Internet rumors pose misinformation drain

BATON ROUGE, LA. — In dealing with a crisis, Ginger Gunter, public information officer for the Louisiana State University's School of Veterinary Medicine was not only trying communicate the college's efforts in helping victims of the U.S.' largest natural disaster, but also correct a lot of misinformation.

"The Internet rumor mill was one of the most surprising aspects to this. I spent a lot of time busting myths."

The top three were:

1. LSU was indiscriminately euthanizing animals.

2. Shelters were up to capacity, so they opted to euthanize them instead. While Gutner says the rumor is clearly false, it was based on the fact that Gonzales, La.-based Lamar-Dixon did stop taking animals for one night, but those animals were transported to LSU for shelter instead.

3. State officials refused to ship animals out of state. Rebuttal: The state never issued an official quarantine, so the rumor was tossed on the unfounded heap. At least two veterinary schools offered to house find homes for displaced animals.

"During my worst day, I had 32 voice mails. All of them wereand based around Internet rumors. There were hundreds of things to do to help with the rescue efforts of this storm." Quieting an Internet rumor mill just wasn't one she anticipated, Gutner says.