Review of Mine (1991) by Lisa O — 06 Dec 2012

Some interesting questions raised but the production value is not all that great, thus the 6/10 rating. Saw this previewed on another DVD and immediately put it at the top of my netflix list. The subject is the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - more specifically, what about the animals left behind?

I'm rarely split 50/50 on anything. Right or not, I just have lots of opinions. The preview skewed me one way. Hearing the actual stories, I'm kind of undecided. Kind of. Many pet owners affected by Katrina were just like many pet owners elsewhere: assholes. By now you should know I like animals more than I like people, and I hate pet owners that just have an animal to have it. Some of the rescuers say that thousands of animals were better off basically dying in Katrina to escape the horrible lives they lived before.

On the other hand, some people really loved their pets. They had to leave them behind either because pets were rarely allowed elsewhere, or in the instance of one elderly woman, because the National Guard threatened to take her against her will when she said she would not leave her dog. Either way, as residents were not allowed back into the city, people began to rescue tens of thousands of pets left behind.

This docu chronicles a few of these stories: the above mentioned elderly woman and a few more. It's a complicated situation. Tens of thousands of pets rescued and with no where to go. Most owners will never come forward. Instead of euthanizing the animals, the agencies adopt them out. Months or years later, the original owner may find out and try to get the animal back. What happens then?

The case can be made that some animals live in better homes than they did before Katrina, even when the owners loved the animals. But it just doesn't seem right for a family with everything to take what may be the only thing left for someone after Katrina. In a few instances in the film, people do return the animals. Others do not. In perhaps the worst case, the agency never even lets the adoptive family know the owner is looking. They never get the chance to make a choice.

It's an interesting subplot to the debacle that was the handling of Katrina. I'm not sure there are better solutions. Something that big and destructive is just bound to leave all kinds of shit behind for year.