I was touched beyond words by this book and the photos. Heartbreaking, breathtaking, there simply are not enough superlatives. Thank God for people like this.

The pictures are so poignant and moving. God bless the people who do this type of work. I cannot begin to imagine what it must have been like to go through this. This book not only shows the devastation and helplessness the animals experienced, but also the hope and lengths people went to to rescue them.

This photo-log captures some of the desperate and hopeful moments of post Katrina pet rescues. The photographer spent a few weeks early in the rescue effort snapping shots of mostly dog rescues. The royalties from the book sales go to Best Friends Animal Society, a worthy organization that stepped in to rescue animals after Katrina devastated New Orleans and surrounding areas. The book is mostly pictures of dogs, though all kinds of animals were rescued.

This is a haunting photographic depiction of one of the worst tragedies to befall people AND animals in our country....and of the heroic, going-beyond-the-distance efforts of groups of animal rescuers, who flew, drove and bussed themselves into this Katrina-Ground Zero, sleeping on the ground at night, slogging thru toxic water during the 15 hr. days, weeks and months, in the 95 degree heat, often having to break into destroyed houses up to the ceilings with water, to rescue pets that were near-death. Hopefully the Pets Act will go thru, the bill that is currently just passed the Senate, so that from now on, every state in the union that sets up a people-shelter for hurricanes and other disasters, will have to provide one for animals as well, so that people won't refuse to evacuate because they can't take their pets. And, there will be NO PETS LEFT BEHIND. See hsus.org ( Humane Society of the U.S.) for details on the Pets Act and how you can help. Best Friends Animal Rescue is one of the best rescue groups in the world. Bless them for all they do.

"Not Left Behind" presents a series of photos taken of Best Friends Animal Society members over a two week period, rescuing dogs and cats (a bit problematic - had to trap them using food) left behind. The operation continued over a 249 day period, with up to 75 volunteers on-site at a time, including veterinarians, dog groomers, and other animal lovers. During that time period they rescued over 3,000 animals, with almost all surviving, and none left behind - either returned to owner, adopted out, or taken back to Society headquarters in Utah, 2,000 miles away.

Society members found the military very helpful - often identifying animal locations for them, and feeding those that they could.

Clearly Katrina was (and still is) a tragedy, a tragedy made worse by the inane prohibition against evacuees bringing their pets. (I remember TV showing a little boy ready to board one of the buses, being told he could not bring his dog, and crying his eyes out). "Not Left Behind" helped make up for some of the sadness.