New Orleans evacuees who fled Hurricane Katrina have personal stories of their flight from the city, but animal survivors such as French Quarter carriage horses have their own silent stories of survival.
The horses that carted countless tourists through the cobbled streets of Jackson Square in New Orleans survived for more than a week downtown, overcoming rising flood water, chaos and panic. Rescuers brought the horses to the Lamar-Dixon Expo Center in Gonzales after rescuing them Sept. 4. Volunteers and veterinarians from the University and around the world are keeping them and other farm animals until their owners come to claim them.
Several employees with New Orleans’ Mid-City Carriage Company swam with the horses from their barn through chest-high water to refuge on higher ground in nearby Leimann Park at North Robertson and Lafitte streets to wait for rescuers, said Lucien Mitchell, Sr., a company employee.
A worker stayed with 22 mules and horses at the park for eight days until Louis Charbonnet, the company’s owner, Mitchell and other employees arrived. They came to the Orleans Avenue exit on Interstate 10 with trailers to bring the horses to the Expo center, according to an article in The Advocate. Rescuers were not able to get to the horses and workers earlier because New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin ordered a mandatory evacuation in the city Aug. 28, the day before Hurricane Katrina hit.
“It’s amazing to me that we saved that many,” Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the employees and horses endured many hardships while waiting out the storm and subsequent flooding.
“Some people tried to cut the [tethered] horses loose because they thought they were abandoned,” Mitchell said.
Though the rescuers were able to save most of the horses, one mule died at the park, one horse died in a trailer on the way to Gonzales and another horse had to be euthanized at the center because of extensive injuries.
Rescue workers began administering aid to the horses, which had water-logged hooves and injuries from debris.
“The horses’ feet just sort of fell apart,” said Dennis French, the head veterinarian from LSU Veterinary School. “They also had abscesses and some had roofing nails [stuck in the hooves] where they had to climb out of trash.”
French said the American Farriers Association, an organization of professionals who fit horseshoes, sent volunteers to re-shoe the horses’ hooves.
French credits University student volunteers for their continuous help. Veterinarian medicine students and volunteers from organizations such as Block and Bridle have been helping out at the shelter. French said he considers the volunteers colleagues, not just students.
Charles Fontenot, a 16-year-old volunteer from New Orleans, has been taking care of the 19 carriage horses every day. Fontenot stopped to nuzzle heads with his favorite, “Brandon,” a brown and white spotted four-year-old, as he walked down the row of horse stalls.
“He just eats so much!” Fontenot affectionately said of the hungry horse chomping hay.
Fontenot, who is from the Ninth Ward, said working with the carriage horses brings back memories of home because he used to frequent the French Quarter and recognizes many of the horses.
Mitchell said he admires all that the workers went through to save the horses, which are a vivid part of New Orleans’ rich culture.
“I probably would have done the same thing,” Mitchell said of the workers’ heroic deeds. “I’d probably still be shaking. That’s scary.”
Contact Leslie Ziober at [email protected]