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Hank Moss was born and raised in
lower Vermilion Parish near the Boston Community. He graduated from
Henry High School and attended Nichols State University and the
University of Southwestern Louisiana. While he was attending high
school and college, Moss showed cattle and enjoyed a short rodeo
career which laid the foundation for a future in the horse and
cattle industry. He served on the Board of Directors for the
Vermilion Parish Cattleman’s Association, is a member of Farm
Bureau, the American Quarter Horse Association, and the National
Cutting Horse Association.
Moss is a fourth generation
cattleman who has raised cattle and quarter horses for most of his
life. He later began training, showing and judging cutting horses
throughout the United States. Moss, having been raised in a French
speaking family, was then recruited to Europe to conduct horse
training seminars and clinics.
In 2005, after having returned
from Europe for only a few days, he realized that Hurricane Rita was
slowly turning northward. It was originally predicted to make
landfall near Galveston, Texas. Moss was then compelled to assemble
cattlemen in low lying areas near him to begin moving their
livestock to higher ground. For two days and nights they drove,
loaded and hauled cattle and horses out of as many low lying
pastures as possible. Most of the livestock were put in pastures
where flooding had never been seen before.
After the storm made landfall
near Cameron, a tidal surge followed and brought flood waters from
the Gulf of Mexico as far north as Highway 14 and beyond in some
areas. Thousand of cattle were drowned or stranded on small ridges
of higher ground. As the storm surge receded, very few fences or
pens remained.
The cattle then began to roam
onto the roads and highways of lower Vermilion Parish. After
realizing this had become a hazardous condition for the livestock
and people trying to return home to salvage what was left, a meeting
was summoned with Sheriff Mike Couvillon and a decision was made to
try and assemble qualified help as soon as possible. This included
local cowboys and ranchers from Louisiana and other states.
In coordination with the office
of emergency preparedness (General Robert LeBlanc), Andrew Granger
and the LSU Ag Center staff, Louisiana Cattlemen’s Association, Dr.
Clyde Prejean and many others who all worked together endlessly for
several weeks to provide pens, feed, fuel, medication and
transportation to locate, assemble, separate and transport the
livestock to safer places where they could be cared for.
Once this had been organized
many supplies began arriving from throughout the country, such as
feed, hay and medications to be distributed to the cattlemen and
horsemen for their displaced and stressed livestock until winter had
past and the grass began to grow the following spring and summer.
Several people were forced to sell their livestock.
Soon many people from all over
the USA and other countries came to help rebuild houses, barns,
fences and lives. It came down to people helping people. After
having lost one’s home and livelihood they are forced to stop and
think about what really matters.
The LA Cattle Festival has
chosen Hank Moss to receive the Humanitarian Award for 2006 for all
his efforts after Hurricane Rita. |
