One of the lesser tragedies of Hurricane Katrina were the hundreds of displaced animals who were seperated from their owners by the disaster. Hundreds of them were round up by caring individuals and humane societies and sheltered and fostered around the country.
My girlfriend Cindy has been caring for a Katrina cat named Leopold for the last month. He’s off to his new owner in a few days, somewhere else in Manhattan. We don’t know the status of his original owner.
He’s a very loving, fat tuxedo. Even though we have plenty of cats of our own, we’ll be sad to see him go.
In related news, on the one year anniversary of Katrina, many displaced pets have yet to be returned to their owners because they are deceased, unreachable or unable to care for their animals. Several humane societies and non-profits have stepped in to try and get these animals fostered and adopted, including Rescue for Ruffugees and Katrinafoundpets.com.
In some cases, the animal’s new owners are unwilling to give up "their" pets, resulting in ugly court custody cases. I sure wouldn’t want to be the one standing between a Southern man and his dawg, that’s for sure.
Bye, Leopold! You’ll be missed.