Local Doggie Do-Gooders

Why do some people prefer pets?

Mark Twain answered the question (probably with his corncob pipe resting at a rakish angle) thusly: "If you pick up a starving dog and make him prosperous, he will not bite you. This is the principal difference between a dog and a man."

Hundreds of starving dogs owe their lives to a group of volunteers from local animal rescue farm Pasado's Safe Haven. The dedicated animal lovers traveled to New Orleans soon after Hurricane Katrina hit, and have been saving abandoned hungry dogs daily.

A team from Downtown Dog Lounge, a Seattle doggie day care, are going to join them--flying into Jackson, Mississippi on Saturday and driving to New Orleans, which is being submerged anew. They will bring 15 dogs back to Seattle, nurse them back to health, and hopefully reunite them with their Gulf Coast owners.

Meanwhile, dozens of Pasado volunteers are heading to Texas, in anticipation of a similar need there. They've organized a triage facility in a nearby fairgrounds.

The volunteers went with no guarantee of shelter nor food, but donations and kindly locals have supported their merciful labors.