It wasn't as if experimenters at New York University (NYU) didn't know for days that Hurricane Sandy was approaching. It wasn't as if they didn't know that federal policy requires them to at least try to protect the animals they torment and kill in experiments from also becoming victims of a natural disaster. But the experimenters either made no evacuation plan for the animals in their "care" or they failed to follow through with it. Instead, they abandoned 10,000 mice and rats in a basement laboratory, who remained trapped in their cages as the floodwaters rose. Many animals—panicked, afraid, and desperate to escape—drowned to death, while others suffocated from the toxic diesel fumes of a leaking fuel tank. NYU was unable to give an exact figure for the number of animals who died—remarking instead that the facility lost 7,660 cages of mice and 22 cages of rats, with each cage holding one to seven animals. 

PETA has filed a complaint with the National Institutes of Health, the government body that oversees federally funded experiments, calling for an investigation into NYU's irresponsible and unconscionable actions and inaction. In our complaint, we pointed out that the university will likely acquire thousands more animals to replace those who died, multiplying the suffering caused by the experimenter's negligence.

It's not the first time that animals were left trapped in laboratory cages during natural disasters. At the University of Texas Medical School at Houston, 35 dogs, 78 monkeys, 300 rabbits, and 4,000 mice and rats drowned during tropical storm Allison in 2001. The storm also killed 30,000 mice and rats who were left in the basement at Baylor College of Medicine. Hurricane Katrina killed 8,000 animals trapped in Louisiana State University's laboratories, and thousands more died at Tulane.

An official with the National Academy of Sciences remarked: "This happens again and again and (research labs) never learn. Anybody with half a brain knows you do a site-specific analysis [to understand the risk of disasters], and it's really stupid to put your animals in the basement if you're in a flood zone."

Stupid, cruel, and inexcusable.

Slogging through floodwaters, mud, and debris, PETA's Community Animal Project fieldworkers were out and about during and in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy to respond to calls about animals left outside in some sort of endurance test  imposed on them by their owners. Here are just two of them—dogs who are very lucky to be alive after their owners left them chained to trees during the hurricane.

Brownie had to ride out up to 60-mile-per-hour winds and buckets of rain in a toppled-over airline crate. The chain he was on had become wrapped around a tree, and he was surrounded by scattered debris and mud puddles. Brownie's neglectful owners decided that he was too much trouble when asked to take him indoors, so they gave him to PETA's fieldworkers, and we delivered him to our friends at the Virginia Beach SPCA, who offered him a warm, dry, indoor residence right away while they search for a far better family for him.

Tipsy's small, filthy doghouse didn't offer much protection from the hard-driving weather, and when CAP workers found her, she was soaked to the bone. We gave her a roomy new doghouse, moved her to a grassy spot, covered her yard with dry straw, cleaned her food and water bowls, and gave her a much-needed toweling off. We are in talks with her owners, hoping to get them to change their ways and become real guardians now.

As the Eastern Seaboard recovers from Hurricane Sandy, we will undoubtedly hear the stories of animals who, unlike Brownie and Tipsy, were not found in time and lost their lives because their owners couldn't care less about their safety.

Natural disasters aren’t preventable, but the tragic deaths of companion animals during disasters certainly can be. Please sign PETA’s petition urging the governors of each state to ban chaining during extreme weather. 

You may remember the real life story: As Hurricane Irene pummeled the East Coast, one Newport News, Virginia, man left 12 dogs and puppies alone in his yard to fend for themselves, some tied up with no way to escape the rising water. Newport News Animal Services and a PETA fieldworker drove through the rising water and increasing winds to rescue the dogs, and cruelty-to-animals charges were filed against the person who left them behind when he packed his bags and evacuated.

The case went to court last week. The dogs' owner pleaded guilty to six counts of cruelty to animals and received a suspended sentence of 60 days in jail for each count, which he must serve if he has even one more run-in with the law in the next two years. He was also sentenced to 120 hours of community service and a $455 fine for the costs that animal control incurred in housing and caring for the seized dogs, and most importantly—the punishment that we always press for the hardest—he was prohibited from owning companion animals indefinitely!

The rescue was a blessing for one of the police officers who joined us on the call: He found his new best friend among the rescued pups and adopted him soon afterward. 

If you ever see an animal in trouble, please contact the authorities immediately. If they are unresponsive, call PETA for help.

When natural disasters strike around the globe, rescuers from PETA and its international affiliates travel straight into the hardest-hit areas to rescue animals who have been displaced, abandoned, or lost. We recently caught up with three dogs who had happy endings thanks to those brave souls.

