IDA's Project Hope animal rescue team continues their lifesaving efforts in areas devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. They have recently turned their attention to animals in the Gulfport-Biloxi area, which has been largely forgotten and ignored. The situation there is much like that in New Orleans: packs of former companion animals now run wild in the streets, reproducing at an accelerated rate and evading human contact. IDA team members are on the ground setting up food and water stations and trapping surviving animals to move them out of the area before it is bulldozed. The animals in Gulfport-Biloxi are in terrible shape after fending for themselves on the abandoned streets for so long. Most animals are starving and/or sick and in desperate need of veterinary care, and many have heartworm or are pregnant.

On a happy note, IDA contractor Eric Phelps and a Red Cross volunteer were able to catch a family of dogs in Gulfport this week and bring them to safety. Following reports that a mother dog and her six puppies had been spotted, they found the Labrador mix and her pups at the abandoned house where they were last spotted. While the mother dog seemed happy to see two friendly people, her pups tried to hide. Eric quickly grabbed one puppy, and later recovered three more who were coaxed out from under the crumbling home. The other two puppies resisted more stubbornly, backing into a corner under the house and going to sleep. Eric crawled underneath the house and finally caught these two resourceful holdouts. The entire brood will go to the Humane Society of Southern Mississippi (HSSM) in Gulfport.

Read more about previous Project Hope victories

• IDA-Project Hope Rescues Three Emaciated Horses

• IDA-Project Hope Rescues Two Horses with Panola County Sheriff's Dept.

• IDA-PH Gives Desperate Dog New Hope

• Help Project Hope Continue Its Lifesaving Work

• IDA's Project Hope Hurricane Relief Team Takes Animals to Northern Shelters

• IDA's Project Hope Animal Relief Team Remains on the Job

• IDA's Project Hope Hurricane Relief Team in Mississippi

• IDA's Project Hope Animal Rescue Team Among Handful of Groups in New Orleans

• IDA's Project Hope Continues Animal Rescue Work in New Orleans