CNN.com 09-16-01
Stranded pets now being rescued

By Suhasini Haidar

A few blocks north of the police barricades on Canal Street volunteers are running a command center for a special sort of operation -- pet rescues.

The command center has been sending out its vans to evacuate animals from the buildings around the World Trade Center complex, what is now called "ground zero."

After the terrorist attacks, none of the residents of the buildings in the area were allowed back in to collect their pets.

Volunteers here have rescued and treated more than 50 animals since Thursday when they set up the makeshift center -- complete with a mobile operating theater.

Help for the animals in several forms has poured in as people across the country try to find some way of reaching out. They have donated hundreds of bags of cat food and dog food and animal containers to transport the pets.

One pet transporter, Robert Ake (of Professional Pet Transports Inc.), drove to New York all the way from Colorado to help with the pet rescues.

And as New Yorkers lined up at the police barricades on Canal Street to cheer for their heroes -- firefighters and rescue workers returning from their shifts at the wreckage site -- they also cheered for the "animal heroes" -- handsome dogs who have been sniffing for survivors.