Hurricane Katrina Made the US Rethink Pet Rescue

Devastating imagery flooded the media when Hurricane Katrina struck 20 years ago, but one scene stands out: Police officers took a small, white dog named Snowball from an inconsolable boy as he and his family boarded a bus to the Superdome. “Snowball, Snowball!” the child pleaded to the point of vomiting.

An estimated 250,000 cats and dogs were displaced or died during Hurricane Katrina, per the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, many with families much like Snowball’s who were separated from pets during the storm. Some residents reported being coerced by officials to abandon their dogs at local schools—dozens of those dogs were later found dead, allegedly shot by law enforcement. One family reported being threatened at gunpoint to leave their animal behind.

“After Hurricane Katrina, there were so many stories there about animals and people losing pets, people not evacuating because of pets,” said Dr. Ashley Farmer, who has researched pet disaster response at Illinois State University.

Shortly after the storm, Congress passed a pet disaster response bill with near-unanimous support. It was a milestone moment—one that, 20 years later, has become invaluable in the face of increasingly severe climate disasters.

The story continues in Atmos. For more information on this topic, see Dr. DeYoung’s 2021 book, All Creatures Safe and Sound: The Social Landscape of Pets in Disasters, or watch her TEDx Talk.