An American Opera

Tonight I was very fortunate to attend a fundraiser for D.A.R.T (Disaster Animal Response Team). This included a viewing of a documentary called 'An American Opera ~ The greatest Pet Rescue Ever'. This documentary revolved around Hurricane Katrina when it struck and how that changed the lives of thousands of animals that needed rescue. It showed the different rescue groups, how there was fighting between different organizations and how the animals were handled once they were rescued. It told disturbing tales of animals that had been left in the schools, in what they thought was good faith where someone would pick them up, only to discover most of them had been shot and killed once they left. It stirred emotion from me, not in terms of crying but wondering why that happened. I felt the documentary in whole was informative in the emotional aspect but lacked a lot of actual facts, which the creator stated in the q and a. The film wasn't about providing facts and figures about the hurricane just the human and animal element.

Looking around I could see most were red eyed by the end of it though my father and I were not. I dunno we're not really crying in public people I guess. My father had asked me what my evacuation plan was for Lee (my kitty), I told him it was simple, my plan was he came with me. Of course he brought up the point that many of the residents of New Orleans were forced at gun draw to leave their pets behind. I had to acknowledge that, so I smugly smiled and pushed his shoulder. "You."

Hurricane Katrina was something so overwhelming large that one cannot begin to understand it just by watching a video. This documentary was a small slice of what happened to that region. We can only hope that things were learned during the response so that it has some silver lining.

I've included a picture of a signed poster I recieved and stuck up on my office wall and also a picture of my Lee. He is a devil in the cutest cat costume. I also go to have my picture taken with the creator, super cool.