Letter to the editor,
[in the Datebook
section]
AID NOT A PET PROJECT
Re: "The dogs of
Inevitably, someone will
argue that it is wrong to "waste" aid on animals when people are
suffering. This is a fallacy. Giving aid to animals does not steal aid from
humans. The failure after Katrina was one of incompetent management, not
shortage of aid.
I was 27 years old in the
storm of '82, when my husband was killed and my home destroyed by a mudslide. I
had to dig myself out of the wreckage and stumble down the mountain in the
dark, naked, on a broken leg. Everything that was my life was wiped out in an
instant, and all I had left was my wedding ring. Three days later, while trying
to salvage some of my goods, my brother found one of my cats, trapped but
miraculously unharmed under a piece of furniture. I can't begin to tell you how
much comfort that cat gave me in the hard, grim months of recovery.
Helping pets is helping
people.