1836 people dead (and counting). 705 missing. 770,000 displaced. An estimated $96 billion in property damage. Approximately 100 square miles of coastal wetlands destroyed.
Hurricane Katrina was the third-deadliest storm in U.S. history. In hours, it transformed New Orleans from a multicultural mecca of 485,000 into a Third World city, and created the “biggest refugee crisis since the American Civil War.” A year after the fact, I’m still horrified by the images borne of Katrina. It’s a scene you’d expect to see in Sudan, maybe, or perhaps India. Not in a developed nation, a world superpower.* Not here. Surely not in 21st century America.
Gross negligence and utter incompetence at all levels of government - local, state, and federal - helped transform Katrina from a destructive force of nature into the shame of a nation. Evacuation efforts were long overdue and woefully deficient. While a city drowned, our FEMA director set dinner dates, mulled his media appearances, and admired his Godly wardrobe. While a city drowned, our Dear Leader talked Medicare, strummed a gui-tar, and had him some cake. While a city drowned, 20,000 residents packed the Superdome, the “refuge of last resort.” While a city drowned, evacuees were given an impossible ultimatum: leave the city without your animals - or don’t leave at all.
In the chaos of last-ditch mandatory evacuations and rising floodwaters, tens of thousands of companions animals were left to fend for themselves. Some never had a chance: cats trapped in crates and dogs tied to fences drowned, alone. We’ll probably never know how many animals perished in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. The Louisiana SPCA estimates that 15,000 companion animals were rescued in the months after the storm. The lucky ones - 20%, at most - have been reunited with their families. Others found new homes, scattered across the nation. A significant number sit in foster homes and shelters, waiting for their new lives to begin. On this one-year anniversary of Katrina’s landfall, hundreds of stray and abandoned dogs and cats still roam the streets of New Orleans.
“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
Concern for animals does not negate one’s concern for humans, no more so than does recognizing the equality of women to men lessen the lot of males. Rather, the recognition of the intrinsic worth of all beings elevates our moral status. By protecting and caring for the most vulnerable among us - children, the poor, the mentally ill, the elderly - we’re showing our humanity. It’s easy to make a beneficiary of one who is (or will some day become) your benefactor; harder still to extend your circle of compassion to the weak, the vulnerable, the powerless. And there is no group more vulnerable than non-human animals.
They are our guardians, our protectors, our confidants. Our friends and companions. For many, they are family.
Yet, more than any other disenfranchised group, animals were tossed aside like so much property. Along with bikes and toaster ovens and television sets, they were left to Hurricane Katrina. They were sacrificed so that their “owners” might live.
To anyone who’s ever loved an animal, it’s a foolish proposition: either abandon your animal, or die with him. Many New Orleanians chose to stay. Perhaps Katrina’s death toll would not have been so devastating had people been allowed to evacuate with their “pets.” Besides, it’s not as if the Snowballs of New Orleans would have taken seats that otherwise would have gone to human evacuees. No, there’s no excuse for our government’s cruel and inhumane “no pets” policy. To abandon an animal in any other situation is a crime; in the state of Louisiana, such neglect is considered cruelty to animals, punishable by up to six months in jail. Yet, for the United States government, it is a matter of policy.
Almost a year after Katrina, and shortly before the passage of the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Standards (PETS) Act, evacuees were again forced by the US government to leave their animals behind. The setting: the war zone of the Israeli/Lebanese border. Though other nations allowed their citizens to flee the bombing with their beloved animals, Americans were told to leave their furry family members behind. To this. Clearly, talk about “lessons learned from Katrina” is so much lip service. Our politicians** have learned nothing.
If it’s true that “the greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated” - and I believe it is - then the US has a long road to travel before we can rightly call ourselves a “civilized”, “developed” nation.
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On this anniversary of Katrina, I’ll be spending the day with my four furry “children,” tossing the tennis ball, tugging on a knotted sock, maybe reading in the North field while the red one digs for moles. In the months after the storm, Shane and I volunteered to foster a few displaced animals, but Best Friends never took us up on the offer. I suppose two open spots in Kansas wasn’t terribly helpful. If our landlords allow it, though, we’d love to open our home - and our hearts - to one or two dogs, permanently. Every adopted animal opens up another spot; maybe for a Katrina survivor, maybe not. It doesn’t matter to me either way - even your run-of-the-mill abandoned, abused, and neglected strays need a family of their own.
And hey, if they say no, the least we can do is donate the money we’ve budgeted for adoptions fees and rental deposits to a Gulf Coast animal rescue group. Or two or three.
It’s time for me to wrestle up some sloppy wet kisses from my animals. If you’d like to make a donation of time, money, or supplies, skip to the end of this post for a list of candidates. Otherwise, read on.
