Update June 21: Attorney receives injunctions for return of Katrina animals.

PLEASE HELP BRING PRECIOUS AND MISSY HOME. These pets were well cared for prior to the hurricane and not abandoned. As above, Missy had a microchip that provided her identification and owner's contact information. When Ms. Charles, after evacuating with her disabled mother in a wheelchair and two children discovered she could not return in the 3 days as told by the city, she IMMEDIATELY placed a rescue rescue request and posted a Petfinder AERN report. Unfortunately, the receiving shelter did not post a Found Report on AERN and did not check the Lost Reports. If they did, they would have immediately located Precious' owner since the address from which Precious was taken was known. While the efforts of rescuers, shelters, and adopters are sincerely appreciated, the facts remain that Precious and Missy should have been returned to their owners shortly after the hurricane. Please help support their legal fees so they can be reunited: All donations are tax deductible and can be sent via postal mail to: Precious and Missy Special Fund, c/o Friends of Animal Shelter of St. Bernard, PO Box 1095, Chalmette, LA 70044, (Friends is a 501(c)3 org Tax ID#72-1193778) and sending checks this way avoids service fees; or you can use the online charity donation, but please specify the Precious and Missy Special Fund, http://www.sbpanimal.homestead.com/FriendsoftheAnimalShelter.html.

Just to clarify- that the "Precious" in the wonderful reunion story in the link below is not the Precious, the GSD in the story above. But let's hope that we can post her reunion story soon.

Hurricane dog reunited with owners

http://www.kvue.com/news/local/stories/061606kvuehurricanedog-cb.916a1706.html

Can't argue with your logic or good intentions Herschel. You obviously understand both sides of the issue and you can understand the side that I see all too often! It does influence your outlook when you see the only the terrible things that animals have to live through.

We have fires near here now and, for a change, there is a plan for pets. I urge everyone to support legislation so that in the future pets are not left behind by rescuers and that there is a plan for them.

Again, let's try to make the focus here on the families who really deserve to have their pets. We all know we won't resolve the ongoing arguments. Many of us were down in NO and saw the good and the bad. Battling now isn't going to help the owners that should have their pets back. Each case is individual. While shelters did indeed wait for a reasonable amount of time as either required or suggested by ASPCA and HSUS, we do need to consider whether pets were placed on Petfinder AERN, because many were not, while their owners did place them in the Lost Ads and then had no way to find them. These good families did what they could to locate their pets. There are indeed cases where it is documented that individual volunteers with/without rescue groups did take pets without the intention of ever trying to find an owner or documenting the rescue information - this might be what Scooby was referring to. We're all emotional about this and sometimes we don't put into words the right feelings or phrases. Please, let's not let these disagreements detract from the purpose here --let's see what we can do for families that have legitimate cases. I don't think anyone is trying to reunite a pet with an owner that clearly shouldn't have their pet back.

Herschel, You make a very good point.

Others might think my statements are "a disgrace to rescue efforts" and that's OK...they didn't see this first hand. It wasn't 130 dogs. That was our FIRST plane load and first shipment. We had 4 shipments in 3 weeks. None of the dogs were placed for adoption until a reasonable amount of time passed for owners to find them. They were triaged and then placed in boarding kennels at our expense... usually kennels at veterinarians. They were catalogued, photographed, microchiped and entered on petfinders.com. That was their status for 65 days. They were treated for whatever ailments they came in with during that time. At the end of that period the animals were spayed, neutered and adopted. Now tell me, WHO do you think would adopt a pet if they thought it might be temporary and that at any point in time they'd be called upon to give it up? Those dogs could have languished forever under those circumstances. As it is, new owners were advised that the dog was a Katrina survivor and that the owners might show up. The Humane Societies contract with new owners stated that if the original owner claimed the dog, it would be up to the adopter if they chose to relenquish the dog. That was the contract. "RESCUER/DOG THIEF" ???????? I'm sorry ScOOby, but that is one of the most idiotic, disgusting things I've ever heard any one say. Where would you get such anger and resentment? Would you have preferred that the dogs remain in limbo in kennels? Not to be adopted??? Not many people would risk getting attached to a dog and putting quite a bit of money into restoring these animals to health if they thought they would have to give them back at a whim. Can you see the problem that rescue organizations faced???

To i2smiletx...... I should do MY homework on inner city pets??? I have. For years. I've worked right along side our EAMT people because we had so few in the beginning. You have NO IDEA what it's like to see the horrific abuse and torture and starving that goes on in the "inner city". I KNOW the plight of those animals first hand. Many of those people don't treat their children much better than they treat the animals and the children grow up abusing animals with no thought to them being living, feeling creatures. So, do I think that the poor don't deserve a loving pet? That is absolutely what I think and I won't apologize for that. If a person can't afford to feed and cloth and house their family appropriately, then why would they take the responsibility for an animal??? Do I think an animal should suffer from starvation and neglect and lack of medical treatment because it's owners are ignorant or poor? No. I don't. I think that is the definition of the word IRRESPONSIBLE.

