‘Mine’ painful reminder of Katrina’s scope

Last week in anticipation of this trip, I borrowed from the public library a documentary titled “Mine.”

It detailed the trials and travesties encountered in trying to reunite pet owners with animals barred from rescue vehicles following Hurricane Katrina.

It quickly became apparent that too many of the individuals involved in pet rescue showed more empathy for the animals than fir their owners,

Too many were more concerned with placing the animals into foster homes than in providing any help in reunions.

Some of the rescuers were downright hostile in defending their need to adopt out pets for financial reasons.

Others were vindictive because of their perception that pet owners of New Orleans neglected their companion animals.

Then there were those big-hearted individuals who spent all their free time helping to trace missing animals for the owners.

But the families who fostered the animals were absolutely the worst. Having bonded with the animals, they claimed the pets would experience too much trauma returning to their original families.

It was clear these individuals were so self-absorbed, they failed to recall they were depriving people who had lost everything — absolutely every possession — from reuniting with a beloved companion at a time when they, too, were suffering the effects of trauma.

Unless you saw it for yourself, you really can’t grasp the scope of  the devastation and loss.