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The Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS) expects to reopen tomorrow, after evacuating all of its dogs and cats to a temporary home at First Mariner Arena on Monday morning.

Because the shelter lies in a flood-prone part of South Baltimore, BARCS convened a team of volunteers for the emergency evacuation before Hurricane Sandy hit.

More than 200 animals were moved to the arena.

BARCS stopped accepting animals and ceased adoptions, but said it planned to reopen Wednesday at 2 p.m.

A New Jersey woman whose dogs had been impounded used the chaos around Hurricane Irene to take the opportunity to reclaim them, police say.

Susan Kolb, 60, whose dogs had been adjudged dangerous and impounded after she violated an order to get rid of them, apparently took the dogs from the shelter as it was being evacuated.

“We believe there is evidence she had them but it was in the context of the evacuation of the shelter,” Hudson County Prosecutor Edward DeFazio told The Jersey Journal. “It looks like there was a misunderstanding in that somebody other than the owner should have removed the dogs.”

Kolb’s dogs, South African Boerboels weighing 160 and 100 pounds, were tied to several downtown Jersey City attacks that, in 2008 and 2009, sent three adults and a baby to the hospital.

The dogs faced euthanization under the state Vicious Dog Law, but Kolb went to trial to defend them in Jersey City Municipal Court. The dogs’ lives were spared when an agreement was reached in which Kolb promised to send the dogs out of state.

The dogs were seized and impounded again when Kolb failed to follow the agreement.

On Saturday. the shelter was being evacuated when it was found that Kolb’s dogs were missing, police said. Police went to Kolb’s home, but neither she nor the dogs were there. On Sunday, a man brought the dogs back to the shelter, officials said.

(Photo: The Jersey Journal)

Will families of American military personnel in Japan be forced to leave their pets behind when they evacuate?

The Animal Legal Defense Fund is seeking the anwer to that question.

In a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the non-profit organization asks for a clarification of the U.S. government’s policy on whether or not military families can bring their pets with them — or must be forced to choose between staying in harm’s way and abandoning a beloved companion.

Family members of military personnel stationed in Japan began evacuating today amid the increasing threat of radioactivity in the wake of last week’s earthquake and tsunami.

ALDF says it has received desperate emails from some of them, who say they’ve been informed pets will not be allowed on evacuation planes chartered by the U.S. Department of State.

“In a context of terrifying natural and nuclear disasters, with military personnel and their families already being separated from each other, we would hope that the U.S. government would not place an additional burden on military families by disregarding the very real bonds they have with their animal companions” said Carter Dillard, ALDF’s director of litigation.

“It is our hope that the tragedy of people forced to abandon beloved pets in order to evacuate to safety, which we saw play out on a heartbreaking scale during Hurricane Katrina, is not replicated during the current crisis in Japan.”

ALDF says it has heard from numerous families who say they are hesitant to evacuate from the escalating radiation danger if they are required to leave their pets behind.

Some families have turned to Facebook for help, including Mariaelena Rodriguez Geoffray, shown above with her dog, Bella. Seeking a commercial flight, she has been told by two airlines that temperatures are too cold to fly a pet.

Her dilemma is recounted on the blog Two Little Cavaliers.

There are about 43,000 dependents of American military personnel living in Japan.

Jay Jay and Jessie are together again.

Jessie Pullins, separated from his dog Jay Jay during Hurricane Katrina, was reunited with the Akita mix yesterday — nearly four years later.

Pullins, busy helping 10 of his relatives evacuate, couldn’t take his dog with him when he left his house in New Orleans in 2005. Once he returned, weeks later, the dog was gone.

About a year later he saw his dog on TV, appearing, with a new owner, on an episode of the National Geographic Channel program, The Dog Whisperer.

An animal rescue group had saved Jay Jay from the home, and he was shuffled between different animal groups before being adopted in California.

After tracking Jay Jay down, Pullins entered a long legal battle, with assistance from the Katrina Animal Reunion Team, to try and get him back.

The legal wrangling ended recently when the woman who adopted Jay Jay decided to return him, WWL-TV in New Orleans, reported Tuesday. You can see a video here.

Pullins, who is one of the pet owners featured in the documentary, Mine: Taken by Katrina,  said he has no hard feelings toward the woman for resisting his attempts to get Jay Jay back.

“Everybody falls in love with Jay Jay. He’s lovable. I don’t fault them.”

As the Humane Society of the United States and other organizations continue their rescue efforts, crews are finding that improved evacuation procedures — and a bit of luck — helped many of the area’s animals weather Hurricane Ike, according to National Geographic.

Shelters set up to accommodate pets and livestock offered relief to people who were forced to evacuate while providing a safe haven for their animals.

“The sheltering process went really well. There was a place for the animals and they were all cared for,” said Angela Clendenin, director of communications at Texas A&M University’s College of Veterinary Medicine in College Station. “Overall I think the preparations paid off.”

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