Filling the Ark: Animal Welfare in Disasters

Companion Animals / 23

mals are not permitted on public transportation. Numerous media
accounts brought the animals’ plight to public attention by describ-
ing National Guardsmen letting dogs and cats run free as their
guardians watched helplessly. One of the most famous—and heart-
breaking—accounts involves a little white dog named Snowball
being torn from a boy’s arms. As Mary Foster, of the Associated
Press, reported:

At the front of the line, the weary refugees waded through

ankle-deep water, grabbed a bottle of water from state

troopers and happily hopped on buses that would deliver

them from the horrendous conditions of the Superdome.

At the back end of the line, people jammed against police

barricades in the rain. Refugees passed out and had to be

lifted hand-over-hand overhead to medics. Pets were not

allowed on the bus, and when a police offi cer confi scated a

little boy’s dog, the child cried until he vomited. “Snowball,

Snowball,” he cried.^11

The account of Snowball brought public attention to the ani-
mals’ situation, transforming what might have been merely an
incident into a story. In sociological terms, Foster’s piece was a crit-
ical element in the rhetorical process that turned a situation into a
social problem. If dogs are simply not allowed on buses, the situ-
ation gets little coverage. But if police offi cers are snatching dogs
from the arms of crying little boys, then it becomes a media event.
Portrayed in this way, Foster’s story yielded a negative image of law
enforcement and, intentionally or otherwise, aroused public sym-
pathy for the animals. From then on, the media had a critical role
in raising public awareness about their situation in Katrina’s after-
math. There would be no shortage of material for stories.
The Ernst N. Morial Convention Center was supposed to be a
dropping-off place where residents could await transportation out
of the city. However, as New Orleans police captain M. A. Pfeiffer
told reporters, “The problem was, the transportation never came.”^12
Tired of waiting, evacuees broke into the Convention Center and,