In remembrance of 9/11

The bridge I go over en route to work had dozens of American flags on display this morning, in remembrance of 9/11.  

Thinking of all the people who lost their lives that day, as well as their loved ones who suffered such a tragic loss.  I also often think about the pets who were left behind -- pets who lived alone with people who never came home that day.  I always hoped that someone eventually looked after them after their owners died.

Sorry I'm late getting back here.  Tracy YES -- there was a huge organized effort on the part of police and firefighters.  I  was freelancing at the time for AllPets.com and I was in touch with a number of Search & Rescue folks working at GroundZero and then with some contacts I made thru various pet rescues in NY and NJ at that time.  The first ones they went after were pets in those buildings that were at risk that had been damaged by the blast (some of them many blocks away)  and the police and firefighters went in even just thru a window if they had to.  

From there they literally tried to do door to door searches and also lists compiled by concerned family who knew a missing family member had pets.  

Obviously all of those weren't successful, but I was astonished how quickly they went to work when someone called and said "My Uncle Ed is missing and he had a cat and his address is ______________".    Because they had 'probable cause' I think they said, they could literally break down a door or enter thru a window.  

The compassion of those volunteers blew me away day after day after day as they continued to search for pets even knowing some of them couldn't have made it but knowing animals can be really resourceful  to find water in toilets and surviving.  

And the ones no one thinks of at all are the tropical fish, and exotics and yes, there was no animal too small to merit concern.