Katrina Animal Stories

We have been following the animal stories out of New Orleans as we have a houseful of animal lovers here. The stories aren't the most encouraging.

On the pet scene, over 1,000 pets have been rescued, but out of every 400 brought in each day, about 20 have been reunited with their owners. If you know someone from the area and they are looking for a lost pet, they should check out a huge agricultural exhibition hall at Gonzales, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) from New Orleans. It would be a good place to start looking.

Let's not forget the wild animals in the area. According to Animal Planet News:

The area's 16 coastal national wildlife refuges, which together span nearly 365,000 acres, remained closed as of Friday, Sept. 9, as officials surveyed the damage.

Louisiana's 13,000-acre Breton National Wildlife Refuge, part of the Chandeleur Islands in the Gulf Coast, was hit hardest by the storm, said the release. The second-oldest national wildlife refuge in the country, Breton is home to several threatened species, including the least tern and piping plover. It is now roughly half its original size, said the release.

Along with common wild life, there are many threatened and endangered species in this area. Read here for more information.