One year ago, as we witnessed the devastation to New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and to the pets left behind in the days and weeks that followed, we were mortified. We have periodically provided updates of ongoing rescue efforts and legal issues. So how are things one year later?..
Now that a year has passed, many of the animals rescued after 80 percent of New Orleans was flooded, have found their way back to their owners or to new homes across the country. Unfortunately however, the city’s only animal shelter - which operates out of an old coffee warehouse without air conditioning or drainage - is still full of hundreds of pets awaiting adoption. 
Some are strays found wandering through the rubble of abandoned homes. Others were actually given up by owners after the storm, because they were unable to care for them because of the stress of living in tiny trailers while they rebuild their homes, among other reasons.
Thousands of animals died in the floods or in the aftermath when evacuees were barred from taking their pets or returning to find them. Then animal rescue workers found their efforts delayed when they were barred from entering the city until a week after the storm hit. They paddled through floodwaters and broke into houses to rescue the pets of people who thought they would only be gone two or three days. Animals barred from evacuation buses were picked up on the streets as they rooted through garbage in search of food.
About 16,000 pets were rescued and shipped to shelters across the country. Only 15 to 20 percent were eventually reunited with their owners. A lack of proper identification and technology to handle such a huge project slowed the reunion process, as did the time it took evacuees to find suitable housing. As you know if you have read our previous posts, at least a couple dozen families have since sued aid agencies because the new owners of their pets would not return them, creating an emotional and legal dilemma for everyone involved.
Perhaps the only positive thing to come out of Katrina, seven states and the federal government have since passed laws ensuring that evacuation plans include pets, and some of those laws have even provided funds for pet-friendly shelters.
Animal shelters across the country have contacted the Louisiana SPCA to get a copy of its evacuation plan, which managed to safely evacuate 263 animals ahead of the storm. That foresight saved their lives: when the shelter’s staff was finally allowed to return they found the shelter swamped with eight feet of water. The SPCA is currently raising funds for a new 17 million dollar facility in New Orleans, slated to open in January.