About Us

My name is Cathy Stanley and like many of you, I have been heartbroken by the tragic events that transpired in New Orleans during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

I am an devoted animal lover and have spent many years doing animal rescue in Los Angeles. I have three rescue dogs of my own, and generally oversee 10-20 other rescue dogs  at any one time.   I place rescues in foster care, work with local vets to bring them to optimal health and then find loving homes! (okay, so I'm a little bit more obsessed with my dogs than most - they are the center of my universe). I am also just an ordinary citizen who felt compelled to do something about all of the animals in Louisiana who were very much in danger for days, weeks and even months after the storm.

I had started this website to primarily serve as a source of information for other animal rescuers during this chaotic time. Volunteers from all over the United States, and even as far as Canada, flocked to New Orleans to desperately try to save as many animals as they could. With every passing day, more animals were dying from starvation - locked in their homes with no way to get out. Thirsty, hungry, frightened, in the dark, wondering why their beloved owners had left them behind. If not for the amazing volunteers, many more animals would have died.

This emaciated little Cocker Spaniel was one of the dogs I brought back with me, to read more about her go to Muffin's Story.

Now that the rescue efforts have come to a close and life goes on . . . I worry that it will all be forgotten.

What I am doing now is the long process of collecting stories, pictures and video footage from any rescuers who participated in this huge rescue effort. Maybe no one will see this, maybe some of you will. This website is in memory of all of the animals who suffered and died, many of them in horrific ways of prolonged suffering.

Thank you so much for keeping their memory alive by passing this website on to others. 

And under the umbrella of the Katrina Dog Rescue organization, we run Camp Cocker...our Los Angeles rescue group.  Please visit us at campcocker.com or by clicking on us from the front page!

I would also like to begin a dialogue of discussing what went wrong, and what would be some solutions to have handled the rescue efforts better.  Please help by contributing your own suggestions.

I pray for you, for me and for anyone who has ever loved an animal - that we can all learn from the tragic events that happened and maybe, just maybe - we can all do something to see that it doesn't happen again.

Cathy Stanley

Pooch Potty, Owner