SLIDELL, La., Sept. 10, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- Volunteers from the animal rescue organization Noah's Wish and Slidell animal control officers reunited a 59-year-old Katrina survivor with his beloved cat "Miss Kitty" in a Mississippi hospital room yesterday.
Slidell resident Bill Harris was trapped in his home by rising floodwaters for three days. Harris stood on a chair in five feet of water with his beloved cat in one arm and a two-way radio in the other. For three days, Harris desperately called for help on the radio. When rescuers finally arrived, Harris, who suffers from chronic kidney failure, was forced to leave the cat behind. Fortunately, an MSNBC crew covering the Katrina disaster learned of Harris' ordeal and went to the animal rescue group Noah's Wish for help. The not-for-profit organization is working with Slidell Animal Control to rescue pets in the aftermath of Katrina. After days of searching, a cat wearing a black collar and matching the description Harris gave was humanely trapped.
Excited that they had found "Miss Kitty," Slidell animal control officer Horace Troullier and Donna Wackerbauer, a Noah's Wish volunteer from Canada, drove the cat over 70 miles from Slidell to Hattiesburg, Mississippi where Harris had been admitted to Forest General Hospital. "I was holding 'Miss Kitty' in my arms when I walked into Mr. Harris' hospital room," said Wackerbauer. "When she saw her owner, 'Miss Kitty' jumped out of my arms, onto her owner and burrowed her head into him. It was like she was saying, 'Yeah! I got my daddy back!'"
During the three-day ordeal, Harris said that "Miss Kitty" meowed to keep him awake whenever he began to drift in and out of consciousness.
"It was the most exciting rescue I have ever been a part of," said Troullier. "This is what it's all about." A 15-year veteran of Slidell Animal Control, Troullier lost everything when his house flooded and he does not have insurance. Nevertheless, the dedicated animal control officer has been working around the clock for two weeks straight.
Harris is suffering from internal bleeding of the kidneys and stomach and will require surgery. But his spirits are high from spending time with "Miss Kitty" before Troullier and Wackerbauer returned the cat to the Noah's Wish animal rescue center in Slidell, where she will be cared for until he is released from the hospital.
Joe Bruncszk, a producer from Washington, D.C., videotaped the reunion. The videotape will be available in the evening of 9/10/05 at www.msnbc.com in the Katrina Blog. Photos will be available on www.noahswish.org on 9/12/05.