By Adam Parascandola

Coming up on the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina I can't help but reflect on how much has changed in two years. In a lot of ways I see Katrina as the 9/11 of the animal welfare world, a cataclysmic event after which nothing will ever be the same.

So many things changed for so many people after Katrina. In my case, I started on a path that led me to a new position as Director of Oakland Animal Services, after 11 years at the Washington, D.C., Humane Society. I chose the position, in part, because as my positions have become increasingly administrative in recent years, I realized that I did not want a job that would substantially remove me from the day-to-day activities of the shelter and field staff. 

The HSUS/Cory Smith

The author cradles a dog rescued in Katrina's aftermath.

The entirety of my experience during Katrina reaffirmed this feeling. I got into this field because I wanted to make a difference in the lives of animals. And one of the greatest rewards of this field is seeing firsthand the difference that can be made in the lives of individual animals who come under our care. 

My faith in the value of working together with others was also reinforced by what I saw and experienced during Katrina after I deployed as a volunteer responder with The HSUS. The collective effort of so many groups and so many individuals during that time demonstrated the strength of the animal welfare movement. 

Those of us who had been struggling and working in our own little worlds had our eyes opened to just how much people are committed to animal welfare. Many rescue groups who had worked behind the scenes to help animals were catapulted to the front lines. This changed us all forever.

If there was a silver lining to Katrina it was that those of us working in different aspects of animal rescue came to understand just how much we need each other. When it comes down to it, despite all the differences between the groups, we are all working towards the same goal. 

Images from that time in New Orleans are etched into my memory forever. The animals I couldn't get to, the animals I got to too late, the ones I picked up and left at the sprawling Lamar Dixon temporary shelter, never to know their fate; these are the images that haunt me. Sadly, many of these images are not so different from the images etched in my brain from years of working in animal control and humane law enforcement on the streets of Washington.  

But one big difference remains: the aftermath of Katrina brought a storm of changes to the way governments respond to disasters. 

Humane and relief groups that had long been knocking at the doors of state and local disaster management agencies were suddenly welcomed as partners in response. This is a lesson that reaches far beyond me or even the field of animal welfare. This is a lesson that reaches to the folks who hold the purse strings of the future.

I will never forget the overwhelmingly positive outcomes achieved by so many people reaching out. When fighting for more funding or trying to get support from a seemingly indifferent city government, I remember that there are so many people out there who are ready and willing to help. I see these people every day, those who come to volunteer their time at the Oakland shelter or those who reach out to me from rescue groups and other agencies. 

Suddenly, the animal lobby seems so strong and powerful. 

We should, those of us committed to animal welfare, never forget the power and capacity to do good that resulted from the public's outrage over the fate of the animals people were forced to abandon during their own Katrina evacuation. This energy can now be turned to the everyday disaster facing many agencies caused by under funding, overpopulation and disregard for the suffering of animals. 

Instead of waiting for the next big storm, we should harness its potential power today to let local governments and communities know that investing in animal welfare by properly funding animal control, spay/neuter, trap-neuter-release campaigns for feral cats, and other progressive programs, is a necessity. In a real sense, these are all preparedness programs that will bring continuing benefits to every community in which they are enacted. This can be our lasting and best tribute to the animals left behind during Katrina.