There were many heroic things that happened while we were there. My favorite story follows: A young man rushed up to the intake desk one day. He had returned to his home to videotape the complete loss for his insurance company. There was no hurry as he had been told both his dogs were dead and the "2 dead dogs" shorthand was on the house. He entered, found the body of his large dog and then heard a very small, faint bark. In the dark he crashed around, injured his knee and located the tiny, crazed-with-fear Lhasa who cowered under a chest of drawers and would not let him near her. She had survived six weeks of hell, including the death of her companion, in the broiling, moldering house, and now, with matted fur and filth closing her eyes, was blinded, starving and insane with terror. The man asked at Winn-Dixie for help, rescuers rushed over, captured her, got her into the camp Intensive Care Unit (such as it was -- all things were primitive) and she lived. Four days later he picked her up and it was a joyous reunion. Only one other thing was found and salvageable from his previous life - the wedding ring he had bought for his fiancé. We all wept.

A JOYOUS REUNION

There were many other dogs who came in near starvation or clearly abused by life and/or humans and you just had to rejoice that they were on their way to safety as you put your arms around them. There were others that gave me conflicting feelings.

This is a very difficult time to be rescuing in New Orleans. Six weeks ago, every dog or cat saved needed to be saved. Now some people are moving back into their neighborhoods, some camping in tents on their former lawns to work on what remains of the house. Some dogs that rescuers are catching in traps or otherwise corralling and bringing in are plump and wear collars. Are they the pets of people who are returning and are they getting some amount of care & affection, or is the animals' robust physical shape due to the large amounts of dog & cat food that rescuers are putting out all around the city? Do the animals have people and are they the last vestige of sweetness left in some person's life, or are they about to form dangerous feral packs? If we catch a friendly little pit bull, is there any guarantee we can promise him a life beyond moving from crate to crate in place to place until euthanasia is the last stop? By the mere fact that he's unfenced, intact and has no tags or chips, he's not getting the kind of life we think every pet deserves, but if he's even reasonably cared for & loved, at least it's a life and it's the only life he's got. Or is he lost & doomed to die a terrible death on the streets when the supplies of dog food disappear? When a plump pit in a clean harness came in, I objected to a rescuer and he took my head off, twice. "What are we supposed to do?," he yelled at me, "Leave them there?"

Joey

Well, maybe so, in some cases, but only one thing is for sure and that is that there is no easy answer. At a camp meeting early in the week, one of the founders of the operation cautioned that it was time to stop bringing in dogs with collars that seemed to be in good shape, but I think many of the rescuers at the camp felt they had failed or let down the animals if they came back empty-handed. It's a difficult and emotional time & place for all animal lovers involved.

Marti & friend

More another time . . . .

CONTINUE WITH
IN THE EYE OF THE STORM:
KATRINA "A-TEAM" TRIP HERE