In all this misery a good dog story points out the multi-layered concerns and care shown by people who didn't get
front headline news:
'Big part of my recovery'
New Orleans evacuee calls being reunited with dog
By JENNIFER JACOBS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
September 25, 2005
(and a pic of Prissy)
desmoinesregister.com
Life could have been miserable for Prissy, the 106-pound bulldog whose owner, Iowa native Pam Callahan, was forced to leave her behind in a flood-ravaged New Orleans house.
Instead, some Navy sailors took in Prissy and pampered her with cheeseburgers, warm baths, painted toenails, a new collar and neck massages.
"I guess they just fell in love with her," Callahan said. "Those guys were a godsend."
After a long and stressful journey, Prissy was reunited with Callahan on Saturday at the Des Moines airport.
"She looks good," Callahan cooed. "She is probably, like: 'Where am I?' "
Here's the story of where she was.
Shortly after the Virginia-based USS Tortuga moored to a pier in New Orleans on Sept. 4, the sailors conducting search-and-rescue operations encountered people who refused to leave without their pets.
That prompted sailors from the ship's repair shop to construct a kennel along the levee, according to the ship's online newsletter.
The ship became a floating berth for more than 170 displaced New Orleans residents, and the pier outside became an emergency shelter for more than 140 dogs, about 10 cats, one rabbit, one guinea pig, one goose, a pair of parakeets and a flightless pigeon.
The sailors nicknamed the makeshift kennel "Camp Milo & Otis" after two puppies some Navy Seals had found floating on a mattress with their dying mother.
Meanwhile, Callahan, who worked with homeless people and mentally ill New Orleans residents for Catholic Charities social services agency, was stranded in her neighborhood, a poor area of the city's lower Ninth Ward.
She had loaded her dogs — Prissy, a mutt named Phantom and their offspring, Bandit — into her car before Katrina hit Aug. 29, but the roads "were gridlock," she said. They sought refuge on the second floor of a neighbor's flooded house, and tried to do what they could for some of the 100 elderly and ill neighbors trapped in nearby homes.
On Sept. 3, law enforcement officers showed up to evacuate Callahan, a blind man and some elderly neighbors she was caring for.
No dogs, they said.
"It was horrible," Callahan said. "I had a split second to make a decision. My dogs are my family, but people first."
She left the dogs with a neighbor and plenty of food, and journeyed by truck, ferry, rescue helicopter and a military airplane to Arkansas, then hitched a ride to a bus station, where she bought a ticket to Iowa, where her mother and five of her eight siblings live.
Her neighbor tried to deliver Callahan's three dogs to the Tortuga pet shelter, but Phantom and Bandit escaped en route.
Prissy made it safely into the hands of Connecticut veterinarian Kim McClure, who had been dispatched for hurricane relief by Christian Veterinary Mission.
"She's an amazing dog," she said. "Everyone loved her."
Most of the dogs were kept in the kennels, McClure said, but Prissy was so well-behaved that she was usually loose, lounging near the veterinarians as they treated other pets for infection, dehydration, malnourishment, broken bones, and diarrhea and vomiting from drinking floodwaters.
Prissy quickly figured out what time the sailors were done with their daily chores and would stand near the ship, waiting for them to visit her. They petted her as they talked on their cell phones.
"She was such mental health help to them," McClure said.
The sailors posted photos of unclaimed pets at www.tortuga.navy.mil, and that's where Callahan, who is staying with her sister in Panora, found a photo of Prissy drinking water.
"I was screaming to my sister, 'That's her!' I was so excited," said Callahan, who contacted the ship by e-mail.
It was too hot in Louisiana for pets to be transported in airplane cargo holds, so McClure drove home to Connecticut with Prissy, who quickly made friends with her 8-pound Chihuahua. On Saturday, the veterinarian loaded Prissy onto a Northwest flight to Iowa.
"I don't know where the other dogs are," Callahan said Saturday, "but this will be a big part of my recovery." |
