Companion Animals / 35no fault of their own, while the villains are responsible for the
harm. As scholars who study the construction of social problems
point out, these categories are the product of rhetorical work.^26
Before the storm, when residents were instructed to take their ani-
mals with them, those who would leave animals behind were cast
as potential villains. The possibility of their facing charges of ani-
mal cruelty simultaneously cast the animals as potential victims.
Until Katrina, the literature on animals in disasters supported this
rhetoric. Research associated the failure to evacuate animals with
a weak human-animal bond.^27 Studies measured attachment and
commitment to animals by indicators of care, such as visits to veter-
inarians and possession of leashes or carriers. A weaker standard of
care indicated a weaker bond with an animal. People who left their
animals behind were those who kept their dogs primarily outdoors
or who had no carriers available to transport their cats. In sum, the
literature supported the idea that those who really cared for their
animals would evacuate them. During Katrina’s aftermath, the vic-
tim/villain distinction became less clear. Numerous media accounts
began to establish that many “villains” who abandoned their ani-
mals were actually forced to do so and thus became the “victims”
of the structure of the response. For example, even those who did
evacuate their animals, such as Carlos and Dale Menendez or the
residents of St. Bernard Parish who took shelter in local schools,
would face circumstances that made their care for their animals
irrelevant. According to a Gallup Poll of adult Katrina survivors, 20
percent had to leave companion animals behind. However, because
the questions did not clarify the circumstances under which they
had to do so, it is unwise to attribute the evacuees’ actions to the
weakness of the bond they shared with their animals.
The tragic instances in which people left their animals behind
occurred with alarming frequency. Nevertheless, these account for
only a fraction of the animals abandoned in New Orleans. Why
didn’t more people take their companion animals with them?
The question is not as simple as it seems. Before Katrina, research
had established the refusal to leave animals as the most signifi -
cant reason for failure to evacuate following a disaster, especially