Best Friends Animal sanctuary rescue efforts

Because the news has been rightly focused on efforts to save humans from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the plight of many animals has been for the most part overlooked. Evacuees were forbidden from bringing their pets, forcing them to abandon their animals. Others chose to stay and risk their own lives rather than leave their pets behind.

Fortunately the Best Friends Animal Sanctuary had rescue teams on site in New Orleans the day the hurricane struck (suck on that, FEMA) and have been working tirelessly to save as many animals as possible ever since. More information on rescue efforts and what you can do is posted on a special section of their Web site. (Don't contact them directly as they've been inundated with offers of help and have sent out an urgent request to give them a few days to process everything.)

I had the honor of visiting and volunteering at the Best Friends sanctuary a couple of years ago, an experience I will always cherish. Founded by devoted animal rescuers, the 3,300-acre sanctuary is located in Kanab, Utah, in a beautiful pocket of land between three national parks. Pets deemed "unadoptable"--we're talking blind, one-legged, sick little things--are treated to a lifetime of food, medical care, and posh accommodations, while those that can be are placed in loving homes.

I was skeptical about Best Friends at first, thinking that social issues like poverty and crime made saving animals seem paltry by comparison. But there's another way of looking at it: The true measure of a society is not in its grand displays of power or wealth but in how it treats its weakest members.