There are three things you appreciate immediately when you meet Dr. Charles Banta, Dr. Chris Algero and veterinary technician Tremaine Thomas of Carrollton Veterinary Hospital: their steadfast commitment to the clinic and the animals they care for; their profound respect for one another; and their unshakeable faith in the city of New Orleans.
Dr. Banta is no stranger to hurricane preparation. After all, he opened the vet clinic at its present location at 3501 S. Carrollton in 1962, and the building has weathered every hurricane (including Betsy) and tropical storm since then with minimal wind damage and no flooding.
When Katrina rolled into the Gulf, the vets and Thomas prepared the building internally and externally to withstand hurricane-force winds and to ensure the animals’ well-being when power went out, which it inevitably would. “But we were preparing for a hurricane, not a flood,” says Banta.
Thomas learned later of the extraordinary effort that Drs. Algero and Banta were making to rescue him. “I can’t tell you how many times I heard so-called rescue units tell us they couldn’t help us because it was against protocol. ‘Protocol’ is a four-letter word in my book,” says Dr. Algero.
Early on Sunday, September 4, after being denied acces and assistance, the vets slipped past the authorities blocking passage to the flooded areas in a borrowed pirogue and push-pulled their way 17 blocks north to their clinic.
They had no idea what to expect. “We didn’t know if Tremaine was alive or dead,” says Banta. “We hadn’t had any contact with him for days.”
All three have difficulty expressing the profound relief they felt when they first saw one another again. Dr. Banta and Dr. Algero were amazed to hear that only 5 of the oldest and sickest animals, all dogs, had succumbed to heat exhaustion.
After their emotional reunion, the trio floated the surviving dogs and cats to Jefferson Feed and Seed, notified the owners, microchipped the animals and sent them to the shelter in Gonzales to await retrieval and have since been reunited with their owners. The next day, Monday, September 5, marked Thomas’ 20th birthday.
After evacuating to different cities, all three are back in business at Carrollton Veterinary, though office hours are shorter due to staff shortages. In the off-hours, they work on gutting and rebuilding their flood-damaged offices.
All three agree that the Katrina experience changed them profoundly. Dr. Algero says he takes life a little slower now, and adds laughingly that he has a new appreciation for cats and their ability to survive. Dr. Banta says that next time a hurricane threatens New Orleans, new policies are in place to ensure that all animals are evacuated beforehand and no one is left behind to go through what Thomas had to.
But Thomas does not regret the experience, which he says made him stronger and gave him a sense of purpose. “I didn’t know I had it in myself,” he says. He is especially grateful to have been there to help out the three people he sheltered, and is humbled by the gratitude expressed by the owners of the animals he cared for throughout the week.
All three agree that New Orleans is where they need to be right now. When Thomas isn’t working at the clinic, he’s playing semi-pro football for the Kenner City Power. He’s also taking courses at Delgado Community College in preparation for applying to veterinary school, a goal Dr. Algero and Dr. Banta fully endorse.
