(no subject)

[celamity]

New Orleans' animals suffering in aftermath of Katrina

A Norwegian paper ran a story about two of the families that were forced to abandon their pets when they were rescued. One was a family that could bring only one personal item and had to choose the husband's liver transplant medication over their dogs. The other was a small boy who had to leave his dog Snowball behind, screamed the dog's name as they took him away from it, and cried for hours till he threw up.

Pets are not personal 'items' (or shouldn't be, anyway) and how hard is it to have a heart, even in a screwed up situation?

Oh, it seems chatnoire has a link to the English version of the story I read: Katrina Evacuees Distraught Over Lost Pets.

Comments

[celamity.livejournal.com]

Me too.

The mind boggles...

[sui-degeneris.livejournal.com]

...at the thought of pets as personal items.

But I'm stunned at the idea that necessary medical supplies are considered personal items.

Personal items are things like books and guitars and DVDs and heirloom quilts.

They're luxuries, IOW.

That hardline approach... Wow... Talk about adding stress to an already stressful situation.

Re: The mind boggles...

[gondhir.livejournal.com]

I don't know the details, but the article says that the rescuers said that there wasn't room in the boat for the dogs. So maybe there just really wasn't room in the boat for the dogs. Which means it wasn't up to the rescuers to determine whether to be "nice" or not, it was simply a matter of capacity. The medicines weren't just in a little carry bag, they were in a "plastic tub" and so took up a considerable amount of room, about as much room as a person (or a dog). Or perhaps there WAS room for the dogs, but it would have meant turning around and coming back for the neighboring house later or something. Dogs take up a lot of room

Re: The mind boggles...

[sui-degeneris.livejournal.com]

Oh, absolutely. And there's also the fact that pets vary in size, from easily transportable to larger than humans. And some people have multiple pets. (The Bennetts had four - two dogs, a cat, and a guinea pig.) And not all pets are going to be laid-back about being moved. If I were a rescuer, I certainly wouldn't want to deal with a stressed-out hissing/growling/scratching/biting ball of fur. Not when there are other humans that need to be rescued.

Still, when you think that pet owners tend to get rather attached to their furbabies....

I guess there's no really good answer to this. On the one hand, you cause emotional anguish to pet owners by forcing them to abandon beloved pets. On the other, you run the risk of letting people die because the previous house's pets took up space that they could have used.

I can see being willing to die for your own pet. I can't see that I would be willing to die for someone else's pet.

But still. Ouch.

Re: The mind boggles...

[celamity.livejournal.com]

Humans over pets, sure, but how many lives were saved by pulling a small pup out of the arms of a small boy, and how many people died while rescuers were working on separating those two?

Re: The mind boggles...

[sui-degeneris.livejournal.com]

And how strict are the guidelines? When you start making exceptions for one, are you then obliged to make exceptions for all?

It isn't just one small pup and one small boy. If it were just one small pup and one small boy, it would be easy to allow the boy to take the dog. Harder to make a policy decision has a much greater cumulative effect.

When you're in a world turned upside down, and you are trying to turn it upside right again, you have to make decisions. Are all of your decisions for the best of every individual involved? Perhaps not, but you make them and go on.

I would also imagine that at least some of the rescuers are focusing more on what they need to do than how people feel about it. It's a sanity-retention mechanism. Focus on the actions, not the emotions. And if the policy is one personal item per person, that's what you do. They may weep for Snowball and Fluffy later, but in the meantime, they have a job to do.

I don't know that there are any good answers, Cel. I wish there were.

I wish that every New Orleans resident (except for the ones who truly wanted to stay) had been able to evacuate with all family members, whether human or not, and with all their most precious possessions.

It's an awful situation.

Re: The mind boggles...

[celamity.livejournal.com]

I know. I have to be sad in small increments.

I find it easier to be angry in larger increments, though.