Katrina Rescuers Saved Thousands of Pets

Aug. 27, 2006 — -- Racelle Carson, an animal paramedic from Arizona, was one of hundreds of volunteers from around the country who came to New Orleans to rescue stranded pets.

ABC News followed her team through waterlogged neighborhoods. They would often have to sedate scared dogs to get them to safety.

One year later, Carson is back home in Tucson, still rescuing animals as part of the Arizona Humane Society. But her time in New Orleans has stayed with her -- and, in particular, one animal -- a puppy she found abandoned in a crate.

"We see these two eyes with some liquid around it," Carson said. "It ended up being a pit bull puppy where its litter mate had died. … We opened the kennel, and she walked out. And when we saw her we just grabbed her, and we just started back."

They rushed her back, stabilized her and named her "Faith." Faith served as a mascot -- an inspiration that kept Carson's team pushing to rescue as many of the thousands of marooned animals as they could. Such a large number of pets were behind because they weren't allowed on evacuation buses.

Alexis Raymond, communications director for United Animal Nation, said her group alone sent 436 volunteers to the Gulf region to round up pets left behind to face the wrath of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and about 2,100 animals passed through the group's care.

"Those who were rescued from New Orleans and came to our temporary shelter in Louisiana, they were in pretty bad shape," Raymond said. "They had chemical burns from being in the flood waters. They were emaciated. A lot of them had heart worms. I'd say more than 60 percent of the animals at that shelter were heart worm positive.

"A lot of them were very nervous," Raymond added. "A lot of them were very needy. They were very happy when our volunteers wanted to comfort them, walk them, spend time with them. We did see a lot of improvement in the animals during the time when we had them at our shelter, which was very rewarding for us and for the volunteers who were there."