Gone to the dogs

A Newport Beach couple go to hurricane-ravaged New Orleans to rescue animals left in the flood waters and abandoned homes there.Munchie, Rusty and Taco.

They just sound like a scrappy crew of dogs, don’t they?

And they are. These dogs are survivors. They and 27 other dogs and three cats, who were among those rescued by volunteers from areas in New Orleans worst hit by Hurricane Katrina.

Munchie was appropriately given his title when he bit a rescue worker. Rusty was so-named after he stepped on a rusty nail.

And, Taco, he was found existing solely on -- what else -- tacos, in an abandoned structure.

These dogs, marked with quirky names that tell their story of living through Hurricane Katrina, are just three in a group of dogs rescued by volunteers, including two Newport Beach city employees.

Tom and Valerie Schomburg -- he’s a police officer, and she’s an animal control officer -- took some vacation time last month to spend four days in the most heavily damaged parts of the Big Easy.

“It was personally satisfying for me; it just has its own reward,” Tom Schomburg said.

Police Department employees were supportive, he said, reworking schedules so the couple could dedicate 10 days for the rescue mission.

The Schomburgs may have used their own vacation days to go, but the trip to New Orleans was a step far outside their comfort zone. They slept in a makeshift camp for rescue volunteers in the parking lot of a flooded Winn-Dixie grocery store.

They had no running water or electricity. They existed on military meals. Valerie Schomburg snacked on peanut butter.

Most everywhere they traveled was “like a ghost town,” they both said, with no one around except National Guard troops.

“It was just surreal,” Tom Schomburg said.

The only resource

Tom Schomburg never really intended to go; he supported his wife and went with her to an informational meeting of New Leash on Life, the animal-rescue organization that led the trip.

Ten minutes into the meeting, Tom Schomburg knew he had to go.

“Their goals were very, very honorable,” he said.

As a police officer, he thought he could provide the necessary security.

Valerie Schomburg found New Leash on Life when she started e-mailing animal organizations to offer her help.

Bobby Dorafshar, the founder of New Leash on Life, was on the same rescue mission with the Schomburgs.

He’s taken two animal rescue trips to New Orleans. The second time around, he knew he needed volunteers who were professionals, he said.

“I honestly believe that when disaster hits, when there is no way of communicating ... the only resource we have are volunteers,” Dorashar said.

Tom and Valerie Schomburg were passionate about their work, Dorafshar said

“I never worked and had the pleasure of meeting somebody so professional and so polite at their work,” Dorafshar said.

At Camp Winn Dixie

A group of 11 volunteers left Sept. 28, traveling in a caravan with a van, a truck and an RV. They drove for days, equipped with pet food and supplies and bottled water. They trucked along a generator and one 500-gallon tank of water to wash the dogs. A veterinary team also accompanied them.

When they first arrived and set up at Camp Winn Dixie, the volunteers immediately set out to find animals. They weren’t so much searching for strays, but looking for animals who were injured, malnourished or needed medical attention, Valerie Schomburg said.

Before the group arrived, they were concerned about personal security, the couple said.

“We went down there expecting the worst and, praise the lord, we didn’t get it,” Tom Schomburg said.

They worried about looters, but it wasn’t an issue. The group did, however, maintain strict rules against going anywhere alone or staying out after dark.

And staying healthy wasn’t ever far from everyone’s mind.

“If you got hurt down there, the closest hospital’s in Baton Rouge,” Tom Schomburg said.

The accompanying veterinarians also stocked medical supplies in case anyone was bitten by animals.

“You can’t save animals if everyone’s getting hurt,” Valerie Schomburg said.

There were no serious mishaps, and the volunteers spent most of their time doing what they went down there to do -- rescue animals. They searched in both St. Bernard’s Parish and New Orleans’ lower Ninth Ward, an area still partly submerged under floodwaters and strewn with debris. In the lower Ninth, they commandeered abandoned boats and used them as search vessels.

“The police said anything you find you can take it and borrow it,” Valerie Schomburg said.

The water appeared to look like muddy rain water, but they were told it was toxic, she said.

“Everyone kept telling you, you can’t fall into that water; you will be airlifted out of there for contamination,” Tom Schomburg said.

On the loose

Most of the animals rescued were dogs, pulled from abandoned homes. A one-pound Chihuahua was found seeking refuge in a kitchen sink. In another home, rescuers discovered a terrier perched on a dresser. The group found one Weimaraner dog that had gone 33 days without food or water.

“He was literally skin and bones,” Tom Schomburg said.

When passing by houses, the volunteers looked for any signs that a dog once lived there, such as a dog house. In some cases, the National Guard had marked houses, indicating a dog inside.

When Hurricane Katrina roared through the area, many domestic animals got loose after homes were blown off foundations and doors were ripped off. Some of the dogs formed packs and were running through the streets. In some areas, Valerie Schomburg said, other volunteers had left behind food and water in areas where they knew there were dogs.

By the end of the four-day stay, the New Leash on Life volunteer team had gathered up 30 dogs and three cats. And then they had to drive them all back to California -- a job that meant lots of frequent bathroom breaks on the way home. They stopped about every four hours to walk the dogs, which took 45 minutes.

Seeing signs of life

In the time since the animals were rescued, the volunteers have noticed a positive change in the animals, Valerie Schomburg said. Simply being around people and getting attention really helped, Tom Schomburg added.

The animals now have temporary homes with rescue groups throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties.

The animals’ information is maintained online at Petfinder.com, where pet owners can go to search for pets lost during the hurricane.

The Schomburgs already have one dog and three cats at home, but they’re trying to adopt Taco.

“You kinda do fall in love with these animals, because you see what they went through,” Valerie Scomburg said.

Shortly after the Schomburgs returned to work at the Newport Beach Police Department, Valerie Schomburg got the itch to go back for another round of rescues. She’s in New Orleans now, on a two-week trip to save more animals. And after seeing the affect a disaster can have on animals, Valerie now wants the city of Newport Beach to implement a disaster plan for animals.

* LAUREN VANE covers public safety and courts. She may be reached at (714) 966-4618 or at lauren.vane@latimes.com.

(LA)The Newport Beach officers rescued 27 dogs and three cats in the Crescent City.20051030ip3ueekn(LA)Valerie and Tom Schomburg get ready to search flooded New Orleans for stranded pets during their four-day rescue mission. 20051030ip3udwknCOURTENAY NEARBURG / DAILY PILOT(LA)Valerie and Tom Schomburg get ready to search flooded New Orleans for stranded pets during their four-day rescue mission. 20051030ip3ugwkn(LA)Tom Schomburg greets a couple of Cajun canines.