Sporty's elderly guardian tried everything he could to stay with his dog during Hurricane Katrina, including swimming for two blocks with Sporty in his arms, but he was eventually forced to evacuate and leave his dog behind. PETA rescued the little poodle, and three months later, Sporty and his guardian were reunited. The guardian, who lost nearly everything in the hurricane, still sends us updates on Sporty, and PETA continues to pay for the dog's vet care, including a recent tooth extraction.

Licorice's mom was at the bedside of a hospitalized relative when Hurricane Katrina hit and rescue workers wouldn't let the panic-stricken guardian retrieve Licorice from her home. PETA fostered Licorice for several months and provided her with vet care until we could locate her guardian. Grateful to have Licorice back, she tells us that the poodle is enjoying the high life, going for rides with her family and getting her "mani-pedis."

Brophie somehow outsmarted Hurricane Irene, and after the worst was over, he had the good sense to walk into a Norfolk fire station and lay down on the floor. He was weak, emaciated, and suffering from a flea allergy so severe that he was severely anemic and had lost much of his fur. The fire department staff treated him like royalty during the hurricane and then called PETA for help. A PETA Foundation staffer fell hard for the sweet southern gentleman, and he now enjoys five walks a day, romps on the beach, and plenty of square meals. His ribs are no longer showing, and his fur is growing back. He even went back to pay a visit to his pals at the fire station recently.

PETA relies on donations to our Animal Emergency Fund to make rescues like these possible. With the holiday season coming up, consider giving someone on your list the gift of saving an animal's life by making a donation in your loved one's name.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

To everyone who has requested news of the poor dog we showed you in "A Helluva Night for Animals"—the dog who wandered into a firehouse early on Sunday morning after Hurricane Irene hit Norfolk—well, Mr. Jones is adapting nicely, thank you! Here he is on a cushy bed in PETA Vice President Daphna Nachminovitch's office, chilling between meals and snacks and pats and walks in PETA's Bea Arthur Dog Park. We have located his former guardian and had a real chin-wag with him. Mr. Jones will be re-homed elsewhere, and we already have a prospect. Also headed for a new home is this angel, whom you will recognize from "A Helluva Night for Animals." Nikita's "guardian" had an excuse as to why he was left in a pen alone with basically nothing to protect him from the elements (and boy, were there elements!) for three days but has signed him over for adoption too. Nikita will be neutered on our mobile clinic tomorrow!

One more storm story that you might wish to hear about: Our neighbors and friends at Newport News Animal Services called us for assistance, and although the tunnel from Norfolk to Newport News was closed because of the storm, we had a fieldworker, Misty Collins, on their side of the peninsula who went out to help. In one yard, there were 12 dogs and puppies simply left behind during the hurricane. The area is a flood zone, and the tide was rising quickly. Some were tied up; some were running loose. We got everyone except five puppies who were so terrified that they fled under a deck. Because of the danger, the police determined that we had to leave the area immediately. Misty begged for five more minutes to try to get the puppies. The crawl space was so small that she couldn't reach them, so she quickly flung open the garage door and left the gate wide open so that the pups had an escape route, then all humans were ordered out. First thing in the morning, when the storm had passed and the water had receded sufficiently, Misty drove to the house again. All five pups were safe and dry. Animal control picked them up and cruelty-to-animals charges are now pending.

Remember all those dogs now called "Katrina"? Well, there's a new storm in town. Or, now, out of town―thank goodness.

Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk

As people ventured out after the hurricane, they started to find vulnerable animals who had fallen from trees or hunkered down to hide when the hurricane hit. Full-time animal-rescue work continues, even as the heavy metal canisters that floated into our parking lot while our street was masquerading as a river were taken away by men on forklifts and volunteers worked alongside our Operations crew to clear up all the fiberglass, plaster board, metal pipes, and whatever else had been blown out from the underside of our building, leaving it all exposed. We worked, too, to get our Bea Arthur dog park cleaned up for canine visitors, but our beautiful, solid (well, it used to be solid!) dog deck buckled and was uprooted and shredded—and, unfortunately, it’s too pricy to replace. But here's Mr. Jones, the dog who wandered into a fire department at the tail end of the storm, all decked out in his new harness, inspecting the dog park before going back to the vet. Thank you to everyone who has been asking about these dogs―being so old and confused, Mr. Jones touched a lot of hearts.

