In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA is balking at paying for fish lost by the New Orleans Zoo.  During the incident the premises lost power for four days, the zoo lost its sharks, jellyfish, all of the tropical species, and many thousands of additional fish.

FEMA assessed the loss and planned to reimburse the Zoo $616,000 to purchase the fish on the open market and reopen the facility, considered a major tourist attraction.

While the eternal cycle of paperwork and triplicate was being launched, the New Orleans Zoo sent an expedition to the Gulf of Mexico, Florida Keys, and the Bahamas, where they caught 1,681 fish at a cost of $99,766.

“FEMA would have been willing to pay more than $600,000 for the fish if they had been bought from commercial suppliers. But the agency is balking because the Audubon Museum of the Americas went out and replaced the dead fish the old-fashioned way, with hooks and nets. That expedition saved the taxpayers a half million dollars but did not comply with FEMA regulations.”

Seventeen months later the money is still tied up in a bollix of red tape.

“FEMA does not consider it reasonable when an applicant takes excursions to collect specimens” … “They must be obtained through reputable sources where, again, the item is commercially available.”

With the current housing glut, can we assume that the 3000 houses burnt in Southern California must be replaced by buying another empty home – or can the dispossessed hire a contractor and rebuild?

I don’t invent the stuff, I just report it.

Technorati Tags: FEMA, Audubon Museum of the Americas, Hurricane Katrina, red tape