Five years ago, shortly after Hurricane Katrina ripped through the Gulf Coast, teams of rescuers boated, waded and walked through the streets of New Orleans searching for pets that had been left behind in the rush to evacuate. Dozens of volunteers from Washington-based Pasado’s Safe Haven saw the devastation of the category three storm firsthand as they collected hungry, dehydrated and injured pets from homes and backyards in the abandoned city.

140 miles away in Delcambre, La., a similarly devastating scenario unfolded after Hurricane Rita sent floodwaters through the small town, drowning some 30,000 cattle, destroying fields of sugar cane and other crops while uprooting homes and their inhabitants. Local veterinarian Dr. Eric White led his own rescue effort, sending a truck full of abandoned pets back to Waterloo, N.Y. with volunteers from the Beverly Animal Shelter for eventual adoption.

I met up with both groups in 2005, a few weeks after the storms hit, to document their efforts.

Persistent flies were of little interest to this herd of cows at Meadows Farm in Cazenovia as they waited with curiosity for the next move by Boomer, a dog owned by manager Tod Avery of Cazenovia. The farm produces Kobe beef from a unique herd of Wagyu cattle, of Japanese origin. It is the only farm in the Northeast supplying this kind of beef. Lauren Long / The Post-Standard

Mary Alley of Jordan steadies a four-month-old Romney lamb while her daughter, Phebe, 15, prepares the lamb for a weekend of showing at the Cayuga County Fair. Lauren Long / The Post-Standard

By far my most entertaining assignment last week. Meet American Champion English Bulldog, C.H. Bullrush’s Tug McGraw of Blarney Bulldogs, and his owner, Dan Cunningham of Minoa.

Such a fashionable Italian Greyhound!