Art spotlights rescue of New Orleans pets

ANGELS CANYON, Kane County — Beverly, the human, didn't survive Hurricane Katrina, but her namesake, a frightened cat, lived, thanks to a note her owner left behind, which was found by volunteers from Best Friends Animal Society in Kanab.

A copy of that note is forever embedded in a colorful replica of the flat-bottomed boats that were used by Best Friends volunteers to help rescue thousands of distraught animals made homeless by Katrina two years ago.

The Katrina reminders are the artwork of Cyrus Mejia. Titled "Ark," the work was unveiled this week to employees and volunteers who work with Best Friends. It will be available for tours around the country, said Mejia, and should invoke a variety of emotions from those who view it.

"I can't tell people what to feel, but I hope folks could allow it (the artwork) to do its work," he said.

The 4-foot-by-10-foot boat is covered in a collage of photographs sent in by volunteers, copies of intake forms, satellite photos of Katrina, maps of New Orleans and strips of paper from bags of pet food and other supplies.

The boat's interior reflects the safety of the rescue center, while the exterior represents the anxious days of constantly working on the water to save animals in the flooded city. The boat is suspended by steel cables and appears to float on unseen waters. A recording of lapping water and a lone, howling dog plays in the background.

Mejia, an artist and original founder of the nation's largest no-kill animal sanctuary, helped process thousands of rescued creatures in Katrina's aftermath through a temporary center in Tylertown, Miss. Best Friends volunteers arrived in New Orleans as the water was rising and spent 249 days there, seeking out and saving the cats and dogs left behind when owners were forced to flee.

"One day I had the job of looking through these intake forms for a particular animal and I realized I wanted to make art from those materials," Mejia said during an interview at Best Friends Animal Society this week. "I believe that physical objects can retain emotion and link us back to something that happened. It took me a year and a half before I could do it."

Every animal rescued by Best Friends following Katrina was catalogued and tracked to its final destination, whether that meant being reunited with an owner or being adopted by someone else.

One photograph shows a burly white bulldog wrapped in the arms of an equally strong rescuer. Nearby is a bright blue boat where the dog had been found, tied inside by someone as the floodwaters rose, Mejia said. In large red letters the words "dog in boat" were painted across the boat's side.

"We later learned it was a National Guard soldier who saw the dog there and wrote those words on the boat," likely in hopes the animal would be rescued, said Mejia. "He wasn't equipped to rescue the dog and never knew what happened to it. He even adopted a similar dog because he felt so bad about it."

Comments