All day Sunday, the emergency pager went off. At the crack of dawn, we took in a dying kitten who had been picked up by a kind ambulance crew; then came two wild bunny babies suffering from exposure and starvation, followed by calls for help with baby squirrels, most of them found on the ground and badly injured. Seeing those tree branches shake and twist most of Saturday and into the night, it was clear that the local squirrel nation was going to suffer some major casualties. We picked baby squirrels up out of puddles left by the massive pounding of rain, many of them drowned, some on their way out of this life. I will spare you the sad pictures. There were some bright spots, as there always are in search and rescue: Here are two photos.

In the first one, these three very cold, hungry, wet baby squirrels were found hidden inside the hollow trunk of a tree by a man who had begun cutting it up because it had fallen onto his house. It had obviously been their home, but it had come crashing to the earth in the storm (our soil is quite sandy and roots are often shallow). A long wait and watch ensued but no mother was found, so the squirrel babies are now being fed by bottle. PETA spay/neuter clinic fleet manager Cindy Emmanuel is still without power, but that didn't stop her from feeding baby squirrels who were found in a wildly swaying hanging plant squirrel formula all weekend, then getting the basket hung back up again. Fortunately, their mother came racing back to them! 

The other photograph is of Victor, who came to us from El Salvador 25 years ago this month and hasn't stopped working since. He thought cleaning up the debris that fell off our building would be a good way to celebrate his anniversary—what a great guy! You can help too. Please consider making a donation that will help with our rescue efforts after Hurricane Irene and beyond.

Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk

It's Sunday morning. Our building is in tatters, and two of our vehicles have cried "Uncle," but we have two more vehicles, and they and our emergency rescue efforts are still going strong. We are all so glad to keep getting the calls. Last night was very hard indeed: Our journeys took us into dark, deserted streets without traffic lights, deep in water, all bridges closed, tunnels and many roads impassable, tree limbs blowing about like kudzu. It took us longer to go a mile than to go five on a good day. We often had to turn back to find a new route through to our destination, as cars were abandoned, their lights below the water. But it was a successful night for some animals! I shan't tell you about them all, as we are leaving again now, but here are just a few of our rescues.

Just before dark, some wonderful person called in about this scared dog, named Nikita. The winds were nearing 70 miles per hour. He had been in this pen, with only one sheet of wood above him for "shelter" for three days. His people had left town. He came with us. That's his "after" picture. We will be looking to talk to his people, and they are on the list of those we hope to see in court. And, no, we will not be returning any of the animals who were abandoned to their own devices.

Nikita's PETA staff foster parents report:

At midnight, I was at a Motel 6 with another PETA staffer. Members of an indigent, caring family, who had no apartment to call home, were holed up in a leaky room as their pit bull puppy, named Prada, lay dying of Parvo. She was barely 3 months old, and they clearly loved her. Thirty-six hours earlier, they had scraped together the money to take her to the vet. The vet had taken their cash and pumped the little tyke full of intravenous fluid, but it should have been clear that she had no chance, and he should have told them then. Now, she was in misery, crying, and the family was desperate, asking us to please relieve her of her suffering. Her guardian said, "When I saw tears streaming from her eyes, I knew I had to make the call." Unable to lift her head, she was cuddled on our lap all the way back to our building before she was put to rest.

Early this morning, just as the water receded, leaving us to survey the extent of the damage to our building, a call came in from a fire department. A dog had wandered in, old and covered with mange, and collapsed on their floor. The firefighters were lovely to him, giving him more love than he must have had in his whole life. The marks of where he once had had a collar are around his neck, and he has more sores than hair. He is now on our couch in the big quarantine room, sleeping after a welcome meal.

Thank you to everyone for asking about us, to the staff who stayed in the swaying building all night ("It was like the earthquake all over again"), all the people who did not evacuate but stayed to take calls and go attend to them, and our vice president in charge of emergency response, Daphna Nachminovitch, who was out all night and had to swim the final block home, her waders no longer tall enough to keep the water out, (up to her waist!), the road too deep to drive through, only to be called out again. Thank you to the staff and volunteers and interns who made calls for three days straight to get people to take their animals inside; to Director Pete Raffeto and his operations crew, who provided everything we needed; to everyone out there now trying to remove the debris; and to so many more. And a huge "Thank you SO much!" to each one of you who has given to PETA's Animal Emergency Fund. If you haven't been able to donate yet, please consider that even a small donation will help with our rescue efforts during Hurricane Irene and beyond. We love you all!

