The summer before Katrina I got a job with my long time friend at her dad\'s animal hospital. It is a 24 hour hospital with boarding as well as animal care. Well when Katrina was on its way, the place filled up. Not only were all the cages and runs filled, but owners would leave their animals, dogs and cats, in their carriers, and we would put them in the hallways. We were filled to the brim with animals, thinking that we were going to be able to keep these animals in the hospital, we allowed all these animals to stay. However, once the hospital found out that this hurricane was more threatening then we first thought, the hospital had to find out what to do with all these animal that we took responsibility for. The hospital decided to move all the animals to Baton Rouge. Well, that is so much easier said than done. Unfortunately, I was only 16 at the time, and my parents would not allow me to help move all the animals then stay with them in Baton Rouge, because that would mean that I would not be in contact with them for quite a few days into the bad weather. I was upset, but I totally understood why that was scary to them. So, I went with them to Baton Rouge and stayed with my cousin in her small condo. While I was in Baton Rouge, workers and volunteers at the animal hospital used their own cars, trucks, and SUV\'s to move as many animals as they could. The hospital also got big moving trucks to put dogs into. Of course they needed a few volunteer workers to stay in the back of the truck with the dogs to keep the peace since not all of them had carriers. They were brought to the old basketball stadium on LSU\'s campus. Makeshift runs were built quickly to house all the animals. \r\n\r\nA few days after the storm passed, I went and met my friend and co-worker at the stadium to help walk, feed, and clean up the dogs. It was like something I had never seen before. Dogs everywhere in such a large stadium. So many volunteers came to help our hospital. Some owners were even allowed to come pick up their pets from there if they wanted to. Every dog, cat, and any other animal we agreed to board before the hurricane made it safe and sound to the stadium. I kept going back to the stadium to help as much as I could until they were finally able to bring the animals back to the unharmed hospital.\r\n\r\nI had to stay in Baton Rouge for over a month. I even had to go sign up for a new High School in case we were going to be displaced for to long. That experience was so traumatic. I even cried because I really didn\'t want to have to leave my High School. Thankfully, everything worked out just fine. I got to go back to my own school on October 3, and it was the happiest day. \r\n\r\nMy Katrina experience was very interesting, and I will always remember it.\r\n\r\n\r\n

Citation

“[Untitled],” Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, accessed April 20, 2024, https://hurricanearchive.org/items/show/38173.

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