Save the Furries

I saw this picture this morning on the Times Picayune's site, and it made me want to help. So even though I am myself a hurricane victim, I donated money. I know that lots of people died as a result of the disaster, and I know hundreds of thousands are homeless and need medical attention. But... they have the federal government, and family, and many strangers willing to help. I saw the National Guardsman carrying this poor wet cat, and I thought, if I had hours to pack my things for evacuation and I didn't even bother to bring socks because I thought I'd be back in two days, how many people thought the same thing and left their pets with plenty of food and water-- but only enough for a week? The human victims will get help. That soaking wet white cat is all alone and its people are not coming back. They can't come back. It's sitting in the water wondering why they abandoned it, because pets don't understand.

There are all these stories about people being forced to leave their pets behind when they got into boats or helicopters. I wasn't there, having evacuated by car, so maybe you could argue that I don't know what I would do in that situation, but I can tell you that you would have to physically pry my cat from my arms before I would ever, ever leave it. I would stuff it in a bag. I would even stay behind.

So I gave money to the Humane Society. Let's just say it was a donation in memory of Jane.