Companion Animals / 27the days following the evacuation, hundreds of evacuees had called
hotlines at animal welfare organizations to arrange for the rescue of
animals they had left behind. The staff at Petfi nder.com, the adop-
tion database, created the Animal Response Emergency Network to
accept requests for rescue and lost-and-found reports. Dozens, if not
hundreds, of Web sites and blogs overfl owed with pleas to rescue
beloved dogs, cats, birds, and other animals.
With the New Orleans area animal shelters destroyed, there
was nowhere to house the animals. With the help of the Humane
Society of the United States, the LA/SPCA established a staging
area for the animal rescue at the Lamar-Dixon Exposition Center
in Gonzales, about forty miles away.^18 On arrival, animals received
veterinary examinations and treatment, decontamination baths,
if necessary, and much-needed food and water. Under normal cir-
cumstances, Lamar-Dixon hosts equestrian and livestock events. Its
barns with running water and power made it an ideal site for the
animal response. In addition, its three-hundred-space RV park and
restrooms could accommodate the thousands of responders who
would converge on the site during September and October. Accord-
ing to the Humane Society, 6,036 animals, mostly dogs, were res-
cued and cared for at Lamar-Dixon, making it the nation’s largest
functioning animal shelter. Volunteers came from all over the coun-
try. They included animal control offi cers, veterinarians and veter-
inary technicians, shelter workers, and “ordinary” people like me.
Because of my experience in animal handling gained through
my work at the Humane Society of Boulder Valley, combined with
my professional interests in the effects of disasters on animals, I
had told the director of the Humane Society that I wanted to help
if the facility got involved in the response. She understood that my
efforts would inform a research project. I anticipated helping take
in transferred animals or doing a related low-key task. I arrived at
the Humane Society for my usual volunteer shift on Monday, Sep-
tember 12. Around 10 A.M., the volunteer coordinator rushed me
to the director’s offi ce. I learned that a small group of staff mem-
bers was leaving that afternoon to assist with the sheltering oper-
ation in Louisiana. The manager of a shelter in Denver had been