You make the comment that there are a lot of irresponsible parents as well as pet owners. I agree. I don't think they should have kids anymore than I think they should have pets. I think both kids and pets deserve homes where they are safe and loved and fed and cared for. If you can't make that committment then don't have kids and don't have pets. If a person wants to have an animal in their life but can't afford to take care of one, then they should volunteer at an animal rescue. Walk the dogs, groom them... play with the cats... feed the birds, whatever. There are lots of way for elderly people or people who want their children to grow up around animals to work it out.

Pets are expensive. I have 2 kittens that I am fostering. They lost their mother at 2 1/2 wks. They got coccidia at 3 weeks and I didn't sleep for an entire week. My vet bills on those 2 kittens for fluids,medications,5 vet visits, (2 were emergency calls) xrays, FELV tests, shots is $550 and I haven't even gotten to the spay/neuter part yet. People who adopted Katrina pets ended up spending as much as $1000 to treat various medical conditions that had been ignored for years.

Finally, I think you are the one who should be ashamed. There were a lot of irresponsible people
"involved in the Katrina efforts" but they weren't the animal rescuers as you insinuate. Those people risked their lives to go in to the worst parts of the city over and over and over again to rescue animals. There were animal hero's as well as people. We had one Chow female that came in with a tag on her cage. She personally had led rescuers to dogs tied under porches, locked in back yards, dogs too frightened to come out that would surely have starved if she hadn't brought people to them. She had eye infections so badly that she could hardly see; she was missing an ear, matted beyond belief... a silent wonder.

Get out there and get involved and I think you'll change your tune. It's so easy to be sympathetic when you don't have to see the pain in an animals eyes.

I think it's great that the owner's and their animals have a voice. Who are we to judge these owners; wealthy, middle class, or poor it is their animal and they deserve to have them back. Katrina was a diaster that NO ONE was prepared for. The owners fighting so hard to get their pets back care about their pets.

To "mangolynn", as a humane being for you to say, "If it were up to me, none of those animals would ever have to go back... " is a disgrace to your rescue efforts. There were thousands of animals rescued and your judgement of the 130, approx 1% of the rescues is a disgrace. Do your homework and read up on the plight of inner city animals. Matter of fact, spend time in an inner city and then tell the world that the poor don't deserve a loving pet because you just did! Yes, there are irresponsible pet owners as there are irresponsible parents. There were a lot of irresponsible people involved in the Katrina efforts. Shame on you!!!

There are always two sides to everything. I'm sure you have seen some of the worst but how many pet owners of those have been knocking on your shelter's door asking for them back? I suspect not many. These pets we're talking about were just that, pets. We tried to get these shelters to listen and talk to the owners, to ask and probe and find out how they lost their pets. Legal recourse is a last resort and it's an expensive one, for the shelters too. There are many other "good" owners out there desperately hoping for some legal aid to take on these shelters who refuse to return their pets, but they don't have the money to fight these battles. That's what is sad, because of money these pets might be lost to them forever. Do you know one rescuer/dog thief actually offered to "explain" to a little boy why she wasn't giving him his dog back? If anyone out there does care to get involved with some of these sad cases, financially or maybe some pro-bono legal work, please let us know!

As you said, you don't know the details in these two cases. Let's focus on these two dogs that we know were well taken care of and should have within weeks of being rescued returned to the owners. This issue has been debated all over the place on other websites - yes, there are both sides and some people do not care to get their pets back, as well as some owners may not deserve to have them back if they were clearly abused or mistreated. These two pets in this article deserve to be home with their rightful families. The owners you are talking about will not be the ones who are still so desperately seeking their pets and being willing to undergo the strain of legal intervention. Unfortunately not all of these good owners are able to pursue this route due to limited resources. Let's focus on helping the owners that do deserve their pets and facilitating reunions.

I am an animal lover and I know how I would feel if I were to lose one of my pets. I put my money where my mouth is and I support several animal rescue groups as well as volunteer many, many hours at the Humane Society. All that said, I worked for 2 months with animals rescued from Katrina and I stand by my original statements.

Yes, I did see the trauma to the pets that were left behind. Several of my friends were in Louisianna rescuing those animals. They found litters of puppies and kittens locked in pet carriers with no access to food and water (one puppy actually survived after 2 weeks locked in a carrier). I've heard all of the horror stories, but the broken bones I'm talking about had happened years before Katrina... not days or weeks prior to their arrivals here. There was an 8 or 9 year old Golden Retriever who had huge tumors the size of my fist all over his body. Those didn't happen in 2 or 3 weeks (our shipment arrived here starting on September 19th 2005). I saw dogs who had calluses all the way up their legs/ elbows, etc from laying on concrete or similar hard surface for years...not house pets. Maybe our pets arrived from the worst parishes, I don't know. I can only tell you what I saw. Most of those dogs were not suffering from 2 or 3 weeks of neglect. Most had not been spayed or neutered. Most were suffering from disease and severe parisite infestation. I am not sympathetic to their former owners.

