Katrina Pets

I keep going back and forth about this, and I know it's controversial, but lately I've been upset by the fallout from the animals from Hurricane Katrina. A group in our area took about 100, and I personally field about 5 calls a day asking where those animals are, how people can view them or donate to them, and if we have any (name that breeds) for adoption from Katrina. I would guess there are 15+ inquiries a day. They started within days of the Hurricanes.

The plight of the animals (and the people) from these Hurricanes is unspeakable. This was an un-natural disaster (I think I stole that term from Bill McKibben, but it could be someone else)- a hurricane made worse by the factors of global warming, and the effects of the hurricane compounded due to years of cries for help from the Gulf States falling on deaf ears. Environmentalists warned developers that ridding the Gulf States of the wetlands would produce this kind of destruction. Engineers begged for more money to support cities built below the waterline. These warnings and more were ignored, and I would warrant a guess that they were ignored in large part due to the poverty and largely minority populations of the Gulf Coast areas.

The disaster response for hunans has been hashed and rehashed, and the response for the abandoned animals was only slightly better. What gets me is how it takes a crisis- a close to home crisis, since war and famine and natural disaster abroad don't seem to do it- to make people care and want to donate time, money, etc to a "cause". I love it that people are opening their hearts and homes and wallets for the animals of Katrina. Those cats and dogs (and I haven't heard about any, but I assume parrots and turtles and hamsters and rabbits) need help, and urgently.

But in every city and county, there were existing animals that needed help just as urgently. I can't understand the need to help only the animals from Katrina. These are the phone calls that rub me the wrong way. People who want to adopt Louisiana animals, because some how animals from their county, who are very much at risk, are different, not good enough? Every city and county in this country, I would venture to say, is euthanizing animals every day. And I would be suprised if most weren't euthanizing adoptable animals every day. They haven't all survived hurricanes, but they're all homeless, and in need.

I suppose, in a dream world, city and county animal shelters would be adequately funded and this wouldn't be an either/or. I could have my cake and eat it too. The lady down the street who wants to adopt a golden retriever rescued from Katrina could do that, and I wouldn't begrudge her, because in this world the Heinz 57 waiting at the shelter wouldn't be at risk of euthanasia, since his perfect family would be waiting around a different corner to adopt him within days. Animals would not be treated as throw-aways, and when disaster struck, there would be room in every shelter to absorb some displaced pets, and I wouldn't HAVE to begrudge any animal. Hurricanes aren't their fault, after all.