As President Bush added Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi to the list of federal disaster areas, tens of thousands of residents and business owners across the Southeast and Eastern Seaboard continued to dig themselves out of the mess left by four major hurricanes in six weeks.

At press time, insurance industry experts estimated total damage from Hurricanes Frances, Ivan, Jeanne and Charley at a record $21.7 billion.

As it did in previous disasters, the federal government deployed teams from the American Veterinary Medical Foundation (Schaumburg, Ill.), The Humane Society of the United States (Washington) and the National Disaster Search Dog Foundation (Ojai, Calif.) to coordinate animal-related relief efforts. The teams worked to receive, house and treat stray or injured animals, staged animal rescue efforts and distributed pet food and supplies.

The teams received much-needed support, in the form of money and supplies, from several companies and organizations within the pet industry.

To date, PetsMart Charities (Phoenix) has sent more than $44,000 in money and supplies to rescue shelters and relief command posts in affected areas. PetsMart earmarked all in-store donations from Aug. 16 through Sept. 16 for Florida relief efforts, and planned to stage a special adoption weekend Oct. 16-17 at its Florida stores to help find homes for more than 1,000 pets abandoned or displaced by the hurricanes.

Petco Animal Supplies Inc. (San Diego) held emergency "Round Up" fundraisers in all of its 690-plus stores Sept. 5-12. Customers were asked to round up their purchases to the next highest dollar, with all proceeds going to support animal disaster relief efforts in the Southeast. To date, Petco has provided more than $20,000 worth of assistance to animal welfare agencies in stricken areas.

Doane Pet Care (Brentwood, Tenn.) donated nearly 100,000 pounds of dog and cat food to emergency animal shelters in hurricane-ravaged areas of Florida and Alabama.

Digital Angel Corp. (South St. Paul, Minn.) and Schering-Plough Animal Health Corp. (Union, N.J.) donated pocket microchip scanners to animal shelters throughout Florida to help workers reunite thousands of pets lost in the hurricanes with their owners.

PetEdge (Topsfield, Mass.) donated more than $500 worth of pet supplies to the Florida Association of Kennel Clubs.

The American Kennel Club (New York) and its Companion Animal Recovery arm continues to work with local kennel clubs to coordinate donations of supplies ranging from crates to flea/tick products to water purifiers to animal shelters in affected areas. [November 2004 PET AGE]

How to Help To help people and pets affected by Hurricane Charley, contact these organizations: The American Kennel Club/Companion Animal Recovery Canine Support and Relief Fund, which provides resources and support to nonprofit animal shelters and other groups that care for domestic animals orphaned or displaced in natural or civil disasters. Send donations to AKC/CAR, 260 Madison Ave., Fourth Floor, New York, NY 10016-2401. Visit www.akc.org. The American Veterinary Medical Foundation, which implements disaster preparedness programs and funds veterinary medical assistance teams that care for animals in disaster zones. Visit www.avmf.org or call 800-248-2862, Ext. 6689. The Florida Association of Kennel Clubs, c/o Diane Albers, 401 Cardinal Oaks Court, Lake Mary, FL 32746. The Humane Society of the United States, which runs disaster preparedness programs and funds disaster response teams to work with local emergency responders, humane groups and volunteers. Visit www.hsus.org or call 888-259-5431. Hurricane Relief Effort sites, the official hubs for donations to hurricane victims and information on government assistance. Visit www.hurricanecharleyrelief.com, www.hurricanefrancesrelief.com, www.hurricaneivanrelief.com, www.hurricanejeannerelief.com, or call the Federal Emergency Information Line at 800-342-3557. Petfinder.com, which is accepting donations specifically to help animal shelters in affected areas. Visit www.petfinder.com.