Written by Ingrid Newkirk

Who knows who we don't hear about out there, but meet Angel and Sasha. A big thank-you to whoever alerted PETA to their plight—they were tied outside on a tiny metal balcony all night Friday as Hurricane Irene barreled toward Norfolk. The eye of the storm was an hour away when PETA turned up at the apartment, acting on a tip. The woman inside said that the dogs were her brother's (we hear that all the time!) and that she hadn't heard from him in a month. Although they were soaked to the skin and scared, she refused to take them inside, claiming that they were "destructive." She signed them over to us, and since our building is right on the water and the gusts were going to shake it pretty badly, we took them to a local open-admission shelter. Boy, were they glad to be off that balcony, dried with towels, and out of the storm: They skipped and kissed us!  

Please, if you see an animal in distress, don't count on someone else to be the Good Samaritan—call your local animal control, step in to provide assistance yourself, or contact PETA right away. Your quick and firm actions could save lives.

The winds picked up in Hampton Roads early Saturday morning, with gusts that shook trees and water pooling in low-lying areas. Forecasters are now saying that tonight will bring the worst, as the brunt of the storm will hit at high tide. Already, a couple with a cat who thought that they could ride out the storm in their sailboat, had to be pulled out of the water by marine police. Miraculously, the cat survived. 

Our first emergency pager call came from a sharp-eyed Good Samaritan who had somehow spotted this little tyke tied to a backyard grill so tightly with a shoe string that she had to keep on her feet or she would strangle. Yes, she couldn't lie down, and she had been left that way all night long. She was in a flood plain that had been evacuated, so there was no one anywhere in sight and the rains were bucketing down. We took her to our headquarters, dried her off, gave her a good meal, and she is currently in foster care.  She's about 10 weeks old. What an introduction to human nature.

The worst is yet to come, but our Community Animal Project and other PETA staffers are out there, responding to emergency calls, and we'll keep you updated. If you know people in the path of the hurricane, please urge, plead, cajole, and demand that they bring their animals indoors and take their animals with them if they evacuate. Thank you.

Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk

Distressed dog in a flooded pen.

Mine was one of the few cars early this morning headed into Hampton Roads, where PETA's headquarters are located. The roads are at a standstill in much of Norfolk and Virginia Beach as tourists and many residents, especially those with homes on the water, head inland and north, many under mandatory evacuation notices issued late last night.

We are grateful to Virginia's Gov. McDonnell for encouraging people to have a plan for their animal companions and to local news agencies that have broadcast PETA's plea to include animals in disaster preparations. We are grateful to the liquor and convenience store owners who have hung our posters on their doors, encouraging people to make plans for their animals. While some may heed the call, we know from experience that not everyone will listen. PETA staff has been working the phones for three days now, making calls to residents in North Carolina and lower Virginia, asking them to please, for the first time in their lives, take their chained dogs inside and, if they evacuate, to take the animals with them. Many are listening to our warnings, but for many impoverished residents who have little ability to care for themselves and who do not own a car, no provisions will be made for "backyard" or "hunting" dogs and "the cats who live under the trailer." Rabbits in hutches, pigs, and goats will be left to fend for themselves through high winds, heavy rain, lightning, and who knows what else. The owner of one dog asked us for "a heavier chain" to tie the dog down because his other dog had been swept off her feet during Hurricane Isabel. Some people are giving their animals up to us, which is far better than leaving them to drown, be hit by flying debris or trees (there will be lots of those―pity the squirrels and their babies, who cannot flee), or suffer other ugly fates.

PETA found this dog after a tornado in North Carolina

Our building is in a flood plain, and the streets surrounding it will be rivers by Saturday night, exacerbated by an already predicted high tide coupled with the storm surge. We have waders and canoes at the ready. We know that our dear outdoor cats, the ones who refuse to be coaxed into traps, will be in trouble but will do their best to hunker down and go without food, as there will be nowhere to put it for them. Our cats at PETA headquarters are being evacuated today to our international intern house, all our vans have been moved to high ground and are stocked with food and water to deliver to animals in crisis after the storm passes, our sandbags are in place, we have generators, and our computer systems are operating out of a remote location, so we are ready and will continue to campaign and advocate for animals through and after the storm. Extra staff is on call, and we are as prepared as we can be for what Mother Nature is about to deliver. 

We wish we could help the thousands of pigs in the huge factory farms down river from us: They are very vulnerable. 

We hope you will hold all of the animals in Irene's path in your hearts and thoughts, and we appreciate your support as we prepare to weather the storm.

Much of our lifesaving work for animals in crisis—from preparing for hurricanes like Irene to helping the animal survivors of devastating earthquakes in Japan and Haiti —is supported by the generosity of PETA's Animal Emergency Fund donors. You can help us respond to disaster—both before and after it strikes—by making an urgent gift right now.

Hurricane Isabel left rushing rivers where there was once a road and a park at PETA HQ!

Written by Ingrid E. Newkirk