Companion Animals / 31the transfers gave volunteers false hope. Moments after one truck-
load of dogs departed for other shelters, new ones would arrive by
the dozens from the streets of New Orleans.
At the entrance to the kennel area, pet owners could fi le reports
of lost animals. Those who had made certain their animals were
wearing collars and tags or microchips learned that these measures
were mostly futile because the destruction of the telephone infra-
structure made contacting guardians impossible. Those who came
to Lamar-Dixon searching for their animals received nametags list-
ing their fi rst names and the types of animals they were looking
for, which gave them permission to enter the barns. Looking for a
lost dog could take hours, and the owners wandered up and down
the aisles searching the kennels. The process was heartbreaking for
everyone. As one volunteer explains:
Something new for me today. They are letting owners of
lost dogs back in to look for their dogs. They are all coming
through with special nametags looking. They all look so sad
and frustrated. I try to talk to some of them. “What kind of
dog are you looking for,” I ask. They vary in their responses.
Two just start crying when I ask. I feel horrible for these
people. One woman is looking for a Dachsund [sic]. I shake
my head. I haven’t seen one. They’re not exactly the best
swimmers. She starts to cry. She’s the last person I ask.^20During my time there, I witnessed only three reunions. Each
time, there was no question about how to verify the identity of the
owners. In one case, while I was standing at the end of the aisle
unloading dirty bowls, a dog nearby, a Border collie mix, begin to
thrash and spin in his wire kennel. He yipped and squirmed, and as
I went to check on him, I saw a man approaching, wearing an ear-
to-ear grin. One look at him, and I knew. I opened the dog’s kennel
and he exploded out of it, running full-tilt toward the man. They
had been separated for over two weeks. Unfortunately, the man did
not fi nd his second dog that day.