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Not Left Behind: Rescuing the Pets of New Orleans
Not Left Behind is the story of how Best Friends Animal Society rescued thousands of pets from the storm-ravaged, flooded streets of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.The story is told through the images of Best Friends photographer Troy Snow and the words of five Best Friends rescuers—frontline troops representing thousands of volunteers across the country who helped save lives and reunite families.
- GenresNonfictionDogsAnimals
95 pages, Hardcover
First published July 25, 2006
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
May 10, 2023
Great book I am happy to add to my shelf for favorite dog books. Amazing pictures to go with a great story where the Best Friends Animal Society ultimately save more than 3,200 animals from the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. Definitely an organization we should support.
The book is a quick read with lots of full page pictures and some with quotes on them. I will include a few:
"It was all eerily beautiful and disarming, and very sad. There was a profound sadness in all that silence." - Paul Berry
"Some animals had been stranded for close to two weeks when we got to them. Some were on porches, some morooned on car hoods and roofs. Doing whatever they could to survive." - Troy Snow
"You're goig through a neighborhood and there's no people, no grass, no birds, no animals... and it's beautiful but you know how screwed up it is that it looks that way, what it means that it looks that way." - Kit Boggio
'As a national community, we made mistakes in responding to Katrina. But we also did things right. In our ignorance, we insisted that people leave without their pets. But in our companssion we went back, and we made sure that as many as possible were, in the end, not left behind.'
'Before the Best Friends team got out on the water on their own, they spent several days ferrying already-rescued pets from the Jefferson Parish shelter, an official city facility, to the St. Francis Animal Sanctuary in Tylertown. It was clear to Troy that most of these animals had never seen the inside of a shelter before: "Their eyes seemed to be saying to me, 'Where am I? And where are my people?'"
"And this miniature poodle was trapped in the alley, stuggling to hold his head out of the water by propping his front paws up on a piece of steel frame." They clambered in and got the dog out. Days later, after a good bath at Tylertown, the little grey poodle they had rescued turned out to be white as snow.
"Every day, when ou got that first animal, I didn't care what else happened. As long as you got that first one, it was a good day." - Jeff Popwich
"This is one of those rescues I'll never forget," recalls Troy. "Like everybody else, I had my own stereotypes about Pit Bulls, so I was a little nervous when we saw these two on top of an almost fully submerged car. And then one of them jumped into the water and started swimming right at us. You could tell by his eyes that he was a little confused, but he definitively wanted to get to us. I didn't know if he was coming to say, Get out of my territory, or if he was coming for help. I took a picture of him as he swam toward me, and then this big old pit bull head is staring up at me, on my side of the boat. I put down my camera, took a deep breath, then reached down and just grabbed this dog and pulled him up into the boat." It was an anxious moment for Troy, but his fears were soon allayed. "He was just nuzzling his head into my neck, and his tail was just thumping against the side of the boat, just thumping so loud, bam bam bam. He would have climbed right inside of you. This dog had been trapped on the roof of a car in his own driveway, no clean water, no food, waiting for his owners to come back. He's sunburned. He's sick. But the most important thing in that dog's life right then was being loved. He couldn't get close enough to me.
There are a fair number of moving stories in the book with pictures to go along with them. I wish I had a way to really keep talking about the amazing pictures. The one from the previous story with the pit pull swimming to the boat with his blue eyes looking like they are filled with hope to me. The photographer really had a knack for getting the dog looking directly into the camera which then seems to look into your heart.
Hope you can add the book to your collection, but maybe even better go to www.bestfriends.org and donate or to your local animal rescue organizations in honor of the work done after Katrina and still goes on to rescue pets.
The book is a quick read with lots of full page pictures and some with quotes on them. I will include a few:
"It was all eerily beautiful and disarming, and very sad. There was a profound sadness in all that silence." - Paul Berry
"Some animals had been stranded for close to two weeks when we got to them. Some were on porches, some morooned on car hoods and roofs. Doing whatever they could to survive." - Troy Snow
"You're goig through a neighborhood and there's no people, no grass, no birds, no animals... and it's beautiful but you know how screwed up it is that it looks that way, what it means that it looks that way." - Kit Boggio
'As a national community, we made mistakes in responding to Katrina. But we also did things right. In our ignorance, we insisted that people leave without their pets. But in our companssion we went back, and we made sure that as many as possible were, in the end, not left behind.'
'Before the Best Friends team got out on the water on their own, they spent several days ferrying already-rescued pets from the Jefferson Parish shelter, an official city facility, to the St. Francis Animal Sanctuary in Tylertown. It was clear to Troy that most of these animals had never seen the inside of a shelter before: "Their eyes seemed to be saying to me, 'Where am I? And where are my people?'"
"And this miniature poodle was trapped in the alley, stuggling to hold his head out of the water by propping his front paws up on a piece of steel frame." They clambered in and got the dog out. Days later, after a good bath at Tylertown, the little grey poodle they had rescued turned out to be white as snow.