My niece called me from Minnesota, and a girl staying at the hotel she worked at had transferred from the University of Louisianna to the U of M. She was looking for her dog that she left in her 2nd floor dorm. She DROVE out of Louisianna. My niece said "I don't think I want to know why she didn't take her dog" (the answer was because "they" told people they would only be evacuated for a day or two so she left her dog alone.) I located her dog at a shelter in Houston and told her approximately what it would cost to get her dog shipped to Minnesota. ($75) Her response??? "Oh. Never mind. I'll just get another one." Disposable.

I am not the only one who's actually had contact with these animals who has seen this side of the issue. None of the animal rescue workers from my area who went to New Orleans are very sympathetic to the cause of the original owners. Perhaps that's the OTHER side of the story as to why the Humane Societies involved are not willing to return the dogs in this law suit. By the time the 4th plane load arrived I could hardly face the horrors. It made me ill. Those dogs are in MUCH better places now.

You don't have to agree, but I'm just saying, there are two sides to this.

All pet owners should not be penalized because some pet owners are negligent. You have no right to do that.

Take a look at the animals at www.lostkatrinapets.com . Those are mostly pre-Katrina photographs that clearly show that those animals are not neglected, abused, or unloved.

Saying it's too traumatic to return an animal to its original owner is selfish. It's like rescuing a child from a burning building and telling him his parents are dead, forever hiding the fact that they are not, and that they are desperately searching for him. How can you do that to the owners. How can you do that to the animal.

How much PTSD in the Katrina animals is a result of having been separated from the people they loved?

As someone who has grieved with countless New Orleans pet owners who so desperately looked and continue to look for their beloved pets, I feel I have to take exception to the comments made above.

New Orleans is like anywhere else in the country--their are good pet owners and there are bad pet owners. Indeed, some of the pets rescued likely were fortunate to have found loving caring homes for the first time in their lives.

Having said that, it always amazes me the sorts of judgments people make on so very little information. I have no doubt that the animals being unloaded off of airplanes were suffering from fleas, ticks, worms, etc. These are animals who survived by drinking the foulest water imaginable for days or weeks. Indeed, those people who managed to stay also had fleas, ticks, worms, etc.. Many of the pets who lived in that foul muck as well as the people who lived there and the rescuers who crawled around in it will, sad to say, have long term medical problems. I don't think anyone can fully grasp the toxicity of the water, of the mud, of the air! Take a tub of water, throw in some oil from the ruptured oil storage containers, throw in some human feces from the ruptured sewer lines, and then throw in every toxic chemical you can find from the chemical plan and you begin to realize what everyone was and still is coping with.

And I've no doubt that many of the pets were malnourished. But I ask you, how long do you think it took for the little dog who was forced to stay on his roof for days because the rescuers who took his owner away told her to get in the boat or they'd shoot the dog to become malnourished!

And yes, they had eye injuries and broken bones...Have you looked at the pictures of New Orleans? How do you think your pet would have looked after spending a week by themselves swimming from roof to roof? Have you not seen the videos of animals being wrestled out of people's arms as they boarded boats and buses and helicopters and seen them simply thrown to the side?

And yes, HW is a major problem. But do you know what state has the highest incidence of HW infection? LA? MS? AL? Wrong--its Florida!

This was and continues to be a truly unique disaster. We need to look at what really happened so that it never happens again to any human or animal living in this country.

These two pets might be the rare exceptions, but I helped unload airplanes full of dogs from New Orleans in September and October. I can tell you that I did not see dogs that were suffering from a few weeks of neglect. I saw dogs suffering from a lifetime of neglect. Out of the first 130 dogs we received, 2 had been spayed or neutered. They were suffering from fleas, ticks, heart worm, tumors, eye injuries, broken bones healed without treatment, missing ears, severe malnutrition, lack of immunizations, etc., etc. If it were up to me, none of those animals would ever have to go back. I doubt if most of them had ever seen a veterinarian or ever been groomed.
These dogs have found new homes with families that love and care for them. They've suffered enough trauma without being ripped from their new homes only to be sent back to lives of neglect and abuse.
I witnessed one couple who came for their dog. Even though the animal had been living in a kennel for almost two months, it was a friendly little dog that wagged it's tail at everyone. When taken to the waiting area to see it's owners, it recognized them immediately, tucked it's tail, wet the floor and cowered. Not exactly a happy reunion. I'm not sure what happened, but I don't believe the dog was returned.

We have another of these cases, with the Katrina-displaced dog being held in Texas, foster refuses to give back the dog to wonderful owners. The "rescue " group actually made money fund raising off of this dog and never attempted any reunification. Volunteer found the dog on the group's fund raising page, recognized her as the dog their owner-client was serching for.

We have filed suit and are progressing, but would like to pool our efforts with other attorneys fighting similar battles. There are over a hundred cases like this, but only a few with attorneys. All have won, or are pending. This case was referred to me via recently deceased Katrina rescue shero Shannon Moore. (see related story, this site.) I am honored to carry on this cause that she felt so strongly about: Shannon wanted this owner -- now my client -- to get her beloved pet back..

Mimi Smith
Law Office of Mimi Smith
Alpine, Texas
432-837-1489
432-837-3489