NORTH CARROLLTON - Rescuers have plucked Kat Daddy, short for Katrina Daddy, from the dirty flood waters of New Orleans and plopped him into a kennel in the heart of the Mississippi Delta.
Arkansans for Animals, a nonprofit humane society, rescued 30 dogs last week. They dropped off 10 in Greenwood.
Casey Billings of Carrollton had planned to join the rescue effort but was dog sitting and couldn't make it.
She helped in another way. She gave a home to five of the rescued pups left in Greenwood.
Kat Daddy and four of his buddies romp in the kennel just outside North Carrollton, where Billings' grandfather has some land.
"I just want to find good homes for them," Billings said.
About four days after Hurricane Katrina, Arkansans for Animals started transporting dogs, cats, reptiles and "anything that needed rescuing," said Joyce Hillard, executive director of the organization.
In the past three weeks, the organization has made rescue road trips three to four times.
Workers have placed most of the animals in shelters around Louisiana. Hillard and others hope the animals and their owners will find one another.
That's happened with 150-250 of them, Hillard added.
"If you look back, humans and animals have always gotten along," she said. "When people lose their pets, it's like being separated from their children."
Of the five dogs that stayed in Greenwood, only one remained Friday.
"There's not a dog I don't think wouldn't make a good pet," said Dr. Andy Johnson, a veterinarian at Greenwood Animal Hospital.
They haven't found the dog's owner.
The rescued dogs in Greenwood and at Billings' place have no major medical problems. Some have sores on their legs and ears, likely from living in germ-infested water.
Others are on medications for stomach problems. Some have heartworms, said Tad Barry, the hospital's office manager, but those who can take heartworm medication have received it.
All the rescued dogs desperately need love and attention.
"That will fix a lot of things," Barry said.