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* This isn’t to suggest, of course, that such a tragedy is acceptable when it happens to The Other. Suffering is suffering. Rather, the failure of our government to protect its own citizens is, well, shocking. And disillusive. Shockingly disillusive. I’d never call myself an optimist, but even I was taken aback by the massive failure of our politicians in the face of Katrina. How are we supposed to help other, less fortunate countries when we can’t even protect our own from a foreseeable disaster? Clearly, we can’t, as evidenced by the current mess in the Middle East.
** Democrats and Republicans alike, because speciesism, racism, sexism, heterosexism, and “ism” in general, are all non-partisan failings.
Hurricane Katrina: In Pictures
Hurricane Katrina on August 28, 2005, 1:00 PM EDT.
August 29, 2005 - Aerial of a flooded N.O. neighborhood.
August 29, 2005 - President George W. Bush joins Arizona Senator John McCain in a small celebration of McCain’s 69th birthday, after the President’s arrival at Luke Air Force Base near Phoenix. The President later spoke about Medicare to 400 guests at the Pueblo El Mirage RV Resort and Country Club in nearby El Mirage. *
August 30, 2005 - Stranded.
August 30, 2005 - Our Dear Leader.
August 30, 2005 - The American Flag remains in front of a home flooded by Hurricane Katrina. New Orleans is being evacuated as a result of floods caused by Hurricane Katrina.
August 31, 2005 - Three dogs waited for rescue in Pass Christian, Mississippi, one day after Hurricane Katrina slammed into the Gulf Coast town. The dogs were later saved by a local police officer.
September 2, 2005 - A fire burns in the distance in a neighborhood impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
September 3, 2005 - A dog swims through flood waters in a neighborhood affected by Hurricane Katrina.
September 3, 2005 - Surrounded by litter left by refugees, a dog remained tied to the railing of a highway ramp in New Orleans six days after Hurricane Katrina. Like many of the city’s newly stranded pets, the dog may have been refused passage by rescuers as they evacuated its owners.
September 3, 2005 - A giant message board helps people locate friends and loved ones at the Reliant Center in Houston, Texas.
September 4, 2005 - This man refused to evacuate the French Quarter because nobody would let him take his 40 chickens into the shelters. New Orleans is being evacuated as a result of flooding from hurricane Katrina and is still 60% under water.
September 4, 2005 - A lost pet receives care from the V-MAT at New Orleans airport where FEMA’s D-MATs have set up operations.
September 5, 2005 - People who were trapped in their attics by floodwaters had to kick out the windows in order to escape and call for help.
September 5, 2005 - FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force members and local rescue workers and US Coast Guard, search for residents in neighborhoods impacted by Hurricane Katrina. **
September 5, 2005 - This part of Slidell was flattened by Hurricane Katrina.
September 6, 2005 - Near New Orleans, a small oil-slickened dog was seen wandering in Chalmette, Louisiana, as cleanup crews recovered oil from a ruptured refinery tank. Tens of thousands of barrels of oil had spilled and mixed with receding floodwater from Hurricane Katrina.
September 8, 2005 - A pig and a dog displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
September 8, 2005 - Some residents were convinced by troops to evacuate ten days after hurricane Katrina. ***
September 8, 2005 - Stray dogs found in areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina are placed in carriers to be brought to a main location by the humane society. The FEMA Veterinary Medical Assistance Teams are helping out.
September 9, 2005 - Many animals lost during Hurricane Katrina were taken here to the Lamar Dixon Expo Center where they will be looked after by veterinarians. Hundreds of lost dogs are among the animals sheltered here, and many need medical attention. Every attempt will be made to locate the owners before they are adopted out.
September 10, 2005 - Rescued animals from New Orleans arrive at New Orleans airport where FEMA’s DMATs have set up operations.
September 16, 2005 - This neighborhood remains flooded two weeks after the storm came through. The foul smelling flood water is contaminated with petrol chemicals, house hold chemicals and biological hazards.
September 16, 2005 - Roy Krueger from the “Missouri Boon County Urban Search & Rescue Task Force 1″ rescued this kitten from an empty house. It’s now on the way to animal rescue.
September 17, 2005 - FEMA Urban Search and Rescue workers wait in line with their rescue dogs to see a veterinarian that has come to do checkups on dogs going into areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina. ****
September 18, 2005 - Damage to homes and property in Lower 9th Ward due to Hurricane Katrina. Markings on house were from the Search and Rescue teams searching for survivors following the storm - the date searched, time, who the search party was, survivors found and animals still in the house.
September 2005
February 10, 2006 - Former FEMA Director Michael Brown testifies before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. *****
