New Orleans’ Orphans

One year later.

By Carreen Maloney | Photographs by Carreen Maloney

The dirty, skinny collie sprinted down the runway as my plane descended into Louis Armstrong Airport, swerving off the pavement to escape the roaring bird that chased him. Slipping through a hole in the fence, he was gone. The airport, one of the few gathering places left as people travelled in and out of the deserted ruins,likely lured the hungry dog because of its garbage output.

It was the first glimpse of the horror I would witness in New Orleans in the days ahead, just four weeks after Hurricane Katrina's August 29, 2005, blow caused the levees to break, washing water as high as 20 feet over the city's neighbourhoods. Evacuees fleeing for their lives were prohibited from bringing pets into buses and shelters. Now the animals inhabited the city alone.