Thanks to the rescue efforts of Shawn Alladio, owner of K38 Rescue, and the list of animals stranded in the wake of Hurricane Katrina featured on TheHorse.com (www.TheHorse.com/Rescue/RescueLocationList.aspx), two cats were saved last Tuesday (Sept. 13) and reunited with their owner.

Cherie Holton was forced to evacuate her home in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. She boarded up her house thinking she would return shortly, leaving behind Phanny, a blind shorthaired calico, and Bob, a 19-year-old black and white cat. Holton found housing an hour away in Bourg, La. As soon as she realized she would be gone for more than a few days, she began contacting rescue operations about her two stranded cats.

On Thursday (Sept. 8), Holton’s friend Margie Brinkman posted a message to the Yahoo newsgroup Six_States_Rescue about the two missing cats. This message was found by staff from The Horse, Brinkman was contacted to verify and expand the information, and the listing was posted to TheHorse.com. A volunteer on Alladio’s team found TheHorse.com stranded animal database and distributed the information to the K38 team and other rescue groups.

K38 Rescue, based in California, is described on their web site (www.shawnalladio.com) as “an established and growing family of water rescue and safety specialists committed to enhancing the occupational and recreational use of the PWC (personal watercraft). Homeland Security has become a major defining training force utilizing Personal Watercraft. K38 provides PWC rescue boat courses for law enforcement, military, lifeguard, and fire department