Pawprints of Katrina: Pets Saved and Lessons Learned

Pawprints of Katrina includes nearly 200 heroic rescues, heartwarming reunions, and stories of selfless efforts of strangers brought together by a disaster to save animals at the Best Friends Animal Society triage center because their owners were unable to. The stories and photos included in this book will bring the experience of pet victims to life for the reader, from the first moments when the animals are rescued, to when they’re examined, treated, and cared for by volunteers, until the day they are reunited with their families or placed in new homes. The reader will also meet the volunteers who made the rescue efforts possible. Author Cathy Scott worked beside them, not only writing about the animals, but also helping to rescue and reunite them.

While in the Gulf on assignment for Best Friends magazine, she visited temporary shelters, including Mutt Shack across from Lake Pontchartrain; Winn-Dixie in Gentilly; Animal Rescue New Orleans near Carrollton; the Humane Society of Louisiana, which relocated from New Orleans to Tylertown next door to Best Friends’ relief center; and the Humane Society of South Mississippi in Gulfport. The resulting stories are straight from the rubble-strewn streets. She provides a rare, historic look behind the scenes of the massive animal rescue efforts. Scott’s unique approach comes from being both on the ground and in boats, witnessing firsthand the rescues and the resulting reunions between human refugees and their pets. She presents not only the most dramatic and challenging cases, but also describes many other tales of large groups of pets left to fend for themselves, then plucked to safety.

Scott’s narrative yet straightforward style is laced with sensitivity and inspiration as she traces the animals’ steps. From her front-row seat, she pieces together stories using Best Friends’ expansive database, paperwork from the field, interviews with Louisiana officials, law enforcement officers and military personnel, rescue groups, individual rescuers, veterinarians, and volunteers from all walks of life, as well as her personal knowledge as a first responder and rescuer in the field.