A special thank you to everyone who has been helping find and reunite Lost Katrina Pets with their owners.

Lost Katrina Pets

As you look at the photographs and read the stories of these lost pets, we hope that you notice the same thing that we do. Those eyes looking into the camera are eyes that love someone, and are loved by someone and still missed sorely.

No one who left their animals behind ever imagined that mortal danger might befall their beloved pet. How many countless Hurricanes had this region endured. Evacuation was routine. As was the return home. But this time, to everyone's horror, they discovered that they would be prohibited from returning to their homes for weeks, because the levees broke.

Some people left their pets because evacuation by car could take twelve hours and they did not want to expose their animals to the stress of the voyage in a hot car, only to turn around a few days later and do the same thing (we've all read the accounts of animals dying while evacuating, trapped in a hot vehicle). Their home had survived many a hurricane before with minimal damage and in their judgment the animal would be less stressed staying in familiar surroundings.

In other cases, in the rush to evacuate (evacuation was ordered at very short notice), anxious pets escaped from houses, yards, and carriers and hid.

Many people did stay behind because there had been so many false alarms, and even if this did turn out to be a real hurricane, they knew from past experience that their house would weather the storm. Some might have evacuated, but was "no room at the Inn" for both them and their pets. Red Cross shelters would not accept pets. Neither would buses, or boats, or helicopters. They had no way out, and no one to go to who could take their animals, too. So they stayed until their health gave up or somebody came along and made them leave. Some at gunpoint.

Some people stayed with their animals until the end, and drowned with them.

Tragically, residents were forced by their rescuers to leave behind their beloved furry family members, who watched, bewildered, as their people were driven away or carried away in boats, in many cases never to be seen again.

Animals rescued were sent to shelters and rescue groups all over the United States and Canada. Even the most experienced "reunion specialists" with years of computer experience have found it a challenge to locate even a small fraction of the rescued animals, due to lost paperwork, incomplete records, and, in the ensuing confusion, erroneous designations of "owner surrender" when, in some cases, the animals were never surrendered.

Another development is that of animals having been identified by their owners, some are not being returned to them by the shelter or adopter. A number of lawsuits have been initiated and in some cases the police have finally been brought in. What does this say about our support for fellow human beings in times of crisis? By depriving them of their beloved family member and possibly the only thing left in this world that matters to them?

Hurricane Katrina survivors, human and animal, have endured a catastrophe the likes of which have not hit this continent in a long time. Materially, emotionally, psychologically, their world has been turned upside-down.

Healing will take time. If you can help reunite these pets with their owners, you will be helping the people and the animals heal from their anguish.

These owners have not given up hope and neither have we.

This site is completely volunteer created and maintained. It was created by Emily Marcus after Hurricane Katrina/Rita and since November 2005 it has been maintained and redesigned by Sandra Bauer.

Thank you for visiting Lost Katrina Pets ! And be sure to check out the other links detailing missing pets, at our "more pets" link.