"Every day, when ou got that first animal, I didn't care what else happened. As long as you got that first one, it was a good day." - Jeff Popwich
"This is one of those rescues I'll never forget," recalls Troy. "Like everybody else, I had my own stereotypes about Pit Bulls, so I was a little nervous when we saw these two on top of an almost fully submerged car. And then one of them jumped into the water and started swimming right at us. You could tell by his eyes that he was a little confused, but he definitively wanted to get to us. I didn't know if he was coming to say, Get out of my territory, or if he was coming for help. I took a picture of him as he swam toward me, and then this big old pit bull head is staring up at me, on my side of the boat. I put down my camera, took a deep breath, then reached down and just grabbed this dog and pulled him up into the boat." It was an anxious moment for Troy, but his fears were soon allayed. "He was just nuzzling his head into my neck, and his tail was just thumping against the side of the boat, just thumping so loud, bam bam bam. He would have climbed right inside of you. This dog had been trapped on the roof of a car in his own driveway, no clean water, no food, waiting for his owners to come back. He's sunburned. He's sick. But the most important thing in that dog's life right then was being loved. He couldn't get close enough to me.
There are a fair number of moving stories in the book with pictures to go along with them. I wish I had a way to really keep talking about the amazing pictures. The one from the previous story with the pit pull swimming to the boat with his blue eyes looking like they are filled with hope to me. The photographer really had a knack for getting the dog looking directly into the camera which then seems to look into your heart.
Hope you can add the book to your collection, but maybe even better go to www.bestfriends.org and donate or to your local animal rescue organizations in honor of the work done after Katrina and still goes on to rescue pets.
January 20, 2016
Sad -- happy. Many kudos to those who valiantly saved so many pets. And some actually were returned to their owners! You won't soon forget the pictures of the dogs with the haunting looks in their eyes -- and the glorious faces of those rescued.
February 3, 2011
Perhaps the cover of this book says it all: we must help dogs and cats whenever we can.
I've owned "Not Left Behind: Rescuing the Pets of New Orlean" for a while, something that's afforded me a number of chances to look at the exquisite pictures inside. However, I don't think I'd read the text until today. And tears were stinging the back of my eyes as I read, because I was reminded of how extraordinary people can be.
I've owned "Not Left Behind: Rescuing the Pets of New Orlean" for a while, something that's afforded me a number of chances to look at the exquisite pictures inside. However, I don't think I'd read the text until today. And tears were stinging the back of my eyes as I read, because I was reminded of how extraordinary people can be.
June 22, 2008
Mostly photographic ~ very moving.
February 27, 2023
Bravo. Hip hip hooray for this wonderful pet rescue operation.
March 17, 2015
Not Left Behind presents a heart-wrenching photographic essay that tells the story of a group of people that went in after Hurricane Katrina to rescue hundreds of pets left behind during the evacuation. While the text is relatively minimal, the photographs taken by Troy Snow speak for themselves, depicting page after page of baleful eyes staring out from emaciated bodies huddled in abandoned boats or on the roofs of cars. I admit, I got teary-eyed a few times; while reading it I felt like I could hear that Sarah McLachlan song playing in the background. I think what I appreciated the most about the book, though, was that in the introduction they explain how "Not Left Behind doesn't attempt to provide a complete picture of what was done to rescue the pets of New Orleans" (19). In other words, they weren't trying to take credit for saving all the animals, and throughout the book they often mention the help they received from not only volunteers but the military as well. My only issue with the book is completely illogical; I just want to know what happened to all the pets in the photos! On a realistic note, though, I do wish there had been separate sections dedicated to different types of animals. While I'm in love with man's best friend as much as the next dog lover, it felt unfair to primarily focus on our canine companions. Also, an added bonus is that all royalties from the sale of the book go to the Best Friends Rescue Fund.
March 26, 2010
This is an excellent photojournalism documentation of one small corner of the Hurricane Katrina crisis--the pet rescue effort by Best Friends Animal Society.
Through the stories and images of individual animals, readers will hopefully come away with a stark reminder of why pets must never be left behind during an evacuation. It's also a testament to the necessity of overhauling the country's natural disaster procedures.
Through the stories and images of individual animals, readers will hopefully come away with a stark reminder of why pets must never be left behind during an evacuation. It's also a testament to the necessity of overhauling the country's natural disaster procedures.
September 17, 2007
Photos and text documenting the search for and rescue of pets in the wake of Katrina. I picked this up because our dog came to us via a pregnant rescued dog. The photos were lovely, the text heart-wrenching, and the volunteers' devotion simply mind-boggling.
April 19, 2009
My son gave me this book about the pets of Katrina. What a heart-warming story of dedicated people who at significant personal sacrifice went about saving the animals left behind. You may shed a tear or two.
February 19, 2016
Excellent book capturing the efforts of the Best Friends Animal Society crew to rescue and save animals left behind following Hurricane Katrina. Shame on you New Orleans and Rescue officials for not allowing evacuees to take their pets with them. Despicable.
Read
October 9, 2009before and after pics of pets rescued after Katrina were shocking and at the same time showed the undying "companion" spirit of dogs.
February 4, 2011
If you like dogs, you should read it.
February 17, 2011
Awe-inspiring stories of rescue coupled with amazing photos... People were not the only victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Want to read
March 7, 2011Another great find at the thrift store.
January 2, 2017
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CompNtBk
Borrowed from library.
FS:
LS:
CompNtBk
Borrowed from library.
FS:
LS:
May 7, 2014
Mostly a photographic essay of pet rescue in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews