We know the terrible human toll Hurricane Katrina took, and the images of death and destruction on television. But, if you recall, there were some other heart wrenching images, too: of people who, in a flash, were rescued and realized that their pets would have to be left behind. There was no option or plan to save the pets.
TV had images of dogs on roofs of houses surrounded by water. Stray, surviving pets were found for months afterwards. And the terrible human toll, property toll, disruption in services doesn’t make mention of the animals who perished or who were lost as they were left behind.
Oftentimes if you raise this issue someone will say: “Who CARES about the animals? Don’t you care about saving the humans? Isn’t that what it’s all about?”
But you can care deeply about humans, hurricane preparedness, disaster relief, etc. and STILL want to see plans in place to ensure that animals don’t remain the seeming uncounted victims in a disaster such as Katrina. You can still believe that pets have an emotional bond with their humans. You can still feel that lives (human and animal) should be saved. You don’t have to just care about humans or animals; you can care about both.
And if you think that describes you, then there’s some good news for Democrats, Republicans and Independents who believe no pet should be left behind. There is a bipartisan effort to get a bill in place to remedy the situation. CLICK HERE FOR DETAILS.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.