BATON ROUGE - When Hurricane Katrina, one of the most destructive storms in history, made landfall in New Orleans, Louisiana State University went hands-on-deck.

From cleaning litter boxes to administering emergency medications, LSU and Lamar Dixon became ground zero for pet rescue operations.

"All of our wards had been turned into makeshift ICUs and critical care areas because some of those animals had been in houses, in flood waters, and they were pretty critical," LSU Veterinary Technician Torri Collins said.

In the end, 2,000 pets were housed on LSU's campus. Thousands of pets were left behind because evacuation rules at the time did not allow animals on public transportation. In fact, there were no evacuation methods for pets at all.

"You couldn't bring your animal if you evacuated using government or public transportation, so there were people who didn't leave the city because they couldn't bring their pet on the boat or the bus," Ginger Guttner with the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine said.

The heartbreak of Katrina helped change national policy because in 2006, Congress passed the Pets Evacuation and Transportation Act.

"That is what now allows animals to be included in any kind of disaster response," Guttner said.

Katrina exposed critical gaps in America's disaster planning, but it also revealed what many value most.

"I think one of the big lessons we learned is that animals are a part of the family and people are not going to leave or abandon their animals," Guttner said.

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