The unwritten understanding is that if the original owner comes forward, the adopters should "do the right thing" and give the pet back.
So far, original owners have claimed 15 Katrina pets that were housed at the PHS/SPCA, Delucchi said—about double the average percentage reported by other shelters.
Rescuers saved approximately 12,000 pets stranded by Hurricane Katrina. (See "Katrina's Stranded Pets Spur Massive Aid Effort."
But only 2,500 verified reunions have taken place, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) in New York City.
"I think it's a miraculous amount of reunions given the scale of this disaster," said Betsy Saul of the Animal Emergency Response Network, a Web site where images and descriptions of displaced pets are posted.
Saul credits the hard work of 500 "stealth" volunteers for half of the reunions. These volunteers collect clues and then comb search engines and databases to try to track down owners.
It's a toilsome task, even with workers logging long hours.
After Hurricane Katrina many temporary animal shelters were forced to quickly evacuate in anticipation of September's Hurricane Rita, and many animals were separated from their records.
"That happened in enough cases that there are people who had their pets picked up by the shelter system, or who took their pets to shelters for safekeeping, who won't find their pets again," Saul said.
Julie Morris, the national ASPCA's senior vice president of shelter outreach, said some people have called hundreds of shelters nationwide looking for their pets.
"If you lost an animal with a distinct marking, it makes it easier to find," Morris said. "But a lot of cats and dogs are really hard to describe. It's like finding a needle in a haystack."
On the Animal Emergency Response Network Web site, Morris said, missing or unclear pictures make it difficult to identify many of the animals.
Making matters worse, some animals were sent to one shelter, then sent to several other rescue groups in different locations, Morris said.
Some Katrina pets have had to be saved not once but twice.
In late October authorities discovered an estimated one hundred Katrina dogs in filthy and unsafe conditions at the Every Dog Needs a Home shelter in Gamaliel, Arkansas. A local judge charged the owners with 27 counts of animal cruelty.
Most Katrina animals, though, were sent to well-run facilities. Even so, many of the pets have had to battle preexisting behavioral and health problems, such as aggression, skin conditions, and parasites.
As many as 80 percent of Katrina dogs tested positive for heartworm, a potentially deadly disease.
"There was a low level of animal care, particularly in Louisiana," the ASPCA's Morris said. A group of animal-welfare groups is now working to rebuild Louisiana and Mississippi shelters and to implement new programs and services to improve the quality of life for animals in the Gulf Coast region.
"There's been a lot of tragedy, but I think there are some opportunities here in terms of public awareness, spay/neuter [programs], and legislative opportunities to raise the level of animal [welfare] in the South," Morris said.
Donors have given 13 million dollars to the ASPCA to help Katrina animals—all of which will all go back into the communities devastated by the storm, Morris says.
Hurricane Katrina destroyed or seriously damaged more than two dozen animal shelters in Louisiana and Mississippi.
As the year winds down, the Humane Society of the United States is reevaluating how things went and what can be done to strengthen their response in the future, according to communications director Betsy McFarland.
"Our efforts don't stop when the hurricane season is over," she said. "We always want to do better and help more animals, so our work will continue." (See "Katrina Pet Rescue Efforts Offer Lessons for the Future.")
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