1 *** Please help us reunite Katrina victims with their pets! ***

The Stealth Volunteers number some 800, and have been working behind the scenes on scantinformation to get the victims of Katrina back with their pets. As you know, many ofthe elderly victims counted their pets as their only remaining family. Many of these people have no internet access.
With the 12/31 deadline approaching, after which the shelters may adopt the animals out to new families, the Stealth Volunteers have taken out a major ad section in the Times Picayune, arraged by streetaddress, with many pictures.
Please help by forwarding, copying, or otherwise distributing this information in any way you can as soon as possible.

thank you so much for your help!
Lauren Gedaminski
Needham, MA
Petfinder Hurricane Katrina Message Board Volunteer
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NEWS From
STEALTH VOLUNTEERS – Reuniting Katrina Pets with Their Owners

Contact: Martha Waltz (252) 452-3443 or
stealthvol_pr@yahoo.com
For Immediate Release
December 28, 2005

“Stealth Volunteers, a Grassroots Organization Quietly Responsible for More Than 650 Reunions, Puts Their Money Where Their Hearts Have Been.”

NATIONAL – What started out as one woman’s own response to the horror of the worst natural disaster in United States history, has become an International grassroots tour-de-force. Marilyn Knapp Litt, a retired Federal Webmaster, created an online group called “Stealth Volunteers.” Originally aimed at reuniting evacuees with family members, Litt saw the potential rewards of combining her online “stealthing” skills with the information on PetFinder.com. This effort to search for the owners of thousands of pets rescued in the months following the storms became “Stealth Volunteers.”

This group, now more than 800 members strong and comprised of individuals in the United States, Canada and the U.K., searches online to reunite animals unwillingly left behind in the wake of hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma. “These people thought they were leaving for days, not months,” says Knapp, “and are not in a position to search online or go to the shelters to look for their animals. It’s a daunting task, particularly for someone who has experienced something as tragic as these storms.”

That is how Stealth Volunteers began its quest. Members use information on the Internet and very limited pieces of information connected with a displaced animal to locate owners. This can be as simple as looking at a Red Cross “safe list” or as complex as finding the owner’s name in a piece of trash. Many owners, now scattered all over the country, never thought that they would see their pets again and are astonished at the trail many “Stealthers” have followed in order to reunite a lost pet.

Now, Stealth Volunteers has gone further than ever before. With the December 31st reunification deadline quickly approaching, the group has pooled its monetary resources to take out an advertisement in the Times-Picayune this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (December 30th, 31st and January 1st). After December 31st, shelters and foster homes currently housing animals from the storms will be able to adopt pets to new owners and are no longer required to search for the animals’ original owner. Stealth Volunteers is urging all owners still searching for pets to review the list published in the Times-Picayune for potential match and then contact the group.

If you, or someone you know, is searching for a lost animal, please look at the ad and if you think you see your pet, call us toll free at: (877) 707-2969. Leave your name, phone number, the address you are calling about, the PetFinder number listed with the pet in the ad and a description of your lost pet. A Stealth Volunteer will return your call within 24 hours. Remember, your pet may have wandered a significant distance from its home. Even if you cannot have your pet live with you at this moment, there are many people willing to foster animals until you are able to be reunited with your pet.


Please visit us on the web at: http://www.StealthVolunteers.com

2 Oliver and Pearl were cats living in New Orleans. They went missing from their apartment on Moss Street After Hurricanes Katrina/Rita. Oliver is a 4year neutered shorthaired white male cat, and Pearl is a longhaired grey/black tabby with a white chest, white stomach and white chin. She has a bushy tail. She is 3 years old and spayed. She displays more feral behavior, thus will not let anyone touch her, but will approach and verbalize when hungry. Oliver is shy but can be coaxed to be touched.