Blue Dog Rescue out of Texas seems to be another “rescue” group that left New Orleans with animals that were not accounted for. Blue Dog Rescue does not appear on any list of groups or organizations that signed contracts to remove animals from
The descriptions of the Katrina dogs on their website are worthy of an Emmy Award for daytime drama...this one is the best:
August 25th, 2005. A thin, plain, black and tan dog roams the streets of New Orleans, scavenging for food to feed her nursing puppies. She is not alone. An estimated 40,000 strays scrape out a living in the city. Spay/neuter programs are almost non-existent. Dog fighting, though illegal, flourishes in many neighborhoods. Poverty is rampant; many people are not able to provide for themselves, let alone the animals. It is a difficult place for a dog on her own trying to feed her babies. As the hours pass, the rain starts and the wind picks up. She begins to become worried. Something is not right. She stays with her puppies patiently and waits for what is to come (did the person who wrote this actually drive into New Orleans as everyone else was evacuating on September 25th and if so, why didn't she take this dog with her?)
September 17th, 2005. A Blue Dog volunteer working at a makeshift New Orleans shelter in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina notices a plain black and tan dog, just brought in from the streets, now waiting to be seen in Vet Services. She weighs 32 lbs and her bones seem about to burst through her skin. Her eyes swollen shut from irritation, she is covered in a crust of glue-like, oily black muck. The skin on her legs is ulcerated and raw from the chemicals she’s been swimming in. She’s recently had puppies, but they are nowhere to be found. Too weak to stand, she does not lift her head when people approach—she has gained nothing from them before, after all. She is started on fluids, bathed, wrapped in towels and loaded into the front seat of a truck bound for Austin.
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