Why aren't people leaving New Orleans? Here's why:
They wouldn't let people take their animals, small or large dogs, cats or anything else.
Venessa MaGee weeps as she prepares to hand her kitten over to animal control officers after evacuation from her flooded house in New Orleans September 7, 2005.
(Tribune photo by Kuni Takahashi)
Posted September 8, 2005 Copyright © 2005, Chicago Tribune
Yes, they did need to get the people out, but domesticated animals can't fend for themselves and have become family members for so many people. Lets face it, they did such an amazingly shitty job of getting the people out, they could have at least let them keep their pets instead of leaving them to suffer and starve to death. Like this poor dog (all of these images are from the trib or ap)
unfortunatelyy, pets weren't the only animals affected. I happened to have visited New Orleans this May and attended an event at the aquarium, which was wonderful. (Of course, I had to point out how ironic it was that they would serve fish at aquarium.) Apparently, 2/3rds of the 6,000 fish there died because they could not pumpoxygenn into the water in their tanks.
Beyond even this, is the trauma that many people suffered while watching their pets die from starvation or even having to kill them. There are numerous reports of police and military shooting dogs, not just rabid ones, but pets they aren't allowing people to take. The trauma of losing your home, your job, your way of life and all your possessions is more than enough, why are we still torturing the people of New Orleans?
And then there are the dogs that won't leave, without their owners.
There is something you can do: Donate your time or money to the Anti-Cruelty Society or the Humane Society. Help reunite those who've already suffered enough with their pets, like this woman below.
posted by Sarai @ 11:08 AM
2 Comments:
A country that can "throw away" its companion animals so easily is not too far from doing the same with its people. It's a sad but very true fact that the way we treat companion animals reflects the way that we view society as a whole. Psychologists often point to children who abuse and torture helpless animals as being lacking in "affect." Maybe our society is also lacking in "affect." It certainly appears that certain officials in the government seem to have no natural feelings for the people that they are supposedly serving. Given that, can we really be surprised with the events in Louisiana?
Good point. It reminds me of that Gandhi quote
"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated"
-- Mahatma Gandhi
I think the poor of New Orleans (and that's primarily who has suffered the most from the failures of our government) had been forgotten long ago by both our government and society. My fear is that they will be forgotten again as soon as they are no longer on the nightly news, as has been the case with Darfur, Rwanda and countless other examples of human suffering.
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