IDA's Matt Rossell and his partner, Leslie Hemstreet, recently returned from New Orleans after three weeks of rescue efforts to provide relief for the thousands of dogs and cats still seeking shelter in the flood ravaged city. This husband-wife team returned to Portland, Ore. with five dogs and six cats who were among dozens of animal companions they personally rescued. Eight weeks after the devastating Hurricane Katrina, rescue workers are still pulling emaciated animals from destroyed homes. By now, many of the thousands of surviving animal companions have escaped their homes through broken windows or kicked in doors, and are now running scared and hiding out in the desolate city streets. IDA has brought on two new people to work on hurricane relief efforts to save as many animals as possible.

Working from early morning to past dark, much of the rescue effort has turned to making sure food and water is being provided for these bewildered dogs and cats, until each one can be successfully coaxed to safety and reunited with their guardians or placed in new homes. House cats hiding under houses or in attics, too frightened to even approach their own guardians, must be humanely trapped. Those feral cats caught in the process are being spayed, neutered and released back in their neighborhoods if people have returned and conditions in the area are stable. Dogs are roaming the streets in packs, and it takes considerable skill to capture these often-wily canines. Rescuers are setting up feeding stations inside yards with hard-to-find intact fences or setting large humane traps to bring them in one by one.

This urgent effort is far from over, and IDA rescuers vow to remain in the field of this disaster until some sense of normalcy returns to New Orleans.

Learn more about the work of Project Hope.

Read more about previous Project Hope victories

• IDA-Project Hope Rescues Three Emaciated Horses

• IDA-Project Hope Rescues Two Horses with Panola County Sheriff's Dept.

• IDA-PH Gives Desperate Dog New Hope

• Help Project Hope Continue Its Lifesaving Work

• IDA's Project Hope Hurricane Relief Team Takes Animals to Northern Shelters

• IDA's Project Hope Animal Relief Team Remains on the Job

• IDA's Project Hope Hurricane Relief Team in Mississippi

• IDA's Project Hope Animal Rescue Team Among Handful of Groups in New Orleans

• IDA's Project Hope Continues Animal Rescue Work in New Orleans