Thirteen was a lucky number for several Brookhaven Animal RescueLeague dogs as they were chosen for placement with a Texasorganization.

Members of Metroplex Animal Coalition and Paws In the City, ofDallas, Texas, contacted local BARL volunteer Beth Adcock last weekabout coming to Brookhaven to take a few of their animals back toTexas to be placed in foster homes for adoption. The organizationhoped that by taking in some of the local league’s animals, willenable BARL to go down to the coast to help rescue and house moreanimals displaced because of Hurricane Katrina.

Beth and Rusty Adcock, Tammy and Jim Torrey, along with TomRoss, all volunteers with BARL, loaded up crates of dogs from thelocal shelter and brought them to the Brookhaven Airport Saturdaymorning to wait for the airplane from Texas.

The airplane, a 1946 Beech 18, owned by Peter Coltman, made thetwo and half hour flight from Texas to bring supplies toMississippi and to take back with him several animals from thelocal shelter.

Coltman said his wife, Lisa, is a friend of Tara Harper, who iswith Paws In The City. Every part of the plane’s storage area wasused to carry supplies to Mississippi. Even the plane’s nose area,which at one time housed an extra fuel tank, was used.

Harper, who helped organized the effort, and her group broughtin supplies of pet crates, food, flea medications and othersupplies to BARL. BARL officials will in turn take some of thesupplies with them to the coastal area to rescue other Katrinaanimals.

BARL volunteers went to Waveland this past week and rescuedthree animals, which are now housed at the local shelter. Adcocksaid all of the pets rescued from the coast will be placed on thepetfinder Web site to enable owners to look for their pets.

All of the dogs making the trip to Texas were lightly medicatedwith Benadryl at the advice of a local veterinarian to help themwith the stress of being flown in an airplane, said Adcock. Most ofthe animals rode in crates, while some of the larger dogs wereleashed and sat in someone’s lap.

The Texas group had a total of three individuals in addition tothe pilot, who came to help with the relocation efforts. Also onboard was a Dallas-based Fox News affiliate reporter, who was alongfor the story.

Emotions where mixed as the animals were loaded into theaircraft.

“Bye, babies – you’re going to the Lone Star State,” said Adcockas tears fell from her face.

Some of the animals being transported had been with the shelterfor two years and some just a few weeks. One dog, which had been atthe shelter for some time, was even named after Adcock’s husband,Rusty.

Tammy Torrey, one of BARL’s volunteers, said Adcock knew eachanimal by name. She knew that Adcock would miss them, even thoughthey would be going to a much better place, where everyone willhave a home.

Each animal’s crate was tagged with the animal’s name, before itwas loaded onto the aircraft.

“Now we’ll be able to take in more Katrina animals that arestarving,” said Adcock.

Adcock said several volunteers would be heading back to thecoast this week. She hoped they would be able to save some of theanimals there who are starving and wandering through the devastatedareas.

Anyone who has misplaced a pet during the Hurricane Katrinadisaster can visit the Web site www.petfinder.com where a speciallink has been set up just for animals found in the disaster areas.After a set time, usually 30 days, the animals will then be placedfor adoption, said volunteers.