Would you stay or would you go?  Therein lies the question which I alluded to regarding hurricane Katrina's impact on animals.  We are now seeing reports of survivors who are refusing to leave New Orleans because they cannot take their pet(s) with them.  This would be the decision faced by any of us were we in a comparable situation.  There is no support, there is no more help, you must leave — but you cannot take any pets.  So what do you do?

The most remote thought of leaving The Kids, without considering this particular situation, is incomprehensible.  When I then try to imagine having to leave them under those circumstances, it's so repugnant an idea that it strikes an emotional blow in mere hypothetical evaluation.

I could not — absolutely would not — leave them, and that conviction is strengthened by knowing there is no food, no water, thousands of orphaned animals in the same situation, flood waters infested with all manner of danger both natural and man-made, and a desperately lonely existence in a hellish world with no escape and the promise of starvation, disease and a myriad of other potential threats leading to a premature and horrific death.  I shudder to think such a thing.

There simply is no way that I would leave them.  You would have to arrest or kill me, but I would not abandon them — period.

And do not proffer the cheap adage that I cannot possibly know what I would do under those circumstances.  That is analogous to saying that parents would likely leave their children under those circumstances if it meant a greater chance of survival.  The circumstances change nothing.

Besides, it simply is not an option.  Pets are, in many cases, family members.  I safely assume that we would not ask parents to leave their children behind so that more adults could fit their fat asses in the boat.  There are statistical issues with pet rescues under these circumstances.  I would not deny that.  But there is no consideration which can negate the horror I feel in knowing what will happen to the preponderance of these animals.

It's abhorrent to consider, and yet it's reality.  I wish more could be done — could have been done already — to help ensure the safety of so many of these non-human family members.

I see no need to reinvent the wheel (or, in this case, quote), so let me close with something Mohandas Gandhi once said.

The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.