snyder said. “At her age, I had no idea whether she was still alive.”
Getting Reunited
While volunteers checked Minnie for injuries and logged her in to the shelter’s computer database, Dorsett called Snyder with the good news.
Later that day, volunteers took Minnie to Houston where more than 800 other pets are waiting for their owners.
After living in a hotel for almost two weeks, Snyder flew to New York to spend some time with her parents. She asked a friend to pick Minnie up from the Houston shelter.
Although other Galveston residents are returning to the island, any pets picked up are still being sent to Houston. Volunteers post photographs of each one on the Web site of the Houston Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
As returning owners find their pets online, volunteers are bringing them back to Galveston so they can be reunited.
Coming Home
Volunteers at the temporary shelter, at 53rd Street and Ave. S, are searching the database of lost pets for any owners who do not have Internet access.
Tamme Craft stopped by the shelter first thing Thursday morning with a cat carrier case and a notice rescuers taped to the front door of her West End home a week ago.
Using her address, volunteers quickly found both Sheba and Anya, Craft’s “babies.”
“Ooo, she looks mad,” Craft said, pointing to the picture volunteers took of Anya not long after she arrived at the shelter.
Rescuers had to break a window in Craft’s otherwise undamaged home to save the pair.
“I’m so happy you guys came and rescued my babies,” she said, as she headed out the door on her way to Houston.
“Now I’m going to go break them out of jail.”
At A Glance
Residents have only 10 days from the time their pet’s picture is put online at hspca.org to retrieve their animals.
After 10 days have passed, the animals will be placed for adoption in shelters all over the country.
Most of them likely will find new homes easily, said Caroline Dorsett, director of the Galveston Island Humane Society.
None of the animals have been placed for adoption yet, Dorsett said.
The Galveston shelter is moving ahead with plans to demolish their storm-damaged facility on Broadway and rebuild.
They are accepting donations online at galvestonhumane.org.
