Three Men (and 40 animals) in a Boat
August 30, 2006
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.
With food and water stocked and an emergency plan in place, Dr. Banta and Dr. Algero evacuated on Sunday, August 28, leaving Thomas for what everyone assumed would be a 3-day stint feeding and caring for more than 3 dozen boarded cats and dogs, including Thomas’ dog.
Thomas awoke early on August 29 to the sound of debris blowing around as Katrina roared in. Predictably, the clinic lost power in the high winds, but Thomas was prepared for that. He kept in constant contact with the vets by cell phone throughout the day. By that evening, the storm had past and the worst seemed to be over.
On Tuesday, Thomas took care of the animals “like I was still on the clock,” feeding them 2 – 3 times a day and constantly filling their water bowls to compensate for the high temperatures in the unairconditioned building. Throughout the day, Thomas said, he noticed an ever-growing trickle of water running along the gutter of S. Carrollton from the Washington Avenue canal.
As the trickle of water grew to a steady stream, so too did the number looters breaking into surrounding businesses. Thomas did a lot of praying and a lot of worrying.
In the midst of the growing crisis, Thomas gave refuge to people caught in the chaos, including an elderly man whose car had broken down and a disoriented couple trying to make their way out of the city on foot. After spending a few nights at the clinic, the trio made their way to a rescue station several blocks away.
By Friday, Thomas had lost all phone contact with Dr. Banta and Dr. Algero. He had no idea where his family was, and what efforts, if any, were being made to rescue him.
In desperation, he tried to get the attention of a National Guard helicopter from his makeshift campsite on the roof of the clinic by using fire extinguishers as flares. As he waited for the helicopter to make another pass, he turned on his portable TV and saw the deplorable conditions in the Superdome. “I thought, ‘Whoa. If I get rescued, that’s where they’ll try to take me.’”
Suddenly, rescue didn’t seem so desirable. Thomas looked up to see the National Guard circling back and panicked. “I ran into the building, locked all the doors and hid. I heard the chopper hovering overhead for 10 minutes and finally it flew away.” When he went back up to the roof, he discovered that his last vestiges of civilization had been destroyed by the helicopter; his tent was hanging from a powerline, his portable TV had been blown off the roof and shattered, his change of clothes were gone. He began to wonder if his ordeal would ever end.
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.
