• James Mercadel
  Seventh Ward, New Orleans
• Andy & Morgan Kennedy Skilling
  Gentilly/Fairgrounds, New Orleans, LA
• Victoria Cooke
  Mid-City, New Orleans, LA
• Brittany Gaugis
  New Orleans East, New Orleans, LA
• Scott Black & Julia Cohen-Black
  Uptown, New Orleans, LA
• Roy & Ume Maggio
  Esplanade Ridge, New Orleans, LA

Monday, Sept. 19, 2005
We evacuated New Orleans on the Sunday [Aug. 28] before Katrina, but had to leave our two Pit Bulls behind. They were being boarded with a number of other dogs and cats at Audubon Veterinary Hospital in Uptown.

We were prevented from returning to get them the day after the storm, but were told on the following Saturday [Sept. 3] that the Audubon animals had been rescued and taken to Jefferson Feed, and that they would be taken to Lamar Dixon the following day.

We were in Pensacola, FL, without a car, but managed to get to Lamar Dixon. My mother and uncle drove us five hours to Gonzales, LA, to pick our babies up. We couldn’t get there fast enough. The nightmare we’d been going through being away from our precious dogs for the past two weeks was soon to be over. We arrived at Lamar Dixon and proceeded to search every barn. After two and a half hours of futile searching, sobbing, and unanswered questions, we headed to LSU’s Parker Coliseum, only to repeat the process.

I cried all the way back to Pensacola—hating myself for ever leaving them at Audubon—yet simultaneously trying to think of any way possible to search for, and spread the word about our now missing babies in hopes of locating them as soon as possible so that we could be reunited with them and start a new life together as a family. We have called Lamar Dixon and LSU almost daily since we traveled to look for our dogs, but can’t get any information about where our dogs may be now. We understand that, due to overcrowding, animals at both shelters have been shipped to numerous other shelters - in and out of the state (and some as far away as California and Maryland!) This terrifies us. We have called every shelter that we have heard may be one of those that Katrina animals have been shipped to, but so far, we’ve been unable to locate our dogs.

We are devastated. We lost our jobs, our possessions, and the first home we’ve ever owned; but all we care about is finding our precious dogs. Both of our dogs are microchipped, but apparently, dogs in the Katrina rescue system aren’t being scanned for chips! Does anybody out there know why, or know anything else that could help us?
We are desperate to get our babies back, and are terrified that they will end up being shipped to a pit bull UNfriendly shelter somewhere in the sticks and PUT TO SLEEP before they are scanned to reveal that they are the beloved pets of owners that cry every day for them! Please help us find our precious Zoe and Griffin!!!

Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005
The last week has been Hell for us, but the fact that many kind people from all over the country have been offering us suggestions, contacts, assistance and emotional support, combined with the knowledge that Zoe and Griffin were microchipped and registered with Avid—and so would eventually be found—has kept us afloat and hopeful.
About an hour ago, we were again called by our vet, who had returned to the hospital over the past weekend to retrieve the bodies of two dogs—a collie and a shepherd—that she had been told were found dead by the rescuers, apparently having expired before they were able to get to the hospital. She told us that although the LA/SPCA had indeed gone to Audubon on a rescue mission, they had—for whatever reason—not taken all of the dogs with them. Our precious, young, beautiful, healthy, loving Zoe and Griffin were apparently not among the chosen to be rescued, and were found dead, along with some other dogs as well.

We are devastated beyond belief. I can’t even think straight, let alone try to focus on a new life somewhere else without my baby dogs. The worst thing is, I can’t figure out how those rescuers could walk away from my, and the other dogs, leaving them to die—frightened and lonely—of starvation and dehydration. Worst of all, I can’t figure out why they wouldn’t have just told someone—anyone—our vet, other rescuers, anyone at all—that they left living animals at the hospital.

Zoe and Griffin were two years old and in perfect health. I know that they were alive when the LA/SPCA went in and took the other animals. When I close my eyes, I see their beautiful, trusting faces as I left them somewhere that I thought they’d be safe. I hate myself forever leaving them at Audubon, and my life will never be the same. If I could put myself in their places, I would. They were innocents.